The Photo Book


Phaidon Press - 1997
    The Photography Book brings together 500 inspiring, moving and beautiful images of famous events and people, sensational landscapes, historic moments, ground-breaking photojournalism, insightful portraits, sport, wildlife, fashion and the everyday.Following the winning formula of The Art Book and The 20th Century Art Book, The Photography Book is arranged in alphabetical order by photographer offering us a window on the last 150 years as it takes us on a journey through familiar and strange images by great, unknown and innovative photographers from around the world. Each image is discussed in detail, bringing it to life and offering us an understanding of this art form which plays such a large role in our everyday lives.An accessible, informative and easy-to-use guide, The Photography Book brings together an overview of this incredibly rich and diverse medium. A simple system of cross-referencing offers easy access to photographers working with a similar approach or using different means to capture the same subject. Glossaries of technical terms and movements and a directory of museums and galleries where photography is permanently exhibited are also included to provide a fully comprehensive volume.

Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them


Isaac Fitzgerald - 2014
    These most permanent and intimate of body adornments are hidden by pants legs and shirttails, emblazoned on knuckles, or tucked inside mouths. They are battle scars and beauty marks, totems and mementos. Pen & Ink grants us access to the tattoos—and the stories behind them—of writers Cheryl Strayed and Roxane Gay; rockers in the bands Korn, Otep, and Five Finger Death Punch; and even a porn star. But it also illuminates the tattoos of the ordinary people living in our midst—from professors to thrift store salespeople, cafe owners to librarians, union organizers to administrators—and their extraordinary lives.Curated and edited by Isaac Fitzgerald, who sports twelve tattoos himself, each story “is like being let in on . . . secrets by . . . strangers who passed you on the street or sat across from you on the train” (Strayed) and features Wendy MacNaughton’s gorgeously rendered full-color illustrations of the tattoos on black-and-white drawings of the bearer’s body. At its heart, beneath its colorful skin, Pen & Ink is an exploration of the decision to scar one’s self with a symbol and a story.

Wonder Woman: Amazon. Hero. Icon.


Robert Greenberger - 2010
    Wonder Woman is the most popular female super hero of all time and a cultural icon. During her existence, she has served in the army, renounced her powers at the height of the feminist movement, and helped launch Gloria Steinem’s Ms. magazine. She has been—and continues to be—a trailblazing role model to girls and women and an integral part of the cultural zeitgeist. Loosely chronological, Wonder Woman explores idiosyncratic creator William Moulton Marston’s interest in ideas of a "new woman" for the twentieth century; costume and character story changes over the decades; the influence on all other female comic book characters since her inception; and how Wonder Woman is still powerful and relevant in today’s comic book renaissance. The book contains more than 250 Wonder Woman illustrations, including covers, interior comic art, and sketch treatments, beginning with her inception in the early 1940s to present-day treatments of the character. Celebrated artists include Alex Ross, Jim Lee, George Perez, and Brian Bolland, to name only a few. The book will also feature rare covers and pin-up posters created for past special-edition comic books. Wonder Woman is certain to appeal to fanboys and fangirls, collectors, and newcomers to the comic book genre alike.

How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum


Keri Smith - 2008
    In this captivating guided journal, readers are encouraged to explore their world as both artists and scientists. The mission Smith proposes? To document and observe the world around you. As if you've never seen it before. Take notes. Collect things you find on your travels. Document findings. Notice patterns. Copy. Trace. Focus on one thing at a time. Record what you are drawn to. With a series of interactive prompts and a beautifully hand-illustrated two-color package, readers will enjoy exploring and discovering the world through this gorgeous book.

Lonely Heart: The Art of Tara McPherson


Tara McPherson - 2006
    Creating art about people and their odd ways, recalling many issues from childhood and adult life experience, McPherson creates images that are thought provoking and seductive. Tara's array of work includes numerous gig posters for rock bands, including Green Day, Modest Mouse, and Death Cab for Cutie, and advertising and editorial illustrations for a diverse group of clients. Her prints and paintings have been exhibited in galleries all over the world. Lonely Heart is the first printed collection of McPherson's work.• Foreword by Frank Kozik!• This collection features full-color illustrations throughout.

Tokyo on Foot: Travels in the City's Most Colorful Neighborhoods


Florent Chavouet - 2009
    Each day he would set forth, with a pouch full of colored pencils and a sketchpad, to visit different neighborhoods. This stunning book records the city that he got to know during his adventures, a gritty, vibrant place, full of ordinary people going about their daily lives. Realistically rendered city views or posters of pop stars contrast with cartoon sketches of iconic objects or droll vignettes, like a housewife walking her pet pig and a Godzilla statue in a local park.With wit, a playful sense of humor, and the colored pencils of his kit, Florent Chavouet sets aside the question of urban ugliness or beauty and captures the Japanese essence of a great city.

The Snow Yak Show


Mark Ryden - 2010
    Images from Ryden's acclaimed Japanese Snow Yak Show are reproduced in large 11" x 14" format, & include many detail images & drawings. Features all of the works, as well as photographs of the work on display.

Henry Darger: In the Realms of the Unreal


John M. MacGregor - 2002
    His name was Henry Darger. He had lived in this room for forty years. It was filthy, crammed with his possessions, mostly things found in the garbage. Henry never threw anything out. The room was filled, almost solid, with junk. He was now eighty years old and far too feeble to carry anything down the stairs. So he left everything behind. He had no need of his possessions. Anyway, he was going to an old folks home to die. When he left the room his life was over. His landlord asked him what he wanted done with his possessions. Henry is said to have replied, "You can have them, Mr. Leonard." At that moment the gift had no meaning. There was nothing in the room but garbage. Everything would have to be thrown out... When Darger's landlord, Nathan Lerner, assisted by a young student, David Berglund, began to clean out Henry's room they found some surprises: an eight volume autobiography, consisting of 5084 handwritten pages, entitled, The History of My Life which Henry had begun writing in 1963 after retiring. The short auto-biographical introduction to what is otherwise an enormous and utterly fantastic piece of imaginative fiction, provided some of the crucial pieces of evidence underlying the biographical reconstruction of Darger's life that form the first chapter of this book. Then, when the old trunks were opened, they made a far more spectacular discovery: a history of another world called, In The Realms of the Unreal in fifteen volumes, 15 145 type written pages, unquestionably the longest work of fiction ever written. In time the room also yielded the three huge bound volumes of illustrations for that work, several hundred pictures, many over twelve feet long and painted on both sides. By accident, the landlord had stumbled upon a concealed and secret life work, which no one had ever seen: Darger's alternate world.

Instant Lives


Howard Moss - 1974
    Moss uncovers remarkable historical anecdotes, which are accompanied by Gorey's absurdly deadpan drawings. Although the insightful scenarios involving Emily Dickinson, Mozart, Henrik Ibsen, and El Greco are all the product of Moss's fertile imagination, his uncanny emulation of style makes us believe they (just possibly) might be true. 25 illustrations.

The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America


David Hajdu - 2008
    No sooner had this new culture emerged than it was beaten down by church groups, community bluestockings, and a McCarthyish Congress--only to resurface with a crooked smile on its face in "Mad "magazine. The story of the rise and fall of those comic books has never been fully told--until "The Ten-Cent Plague." David Hajdu's remarkable new book vividly opens up the lost world of comic books, its creativity, irreverence, and suspicion of authority. When we picture the 1950s, we hear the sound of early rock and roll. "The Ten-Cent Plague "shows how--years before music--comics brought on a clash between children and their parents, between prewar and postwar standards. Created by outsiders from the tenements, garish, shameless, and often shocking, comics spoke to young people and provided the guardians of mainstream culture with a big target. Parents, teachers, and complicit kids burned comics in public bonfires. Cities passed laws to outlaw comics. Congress took action with televised hearings that nearly destroyed the careers of hundreds of artists and writers.

The Big Book of Bad: The Best of the Worst of Everything


Jonathan Vankin - 1998
    Telling the true stories of humanity at its worst, this collection is a veritable rogues gallery of history's villains from the degenerate Roman Emperors, through Count Dracula to Mike Tyson and Liberace. Covering the truly despicable to the merely nauseating, this book lifts the lid on the dastardly deeds that humans inflict on one another. From the most reviled murderers of all time, to the worst singers, artists, poets, sports stars and scientific theories of the modern era.

A Sticky Note Guide to Life


Chaz Hutton - 2016
    He covers all the important things: dating, working, eating, fighting gorillas, the impossible physics of toothpaste, the family history of a sock drawer, and so much more.Basically, all the big life questions that you didn’t realise needed answering.

In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot


Graham Roumieu - 2003
    Learn the hairy one's brave struggles with eating disorders, casual cannibalism, pop culture, and philosophical quandaries. In this crazed mutant graphic novel, Graham Roumieu gives us a portrait of the artist as a young ape that will leave the reader howling with laughter.

Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past


Ransom Riggs - 2012
    Each image in Talking Pictures reveals a singular, frozen moment in a person’s life, be it joyful, quiet, or steeped in sorrow. Yet the book’s unique depth comes from the writing accompanying each photo: as with the caption revealing how one seemingly random snapshot of a dancing couple captured the first dance of their 40-year marriage, each successive inscription shines like a flashbulb illuminating a photograph’s particular context and lighting up our connection to the past.

A Sloth's Guide to Mindfulness


Ton Mak - 2018
    Take a pause and focus on your breath. Let the other animals run around; you do you. Through the guidance of an unlikely-- but very wise--meditation expert, A Sloth's Guide to Mindfulness reminds you it's okay to go at your own pace. From simple breathing exercises and guided visualizations to the benefits of chewing your leaves slowly and staying present while hanging from a tree, A Sloth's Guide to Meditation will provide you with practical ways to be more present and mindful.Playful advice and charming black and white illustrations guide you through the pages and remind you that simplicity can be beautiful.Author Ton Mak is an artist and meditation enthusiast based in Shanghai. She has created visual arts of all forms including installations in shopping malls, art toy sculptures, and solo exhibitions around the world. She has also successfully collaborated with Nike, Gucci, Swiss Air, Vans and more.A no-sweat approach to enlightenment that's a sweet reminder to take it slow and smile. A simple, quick read that can be enjoyed by all ages.A 2019 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers