Palmieri, Mario:
THE PHILOSOPHY OF FASCISM
Dante Alighieri Society, Chicago, 1936.
Brazen Italian propaganda promoting a now-discredited political ideology: braggadocio deflated by history.
<-- title page
June 22, 2008
n/a:
THE HORN BOOK: A GIRL'S GUIDE TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL
[n.p.; pirate reprint of the 1923 London edition].
63 coital postures ("The Saint-George," "The Stork," "The Sack of Corn," etc.) in quaint and utterly raunchy detail.
<-- title page
June 15, 2008
Bailey, Oscar, and Charles Swedlund:
FOUND OBJECTS: MID-CENTURY GENRE
State University College at Buffalo, 1965.
An exhibition of rusty detritus exerting its hypnotic charm.
<-- front cover
Flugel, J.C.:
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CLOTHES
Fourth printing. Hogarth Press, London, 1966.
Tell me, professor: what does a prominent red necktie represent?
<-- front cover
Ali, Shahrazad:
THE BLACKMAN'S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE BLACKWOMAN
Civilized Publications, Philadelphia, 1989.
We also sometimes get requests for "The Bookman's Guide to Understanding the Bookwoman."
<-- front cover
[Council on Economic Priorities]:
EFFICIENCY IN DEATH: THE MANUFACTURERS OF ANTI-PERSONNEL WEAPONS
Perennial Library, New York, 1970.
Just plain sinister: a sort of chamber-of-commerce directory to the land mine/cluster bomb industry.
<-- front cover
n/a:
SECRETARY'S DESK BOOK
Parker Publishing, West Nyack, N.Y., 1975.
For a smart look in any air-conditioned office, try a demure pink dustjacket.
<-- front cover
Howard, Len:
BIRDS AS INDIVIDUALS
Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NY, 1953.
With the songs of various species (warblers, blackbirds, titmice, etc.) rendered in musical notation.
<-- front cover
June 8, 2008
Kira, Alexander:
THE BATHROOM
Viking Press, New York, 1976.
A serious ergonomic design study, and the only place you'll ever find a photographic analysis of human urine-stream trajectories.
<-- front cover
n/a:
NARCOTIC DRUGS UNDER INTERNATIONAL CONTROL: MULTILINGUAL LIST
United Nations, Geneva, 1963.
For those occasions when you need to say "morphine sulfate" in Finnish, Arabic, or Korean.
<-- front cover
Davis, Jon (illus.):
TOOLS IN THE KITCHEN
Ginn & Co., London, 1974.
With many provocative illustrations of an affectless, aproned housewife wielding an apple corer, rolling pin, scissors, meat grinder...
<-- front cover
Milgram, Stanley, and R. Lance Shotland:
TELEVISION AND ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR: FIELD EXPERIMENTS
Academic Press, New York, 1973.
Good news: one extra-violent episode of a prime-time melodrama won't turn you into a sociopath!
<-- front cover
n/a:
A KEY TO ESPERANTO
[British Esperanto Association, London, ca. 1940].
Everyone's favorite universal language, fully explicated in a humble pamphlet not much larger than a credit card.
<-- front cover
Vishneva-Sarafanova, N.:
SOVIET WOMEN -- A PORTRAIT
Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1981.
A retired fighter pilot; the headmistress of a tractor-driving school; the winner of the Moscow Hairdressing Contest; etc.
<-- front cover
June 1, 2008
Glasstone, Samuel (ed.):
THE EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Revised Edition. U.S. Dept. of Defense, Washington, 1962.
With handy circular slide rule ("Atomic Bomb Effects Calculator") in pocket at rear.
<-- front cover and slide rule insert
Kapp, Ronald O.:
HOW TO KNOW POLLEN AND SPORES
Wm. C. Brown Co, Dubuque, IA, 1969.
To the uninitiated, it's just dust.
<-- front cover
Bryan, Mary de Garmo:
THE SCHOOL CAFETERIA
F.S. Crofts & Co., New York, 1943.
The subject evokes a complicated stew of emotions in many former students.
<-- front cover
Huff, Sandy:
THE MAYAN CALENDAR MADE EASY [etc.]
Self-published; Safety Harbor, FL, 1984.
Insanely complicated, despite the encouraging title.
<-- front cover
Abramson, Harold A. (ed.):
NEUROPHARMACOLOGY, TRANSACTIONS OF THE THIRD CONFERENCE
Josiah Macy, Jr., Foundation, New York, 1957.
Articles include "Effect of LSD-25 on Snails," "Production and Control of Alcoholic Cravings in Rats," etc.
<-- front cover
Fiddes, Victor:
THE ARCHITECTURAL REQUIREMENTS OF PROTESTANT WORSHIP
Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1961.
Interesting, but distinctly dry -- just the way the vicar likes his sherry.
<-- front cover
May 25, 2008
Antrim, Minna Thomas:
A MIMIC'S CALENDAR FOR 1905
Henry Altemus Co., Philadelphia, 1904.
Tart aphorisms and pretty art nouveau duotones for every week of the year.
<-- pp. 10-11
Davis, J.J.:
COMMON WHITE GRUBS
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, 1929.
Three and a half pounds of lead arsenate per 100 square feet of lawn should take care of the problem.
<-- front cover
Grave, Felix:
FENCING COMPREHENSIVE
Hutchinson & Co, London [ca. 1934].
With a couple of brief (but very useful) sections on the protocol of conducting formal duels.
<-- front cover
Grumley, Michael; Ed Gallucci (phot.):
HARD CORPS: STUDIES IN LEATHER AND SADOMASOCHISM
E.P. Dutton, New York, 1977.
Is it uncomfortable to wear a leather vest without a shirt underneath?
<-- front cover
Western Advertising magazine:
12th ANNUAL PORTFOLIO OF WESTERN ADVERTISING ART
Ramsey Oppenheim Pubs., San Francisco, 1957.
Evidence that late-1950s commercial art from California was the supreme expression of 20th century visual culture.
<-- front cover
Wilson, K., and D.J.B. White:
THE ANATOMY OF WOOD: ITS DIVERSITY AND VARIABILITY
Stobart & Son Ltd., London, 1986.
Those micro-photos of cellulose would make mesmerizing wallpaper patterns.
<-- front cover
May 18, 2008
Hooker, Worthington:
HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY
Farmer, Brace, & Co., New York, 1856.
Of particular interest: Chapter XVII, "Connection of the Mind with the Body."
<-- pp. 80-81
Kazakevich, E[mmanuil]:
SPRING ON THE ODER
Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1953.
Sometimes you just feel like curling up with a Stalinist war novel.
<-- title page
Grozinger, Wolfgang:
SCRIBBLING, DRAWING, PAINTING: THE EARLY FORMS OF THE CHILD'S PICTORIAL CREATIVENESS
Faber and Faber, London, [1955].
What could be more touching than a three-year-old's drawing of a mouse eating grapes?
<-- front cover
Etlin, Richard A.:
THE ARCHITECTURE OF DEATH: THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE CEMETERY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PARIS
MIT Press, Cambridge, 1984.
File under "gothitecture."
<-- front cover
Kunstmann, Josef:
THE TRANSFORMATION OF EROS
Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 1964.
Creepy kitsch: a collection of 80 "putti" (i.e., cherubs) from the Bavarian Baroque, most of them photographed in cloying, blushing colour.
<-- plate 42
Batterson, Mark, and William W. Boddie (eds.):
SALT, THE MYSTERIOUS NECESSITY
Dow Chemical Company, [Midland, MI], 1972.
Published as a gift to all Dow employees on the occasion of the company's 75th anniversary; with presentation letter laid in.
<-- front cover
May 11, 2008
Hodgson, Fred. T.:
PRACTICAL BUNGALOWS AND COTTAGES FOR TOWN AND COUNTRY
Frederick J. Drake & Co., Chicago, 1912.
Over 200 architectural drawings and floor plans: like revisiting a forgotten dream city.
<-- front cover
Herrero, Stephen:
BEAR ATTACKS: THEIR CAUSES AND AVOIDANCE
Hurtig Publishers, Edmonton, 1985.
Sometimes they supplement their berries and honey with a little man-flesh.
<-- front cover
Cox, Doris, and Barbara Warren Weismann:
CREATIVE HANDS, AN INTRODUCTION TO CRAFT TECHNIQUES
John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1948.
It's a nice cover design, but the endpapers are even lovelier.
<-- front cover
Faraday, Michael:
THE CHEMICAL HISTORY OF A CANDLE
Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, 1957.
The natural world illuminated by a Victorian genius.
<-- front cover
Hymoff, Edward:
GUIDANCE AND CONTROL OF SPACECRAFT
Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1966.
Would you rather careen aimlessly through the vast emptiness?
<-- front cover
[n/a]:
THE SOVIET CIRCUS: A COLLECTION OF ARTICLES
Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1967. First printing.
Bears on motorcycles! Brezhnev-era clowns!
<-- p. 30
May 4, 2008
Dal Fabro, Mario:
HOW TO MAKE BUILT-IN FURNITURE
F.W. Dodge, New York, 1955.
What kid wouldn't love a fold-up plywood bunk bed?
<-- title page
Norbye, Jan P.:
STREAMLINING AND CAR AERODYNAMICS
TAB Books, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, 1977.
Wind resistance is such a drag.
<-- front cover
Ehrenzweig, Anton:
THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF ARTISTIC VISION AND HEARING
Julian Press, New York, 1953.
A difficult theory to distill: the table of contents alone runs to 14 pages.
<-- front cover
Corderoy, John:
BOOKBINDING FOR BEGINNERS
Studio Vista, London, 1967.
Apparently it's a 17-step process.
<-- front cover
Ellis, Eleanor A.:
NORTHERN COOKBOOK
Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, 1968.
Seal brain fritters! Beaver in sour cream!
<-- front cover
Jackson, Edward P.:
THE EARTH IN SPACE, A MANUAL OF ASTRONOMICAL GEOGRAPHY
D.C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1896.
The wistful isolation of life on an orbiting sphere; illustrated with engravings.
<-- front cover
April 27, 2008
Zimmerly, David W.:
HOOPER BAY KAYAK CONSTRUCTION
National Museums of Canada, Ottawa, 1979.
Includes a pocket with folding blueprints!
<-- front cover
Schwind, Phil:
MAKING A LIVING ALONGSHORE
International Marine Publishing, Camden, ME, 1976.
Clam-digging as a career, by a cranky Yankee.
<-- front cover
Hudson, W.H.; and S. Magno (illus.):
BIRDS OF LA PLATA
Penguin Books, London, 1952.
Sumptuous would not be too strong a word.
<-- front cover
Richardson, Ernie, et al.:
CURLING
Thomas Allen Limited, Toronto, 1962.
Is it a game, or a sport?
<-- front cover
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