art and oddsized books

Mark your calendars for the next RART meeting on February 8, 2017 at the Springville Road Library.  The topic up for discussion will be humor and parody books, fiction or nonfiction…the choice is yours!

In other news, long-time RART member April Wallace is leaving the PLJC!  There will be a reception in her honor at the Pinson Library on Monday, December 19 from 1pm-5pm.  Make time to go and wish her well in her new adventure!

We met in the Southern History department of the Birmingham Public Library downtown for a discussion of art and oversize books.  We kicked off our meeting with a visit to the rare book room to see two of their most prized oversize books: the Catesby “Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands" (circa mid-1700’s) and a volume of the Blaeu royal atlas of the world (circa 1600’s).  Afterward, we retired to the Southern History offices to discuss our own oversized and art books.

(reviews obtained from amazon.com unless otherwise noted)

The Romantic Egoists: A Pictorial Autobiography from the Scrapbooks and Albums of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli, Scottie Fitzgerald Smith, and Joan P. Kerr

This pictorial autobiography of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald documents two lives that have become legendary. The book draws almost entirely from the scrapbooks and photograph albums that the Fitzgeralds scrupulously kept as their personal record and provides a wealth of illustrative material not previously available. Minnesota; a photograph of the country club in Montgomery, Alabama, where the two met; reviews of This Side of Paradise; poems to the couple from Ring Lardner; snapshots of their trips abroad; Fitzgerald's careful accounting of his earnings; a photograph of the house on Long Island where The Great Gatsby was conceived; postcards with Fitzgerald's drawings for his daughter. These rare photographs and memorabilia combine into a narrative augmented by selections from Scott's and Zelda's own writings, conveying the spirit of particular moments in their lives.
Holley, Emmet O’Neal

The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition by Oscar Wilde; edited by Nicholas Frankel

The Picture of Dorian Gray altered the way Victorians understood the world they inhabited. It heralded the end of a repressive Victorianism, and after its publication, literature had—in the words of biographer Richard Ellmann—“a different look.” Yet the Dorian Gray that Victorians never knew was even more daring than the novel the British press condemned as “vulgar,” “unclean,” “poisonous,” “discreditable,” and “a sham.” Now, more than 120 years after Wilde handed it over to his publisher, J. B. Lippincott & Company, Wilde’s uncensored typescript is published for the first time, in an annotated, extensively illustrated edition.

The novel’s first editor, J. M. Stoddart, excised material—especially homosexual content—he thought would offend his readers’ sensibilities. When Wilde enlarged the novel for the 1891 edition, he responded to his critics by further toning down its “immoral” elements. The differences between the text Wilde submitted to Lippincott and published versions of the novel have until now been evident to only the handful of scholars who have examined Wilde's typescript.

Wilde famously said that Dorian Gray “contains much of me”: Basil Hallward is “what I think I am,” Lord Henry “what the world thinks me,” and “Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.” Wilde’s comment suggests a backward glance to a Greek or Dorian Age, but also a forward-looking view to a more permissive time than his own, which saw Wilde sentenced to two years’ hard labor for gross indecency. The appearance of Wilde’s uncensored text is cause for celebration.
Samuel, BPL Springville Road

The Case of Alan Turing: The Extraordinary and Tragic Story of the Legendary Codebreaker by Eric Liberge; illus by Arnaud Delalande

Alan Turing, subject of the Oscar-winning 2014 film The Imitation Game, was the brilliant mathematician solicited by the British government to help decipher messages sent by Germany's Enigma machines during World War II. The work of Turing and his colleagues at Hut 8 created what became known as the "bombe" which descrambled the German navy's messages and saved countless lives and millions in British goods and merchandise.

Despite his heroics, however, Turing led a secret life as a homosexual. After a young man with whom he was involved stole money from him, he went to the police, where he confessed his homosexuality; he was charged with gross indecency, and only avoided prison after agreeing to undergo chemical castration. Tragically, he committed suicide two years later.

Authors Liberge and Delalande used once-classified information only available in 2012 to create a biography that is scientifically rigorous yet understandable for the lay reader. It's also a meticulous depiction of World War II, and an intimate portrayal of a gay man living in an intolerant world.

Delving deeper into Turing's life than The Imitation Game, this graphic novel is a fascinating portrait of this brilliant, complicated, and troubled man.
Samuel, BPL Springville Road

The American Revolution: A Visual History
The American Revolution will transport you back in time and onto the frontlines. This complete overview of the war brings all the action to life, from the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party to the Declaration of Independence and the Treaty of Paris.

Beginning with the first stirrings of colonial resistance, The American Revolution presents illustrated accounts of every major military action and comprehensive timelines for every stage of the war. Revealing first-person accounts by soldiers and civilians and profiles of the war's main protagonists, from George Washington to Benedict Arnold. Gallery spreads feature collections of weapons and uniforms, and feature sections detail the politics of the war, such as the treatment of prisoners and the revolution's implications for women, Native Americans, and African Americans.

Two hundred and forty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, The American Revolution demonstrates that the story of how America overthrew the British is as meaningful today as it was when the ink was still wet on the parchment. Created in association with the Smithsonian Institution. 

Samuel, BPL Springville Road

The Great War: July 1, 1916; The First Day of the Battle of the Somme: An Illustrated Panorama by Joe Sacco
From “the heir to R. Crumb and Art Spiegelman” (Economist) comes a monumental, wordless depiction of the most infamous day of World War I.  Launched on July 1, 1916, the Battle of the Somme has come to epitomize the madness of the First World War. Almost 20,000 British soldiers were killed and another 40,000 were wounded that first day, and there were more than one million casualties by the time the offensive halted. In The Great War, acclaimed cartoon journalist Joe Sacco depicts the events of that day in an extraordinary, 24-foot- long panorama: from General Douglas Haig and the massive artillery positions behind the trench lines to the legions of soldiers going “over the top” and getting cut down in no-man’s-land, to the tens of thousands of wounded soldiers retreating and the dead being buried en masse. Printed on fine accordion-fold paper and packaged in a deluxe slipcase with a 16-page booklet, The Great War is a landmark in Sacco’s illustrious career and allows us to see the War to End All Wars as we’ve never seen it before. 24 plates

Maura, Trussville

Visions of Adventure: N.C. Wyeth and the Brandywine Artists edited by John Edward Dell in assoc with Walt Reed; essays by Douglas Allen, Jr. et al

As famous in their day as the authors whose stories they illustrated, the six artists profiled in this nostalgic collection-N.C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle, Harvey Dunn, Frank Schoonover, Philip R. Goodwin and Dean Cornwell-used their unique talents at narrative depiction to bring to life places and times in ways no modern medium has surpassed. Vividly reproduced directly from the original paintings that illustrated the pages of popular books and magazines of up to a century ago, many of the pictures are seen here for the first time, just as the artists painted them. The paintings presented in this handsome volume lured readers to the exciting adventure tales of buccaneers and cowboys, hunters and outlaws, pirate fiction and historical romance written by Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, James Branch Cabell, and other favored writers of the day. Although commissioned to illustrate the written word, these storytelling works of art can stand alone. No text is needed to understand the drama of Howard Pyle's Dead Men Tell No Tales, N. C. Wyeth's The Magic Pool, Frank Schoonover's A Northern Mist, and the dozens of other captivating paintings presented here.
Maura, Trussville

Harper Ever After: The Early Work of Charley and Edie Harper; Essay by Sara Caswell-Pearce; Introduction and Commentary by Brett Harper; Tribute by Chip Doyle

Charley Harper and Edie McKee met on the first day of school at the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 1940. They studied together, fell in love, survived World War II, married, and embarked on successful careers in art. Today, Charley's work is iconic, known around the world particularly for his images of birds and other wildlife created with simple but accurate geometric forms. Edie's fine art photographs, paintings, prints, designs, and illustrations have earned her lasting respect.

Harper Ever After presents paintings and prints from both artists, from their early art school days until 1960, when Charley created Cardinal, now one of his best-known images. The artists' command of a wide range of styles from realism to abstraction to cubism is not only impressive, it informs the path each took to arrive at their individual techniques. The subjects they chose to depict are just as diverse. Charley's World War II scenes, portraits, and cartoons created while serving in Europe as a private first class are especially poignant.

Maura, Trussville

101 More Mixed Media Techniques edited by Cherril Doty, Heather Greenwood, Monica Moody, and Marsh Scott

Whether you are an experienced artist or just starting out, you'll discover new, approachable concepts for creating and embellishing your own mixed media art. Inside this book, you'll find a wide variety of versatile techniques, from printmaking and wabi-sabi painting to paper collage and resists. Each technique is presented with simple, easy-to-follow instructions and beautiful examples from talented mixed media artists. In addition to learning new techniques, you'll also discover ideas and inspiration for using the techniques in your own projects. With a plethora of options to choose from, 101 More Mixed Media Techniques has something for everyartist and is guaranteed to spark new forms of creativity!
Jon, Avondale

The Complete Starter Guide to Whittling: 24 Easy Projects You Can Make in a Weekend by the editors of Woodcarving Illustrated

You can whittle just about anything the only limit is your imagination. It s so easy to get started in this relaxing and rewarding hobby. All you need is a knife, a twig, and this book! We've assembled a team of 12 leading woodcarvers to bring you a complete starter guide to whittling. They present 24 easy whittling projects that you can make in just a weekend, complete with step-by-step instructions, how-to photographs, ready-to-carve patterns, and helpful tips.

Start off with fast and fun projects that build confidence and teach fundamental carving techniques, like a simple flying propeller or a 5-minute owl. Then move on to create whittled wonders like a musical frog or a slingshot. We show you how to whittle complex designs in easy steps, so that you ll soon be carving attention-getting favorites like chain links or the classic ball-in-a-cage.
Jon, Avondale

Bibliocraft: A Modern Crafter’s Guide to Using Library Resources to Jumpstart Creative Projects by Jessica Pigza; Photographs by Johnny Miller; Photostyling by Shana Faust; Illustrations by Sun Young Park

Voted a Best Book of 2014 by Library Journal
There is untold wealth in library collections, and, like every good librarian, Jessica Pigza loves to share. In BiblioCraft, Pigza hones her literary hunting-and-gathering skills to help creatives of all types, from DIY hobbyists to fine artists, develop projects based on library resources. In Part I, she explains how to take advantage of the riches libraries have to offer—both in person and online. In Part II, she presents 20+ projects inspired by library resources from a stellar designer cast, including STC Craft authors Natalie Chanin, Heather Ross, Liesl Gibson, and Gretchen Hirsch, and Design* Sponge founder Grace Bonney. Whatever the quest—historic watermarks transformed into pillows, Japanese family crests turned into coasters, or historic millinery instructions worked into floral fascinators—anyone can utilize library resources to bring their creative visions to life.
Jon, Avondale

The New Small House by Katie Hutchison
Smaller is big, says architect and author Katie Hutchison, whose book The New Small House shows those looking to downsize how they can live smartly, economically and environmentally friendly in elegantly designed homes. With 275 gorgeous photographs and 30 detailed illustrations, The New Small House takes the reader on a tour of North America and spotlights small houses in rural, coastal, and in-town locations. The book presents fundamental small-house design strategies, complete with whole-house case studies for homeowners eager to simplify.

Creating a great small house is illustrated in the opening chapter with 10 approaches, including:

borrowed view and daylight

multipurpose spaces

privacy pockets

using quality materials

Twenty-five stunning small houses are profiled in the second part of the book, organized by the nature of their locations.
Jon, Avondale

Bead Pendants & Necklaces: 20 Beautiful Jewelry Designs by Susan Beal
Fool your friends into thinking your jewelry came from a high-end boutique. But the truth is your jewelry can really be from your kitchen, home office, craft room―wherever you choose to make the stunning pieces in Bead Pendants & Necklaces. You’ll enjoy making the 20 jewelry designs outlined in this imaginative book, and then you’ll love wearing and showing off your new accessories. They look great with jeans and casual wear, and equally fabulous with your best business suits.

Classic, trendy, totally unique―you get 20 jewelry designs in all including:

Drop Pendants made with wood, turquoise, sparkles, teardrops, starbursts, or water lily designs

A Multi-drop Pendant made of amber

Deluxe Pendants with circles of jade or shell

Necklaces such as the “perfectly pink” and the “memoir” design

Lucky Dip Ribbon Choker

And more!

It’s all about the beads―and the value! All 20 designs incorporate beads, so you know the end result can be as colorful and textured as you like. Ideal for just about anyone, from beginner to skilled, Bead Pendants & Necklaces features a fully illustrated techniques section to teach you the basics of jewelry-making. It’s gives you a smart base to build off of so that you can even create your own brand new designs. And because each pattern costs about 50 cents, you’re well on your way to expensive-looking jewelry without having to pay the price.
Jon, Avondale

Styled: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, From Tabletops to Bookshelves by Emily Henderson with Angelin Borsics; Photographs by David Tsay

The ultimate guide to thinking like a stylist, with 1,000 design ideas for creating the most beautiful, personal, and livable rooms. It’s easy to find your own style confidence once you know this secret: While decorating can take months and tons of money, styling often takes just minutes. Even a few little tweaks can transform the way your room feels.

At the heart of Styled are Emily Henderson’s ten easy steps to styling any space. From editing out what you don’t love to re-purposing what you can’t live without to arranging the most eye-catching vignettes on any surface, you’ll learn how to make your own style magic. With Emily’s style diagnostic, insider tips, and more than 1,000 unique ideas from 75 envy-inducing rooms, you’ll soon be styling like you were born to do it.
Jon, Avondale

Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art edited by John Fleskes
The best-selling Spectrum series continues with this twenty-third lavishly produced annual. Challenging, controversial, educational, and irreverent, the award-winning Spectrum series reinforces both the importance and prevalence of fantastic art in today’s culture. With exceptional images by extraordinary creators, this elegant full-color collection showcases an international cadre of creators working in every style and medium, both traditional and digital. The best artists from the United States, Europe, China, Australia, South America and beyond have gathered into the only annual devoted exclusively to works of fantasy, horror, science fiction, and the surreal, making Spectrum one of the year’s highly most anticipated books.

Featured in Spectrum 23 are over 300 diverse visionaries. With art from books, graphic novels, video games, films, galleries, advertising and the fine arts, Spectrum is both an electrifying art book for fans and an invaluable resource for clients looking for bright new talent. The entire field is discussed in an invaluable, found-nowhere-else Year In Review. Contact information for each artist is included.

Often imitated, never equaled, Spectrum 23 continues the freshness and excellence that was established over twenty years ago.
Jon, Avondale

GENERAL DISCUSSION:

This Fabulous Century by the editors of Time-Life Books

Multi-volume reference work published in the late 1960s as a pictorial survey by decade of the American social scene, 1900-1970.

Vintage Ad Browser
Vintage Ad Browser was created in 2009/2010 and released in 2010, by Philipp Lenssen from Germany, currently living in China. This site aims to collect vintage ads from a variety of sources, including comic books, CD-Roms, websites, APIs, your submissions, book, magazine & comic book scans, and more. At the moment, this site contains 123,311 ads.

Interior Desecrations: Horrible Homes From the Brass Age of American Design designed by James Lilek

Interior Desecrations was once a website, a popular & venerable part of the Institute of Official Cheer – and now it’s a book! From the same fine people who brought you the Gallery of Regrettable Food comes an all-new compendium of pop-culture. It’s fun, it’s cheap, and it makes a great gift for anyone who grew up in a house like this, or made their kids suffer for their decade-long lapse in taste.

Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy; photographs by Charles Van Schaik

First published in 1973, this remarkable book about life in a small turn-of-the-century Wisconsin town has become a cult classic. Lesy has collected and arranged photographs taken between 1890 and 1910 by a Black River Falls photographer, Charles Van Schaik.

Wisconsin Death Trip (DVD)

Inspired by the cult-favorite book by Michael Lesy, Wisconsin Death Trip is an eerily dreamlike film about the moral, spiritual, and physical collapse of a small American town in the 1890s. Stricken by economic depression, harsh winters, and a diphtheria epidemic that decimated the local infant population, the citizens of Black River Falls, Wisconsin--primarily German and Norwegian immigrants hoping for a better life in America--fell victim to a rising tide of insanity, murder, arson, and moral breakdown. By creating moody black-and-white reenactments of the horrid events chronicled in Lesy's book (which includes the haunting vintage photographs of the town's official photographer), director James Marsh conveys, through chilling detachment and the subtly sardonic narration by Ian Holm, the impression of sly bemusement, as if Black River Falls was preordained by fate to become a village of the damned. It's both fiendishly macabre and yet strangely compelling, weakened only by Marsh's suggestion (through color sequences of present-day Wisconsin) that things have never really changed since those creepy, ill-fated days when death was seemingly everywhere. Apart from that half-baked attempt at irony, Wisconsin Death Trip is a film you won't soon forget. --Jeff Shannon