Monkey's Paw Christmas Catalogue 2011:
A Miscellany in Four Parts
A Miscellany in Four Parts
Part 1: Cultural Detritus
Could a bookseller actually build a reputation on salvaged material like this?
Could a bookseller actually build a reputation on salvaged material like this?
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| Peacock, F.W.: CONVERSATIONAL ESKIMO Breakwater Books Ltd., Portugal Cove, NL, 1977. Countless useful phrases for yesterday's visitors to the Arctic, including the sadly resigned observation "ImaKa ablatsângortitaujungnangilaK Inuktôrtanut" ("I suppose that it cannot be translated into Eskimo"). |
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| Christopher, John and Rosemary: DESIGN FOR MODERN MARRIAGE Hurst & Blackett, London, 1958. For sensible and industrious people, domestic bliss can indeed be achieved: apparently it requires a combination of careful planning, thrifty consumer decisions, and tireless household maintenance. Lots of photos. |
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| n/a: SMITH-CORONA TEN-DAY TOUCH TYPING COURSE [five 33-rpm records; spiral-bound booklet on cardboard stand; and six legal-sized sheets of blank typing paper] Smith-Corona Marchant, New York, 1961. Before you begin your lesson, you'll have to figure out how to position the booklet on its A-frame stand, and stack the LPs in the correct order on your phonograph's record-changer. |
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| Zsilinszky, Victor G.: PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION OF TREE SPECIES IN ONTARIO Ontario Department of Lands and Forests, Toronto, 1963. Looking down on the northern landscape from a bush plane, the untrained eye sees a vista of undifferentiated greenery; but with the help of black-and-white stereoscopic photography, it's possible to spot the stand of black spruce in the forest of balsam fir. Inscribed by author on title page. |
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Part 2: Confirmed Cool
Left casually in the bathroom, these make a powerful impression on even the most sophisticated guests.
Left casually in the bathroom, these make a powerful impression on even the most sophisticated guests.
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| Langdon, Philip: ORANGE ROOFS, GOLDEN ARCHES: THE ARCHITECTURE OF AMERICAN CHAIN RESTAURANTS Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1986. A fact-heavy resource for students of 20th-century efficiency food culture, and a cathartic tool for disaffected hipsters who spent their childhoods in corporate suburbia. |
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| Schultes, Richard Evans; Elmer W. Smith (illus.): HALLUCINOGENIC PLANTS [A GOLDEN GUIDE] Golden Press, New York, 1976. Alarmingly improbable: a field guide to psychedelic flora, written by an esteemed ethnobotanist, and aimed at juvenile readers. Like every title in the Golden Guide series, it's packed with charming colour illustrations. |
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| Thygeson, Gordon: APPLE T-SHIRTS: A YEARBOOK OF HISTORY AT APPLE COMPUTER Pomo Publishing, Scotts Valley, CA, 1997. Silicon Valley's golden age, revealed via the impossibly ugly commemorative t-shirts that were issued to various product teams at Apple. Indispensable for fashion pirates looking to knock off original geek office-culture styles. |
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Part 3: High-Class Antiquarian
Items of objective bibliophilic worth; no sense of irony required.
Items of objective bibliophilic worth; no sense of irony required.
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| Davillier, Ch[arles]; J. Thomson (trans.); Gustav Doré (illus.): SPAIN Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, London, 1876. Wild rocky landscapes, ruins, beggars, dancing girls, bullfights, gypsies: clearly Doré felt right at home with the gothic theatricality of the subject matter. Contains over 200 engravings (including 112 full-page plates). |
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| [Estienne, Robert, and Johannes Frisius]: LEXICON TRILINGUE, EX THESAURO ROBERTI STEPHANI, ET DICTIONARIO IOANNIS FRISII SUMA FIDE AC DILIGENTIA COLLECTUM [etc.] Theodosius Rihelius, Argentorati [Strasbourg], 1587. No doubt this massive trilingual dictionary was a significant scholarly achievement in its day, but equally astonishing is the 16th-century typography: some 800 two-column pages in Latin, Greek, and German black letter. At five kilos, it'll make an impressive stocking-stuffer for your favorite Renaissance humanist. |
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| Shaw, G. (ed.): THE OFFICIAL TOURISTS' PICTURESQUE GUIDE TO THE LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY… EMBRACING INFORMATION RESPECTING TOURS IN ENGLAND, IRELAND, AND SCOTLAND Norton and Shaw, London, 1876. It's easy to picture the glamour days of Victorian rail travel. Just imagine a North American heiress reclining on the blue upholstery of a first-class banquette somewhere between Bletchley and Blisworth: this pretty little book is on her lap. |
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| n/a: ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE OF SOLID GOLD & ROLLED PLATE SOCIETY EMBLEMS, CHARMS, PINS, LAPEL BUTTONS, ETC. Geo. Brunswick, New York, 1902. The secret handshakes of these fraternal orders may be forgotten, but it's still possible to learn exactly what the Independent Order of Odd Fellows wore on their lapels and the Knights of Pythias hung on their watch-fobs. Catalogue includes well over a thousand monochrome designs. |
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Part 4: Proprietor's Reserve
The artifacts we covet most passionately, and will always regret parting with.
The artifacts we covet most passionately, and will always regret parting with.
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| Saucier, Ted; Russell Patterson, Al Dorne, et al. (illus.): BOTTOMS UP First edition. Greystone Press, New York, 1951. When a raging fire threatens the penthouse, there is one mixology manual that a swanky bachelor will go back inside for. Includes colour pinup plates by twelve different artists, and provocative decorations throughout (e.g., girls wrapped around martini glasses). Signed by author on half-title. |
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| Tissandier, Gaston; Henry Frith (trans.): SCIENTIFIC AMUSEMENTS [comprising HALF-HOURS OF SCIENTIFIC AMUSEMENT; MARVELS OF THE ELEMENTS; MARVELS OF HEAT, LIGHT, AND SOUND; and MARVELS OF EARTH, AIR, AND WATER] Ward Lock & Co., London, [ca. 1890]. A single Victorian engraving depicting a home science experiment has the power to charm; but more than 300 together in one place will cause heartache. The poignancy of all those lost geeky boyhoods is almost more than a fellow can bear. |
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| Völgyesi, Ferenc András; M.W. Hamilton (trans.): HYPNOSIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS Wilshire Book Co., Hollywood, CA, 1968. You want so badly to believe that it is possible to mesmerize lobsters, pheasants, alligators, and mandrills; and then, to your infinite joy, a Hungarian researcher confirms your hopes… |
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| Müller-Wulckow, Walter: DEUTSCHE BAUKUNST DER GEGENWORT: WOHNBAUTEN UND SIEDLUNGEN [German Contemporary Architecture: Residential Buildings and Developments] Karl Robert Langewiesche, Königstein im Taunus, 1929. 21st-century romantic fatalists are compulsively drawn to the coolness of Weimar-era "New Objectivity" apartment blocks: they look so doomed, remote, futuristic. 110 full-page photos; German text. |
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[** end Christmas Catalogue 2011 **]
