Ramayana: Divine Loophole


Sanjay Patel - 2010
    Teeming with powerful deities, love-struck monsters, flying monkey gods, magic weapons, demon armies, and divine love, Ramayana tells the story of Rama, a god-turned-prince, and his quest to rescue his wife Sita after she is kidnapped by a demon king. This illustrated tale features over 100 colorful full-spread illustrations, a detailed pictorial glossary of the cast of characters who make up the epic tale, and sketches of the work in progress. From princesses in peril to gripping battles, scheming royals, and hordes of bloodthirsty demons, Ramayana is the ultimate adventure story presented with an unforgettably modern touch.

My Stylish French Girlfriends


Sharon Santoni - 2015
    Visit them in their grand chateaux or charming little country cottages or Parisian apartments. Learn where they shop, where they work, where they play, how they dress and, how they entertain. Absorb each girlfriend's style and joie de vivre.Santoni's affectionate writing, along with gorgeous photography, tells each woman's story with an intimacy usually reserved for the closest of girlfriends.

New York


Ric Burns - 1999
    Chronicling the story of New York from its establishment as a Dutch trading post in 1624 to its global preeminence today, the book is at once the biography of a great city and a vivid exploration of the myriad forces -- commercial, cultural, demographic -- that converged in New York to usher in the contemporary world.Weaving the strands of the city's sweeping history into a single compelling narrative, New York carries us through nearly four centuries of turbulent growth and change -- from the first settlement on the tip of "Manna-hata" Island to the destruction wrought by the Revolutionary War; to the city's stunning emergence in the nineteenth century as the nation's premier industrial metropolis; to the waves of early-twentieth-century immigration that forever transformed the city and the nation; to New York's transfiguration as the world's first modern city -- pioneering skyscrapers, apartment houses, subways, and highways -- and its role as the birthplace of so much of American popular culture. Along the way, we witness the building of the city's celebrated landmarks and neighborhoods, from the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty to the Empire State Building and the United Nations; from Wall Street and Times Square to the Lower East Side, Harlem, and SoHo.The book brims with vibrant illustrations, including hundreds of rare photographs, paintings, lithographs, prints, and period maps. The narrative incorporates the voices and stories of men and women -- statesmen, entrepreneurs, artists, and visionaries -- who have lived in and built the city: an extraordinary cast of characters that includes Peter Stuyvesant, Alexander Hamilton, John Jacob Astor, Walt Whitman, Boss Tweed, Jacob Riis, Emma Lazarus, J. P. Morgan, Al Smith, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Gershwin, Fiorello La Guardia, Robert Moses, and Jane Jacobs.Accompanying the book's narrative are interviews with Robert A. Caro, David Levering Lewis, and Robert A. M. Stern, and essays by a group of distinguished New York historians and critics -- Kenneth T. Jackson, Mike Wallace, Marshall Berman, Phillip Lopate, Carol Berkin, and Daniel Czitrom -- who add their insights about the city to this splendid history.From the Hardcover edition.

Books Make a Home: Elegant Ideas for Storing and Displaying Books


Damian Thompson - 2011
    They provide information. foster our enthusiasms and spark our memories. But these personal treasures also add colour and a true sense of personality to our homes. Books Make a Home explores the important role they play as Decoration. as well as functional items. Author and bibliophile Damian Thompson tours the rooms of the home in turn - Living Rooms. Home Libraries & Studies. Kitchens . Bedrooms & Bathrooms. Corridors & Staircases and Childrens' Spaces - discovering a host of techniques for stacking. shelving and closeting volumes. and illustrating how each space can be brought to life by books. Alongside inspirational photography is a wealth of practical design solutions for each space and every size of collection. You will learn how to make the best use of existing storage and create new space for an ever-growing collection; how to combine books with other personal effects to create eye-catching displays; and helpful feature spreads will illustrate how to organize and care for your books. Beautifully presented and elegantly written, scattered with quotes from famous readers throughout, Books Make a Home is an insightful guide to enjoying books with the eye as well as with the mind.

Simon's Cat


Simon Tofield - 2009
    Now, the feline Internet phenomenon makes his way onto the page in this first-ever book based on the popular animated series. Simon's Cat depicts and exaggerates the hilarious relationship between a man and his cat. The daily escapades of this adorable pet, which always involve demanding more food, and his exasperated but doting owner come to life through Tofield's charming and hilarious illustrations.

The River


Alessandro Sanna - 2013
    Consisting almost entirely of images, The River presents each of the four seasons as its own chapter and story. A few sentences at the start of each chapter set the stage and provide clues for following each story. Beginning in autumn and ending in summer, The River is about our connection to place, as well as about the connections between geography, setting, and the stories we tell. The River is also about the flow of time, which flows like the river, and carries us.Alessandro Sanna and his work are renowned throughout Italy and this book, which will fascinate young and old alike, demonstrates why.

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt


Caroline Preston - 2011
    Caroline Preston, author of the New York Times Notable Book Jackie by Josie, uses a kaleidoscopic array of vintage memorabilia—postcards, letters, magazine ads, ticket stubs, catalog pages, fabric swatches, candy wrappers, fashion spreads, menus and more—to tell the tale of spirited and ambitious Frankie’s remarkable odyssey from Vassar to Greenwich Village to Paris, in a manner that will delight crafters, historical fiction fans, and anyone who loves a good coming-of-age story ingeniously told.

The Bowery Boys: Adventures in Old New York: An Unconventional Exploration of Manhattan's Historic Neighborhoods, Secret Spots and Colorful Characters


Greg Young - 2016
    Now, in their first-ever book, the duo gives you an exclusive personal tour through New York’s old cobblestone streets and gas-lit back alleyways. Featuring fascinating guides to:• Hell's Kitchen and Columbus Circle• The Bowery and Astor Place• Tribeca and Foley Square• Chinatown and Little Italy• and all the rest of New York!

(un)Fashion


Tibor Kalman - 2000
    Completed by his wife and partner in M&Co, noted children's book author Maira Kalman, (un)Fashion will startle, amuse, engross, and enchant as it adds posthumously to Tibor Kalman's reputation as one of the graphic design geniuses of the 20th century.From cardboard shoes in Africa to body paint in New Guinea, from chimney sweeps in France to an Indian Elvis, (un)Fashion scans the globe to show how real people dress: at work, on the street, or for ceremonial occasions. With virtually no text, (un)Fashion pokes gentle fun at the elitism of the fashion world, presenting its provocative observations through dynamic images by some of the world's foremost photojournalists.

Forgotten New York: Views of a Lost Metropolis


Kevin Walsh - 2006
    Forgotten New York covers all five boroughs with easy-to-use maps and suggested routes to hundreds of out-of-the way places, antiquated monuments, streets to nowhere, and buildings from a time lost.Forgotten New York features:Quiet PlacesTruly ForgottenHistory Happened HereWhat Is This Thing?Forgotten PeopleAnd so much more

The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book


Bill Watterson - 1995
    To celebrate the tenth anniversary of this distinguished partnership, Bill Watterson prepared this special book, sharing his thoughts on cartooning and creating Calvin and Hobbes, illustrated throughout with favorite black-and-white and color cartoons.

A Book of Books


Abelardo Morell - 2002
    A BOOK OF BOOKS showcases Abelardo Morell's extraordinary photographs of unusual books, like an impossibly large dictionary, illustrated tomes whose characters appear to leap off the page, and water-damaged books that take on sculptural form. Bookish quotations by Hawthorne, Borges, Cocteau, and others accompany the photographs throughout.

Tintin: The Complete Companion


Michael Farr - 2001
    An overview of the world-famous comic character and of his adventures through the 23 titles of the complete oeuvre, the Complete Companion contextualizes Hergé's work and places it in its historical period by showing side by side by side the drawings and the references used by the artist to establish believable backgrounds and realistic details.Also included are large numbers of sketches that Herge would rework and polish until he would find the clearest, most easily readable line, giving birth to a style that would later be called the Clear Line.

Instant Light: Tarkovsky Polaroids


Andrei Tarkovsky - 2004
    The melancholy of seeing things for the last time is the highly mysterious and poetic essence that these images leave with us. It is as though Andrei wanted to transmit his own enjoyment quickly to others. And they feel like a fond farewell."Tonino Guerra, from the IntroductionThis beautifully produced book comprises sixty Polaroid photographs of Andrei Tarkovsky's friends and family, taken between 1979 and 1984 in his native Russia and in Italy, where he spent time in political exile.The size of the Polaroids is exactly as presented in the book, including the frame. The book may therefore be viewed as a facsimile edition. 60 color illustrations.

Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words


Randall Munroe - 2015
    Explore computer buildings (datacenters), the flat rocks we live on (tectonic plates), the things you use to steer a plane (airliner cockpit controls), and the little bags of water you're made of (cells).