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