Venetian crushed stone floors are a rather difficult subject -very little material about them is available in the literature. Certainly the neo-classic elements are unmistakable, and the influence of recently excavated Roman ruins must have played a part in their popularity in Italy and, as this book illustrates, Germany.
The plates show the stone being prepared and colored, the floor surface being planned, laid-out and prepared, and the stone being applied and smoothed. The workmen are all stylishly dressed for such a dirty job, and appear very happy at their tasks. Young boys help with the work in a number of plates. Obviously a labor and time-intensive task, the laying of a stone floor is chronicled here in hand-colored plates that can only be described as jewel-like.
A scarce book, with only a single OCLC listing. Hardcover. 8.5"x10.5", 28 pages of text plus 24 hand-colored engraved plates on 12 leaves. We have a more extensive description in our March catalog.
I'm happy to say that the new edition of the Chipstone Foundation's acclaimed anthology of American furniture essays is available-
We've just recieved a great new book on Philadelphia Empire furniture!
We have an interesting 18th century silk-related title in 
It’s going to be Saint Patrick’s Day soon, and since it involves food and beer, it’s one of the Book Elves favorite holidays. They’ve always thrown a big party to celebrate, but after last year’s “mishap”, and the ensuing court costs, they decided to do a dry run a few weeks ahead of time this year.
At this time of year we have a huge crowd of birds at the feeders, from early in the morning until dusk. But the three pairs of cardinals, several woodpeckers, bunches of wrens, finches, doves and other assorted little birds (plus half a dozen fat squirrels) are now being joined on a regular basis by a young red-tailed hawk. He first showed up a week or so ago, sitting in the tall tree behind the carriage house, and has lately taken to sitting on the railing of the deck, or in the small fruit tree we hang the feeders on just beside it. I am afraid he may not be here for the seeds...
This is the story of a gigantic (so to speak) scholarly “oopsie”-
The “old warrior” (he had a white beard and was emaciated, somewhat like, as one observer commented later, a Giacommetti sculpture) was soon followed by a massive four-foot tall terra cotta warrior’s head, and there was even talk of a greater treasure waiting to be found...
After selling the figure to the Metropolitan, the pair began work on another figure, this time a gigantic warrior's head. Working from a description by Pliny of a 25-foot tall statue of Jupiter in a Roman temple, the pair made the head four and a half feet tall. This was broken into 178 pieces, fired, and shipped off to the Met. And then Riccardo and Alfredo had to leave to serve their time in the Italian Army.
In 1921 the Met. purchased the warrior for an undisclosed price said to have approached 5 million dollars in today’s money. The statue was reconstructed from the fragments by the Met's experts with one odd exception- the genitals, which had been carefully modeled (the warrior, like many Etruscan statues, was partially nude from the waist down) were left off and apparently kept in storage. It may have been just as well. One story that came to light later related that while the body of the figure was based upon that of Riccardo's cousin and helper Teodoro, the "privates" were modeled after Riccardo's own, and had been recognized by a number of young Italian ladies of his hometown...
A much more detailed account of the warriors was written by David Sox in his excellent book “Unmasking the Forger, The Dossena Deception” (1987), from which most of the material for this essay was taken; Thomas Hoving, the former Director of the Met., also deals with the story, and speculates on the role of John Marshall, in his book "False Impressions: The Hunt for Big-Time Art Fakes" (1996).
The Book Elves have a tradition of being hard on pots and plates- there was the time they decided to "Class Up" the greenhouse by repotting all the cacti in the 18th century Sevres; there was that regrettable incident after too much eggnog last Christmas when they tried to find out how high "too high" was when it came to stacking the Wegdwood dinnerware; and we're all trying to forget last July 4th's infamous "Great Minton Shoot"...
It was an odd January here at Foggygates- lots of cold, but no snow. That, however, was not going to stop the Book Elves from enjoying themselves, so after a hard day in the Cataloging Cave they planned to hit the “slopes” in the neighbor’s field, making snow with the help of two garden hoses, 300 feet of heavy duty extension cord and a dozen old industrial fans they picked up cheap at a local farm auction. 
Huey, Michael (ed.). Viennese
Kelly, Ian. Cooking for Kings. The Life of Antonin Careme, the First Celebrity Chef. New York; Walker & Co.: 2003. “A unique feast of biography and Regency cookbook, ‘Cooking for Kings’ takes readers on a culinary tour of the palaces of Britain and Europe in the ultimate age of gastronomic indulgence, when, for the first time, chefs became celebrities and the modern restaurant was born”. Antonin Careme invented the chef’s hat and soufflé, and cooked for Romanovs, Rothschilds, Emperors and Kings. Hardcover. 5.5”x8.5”, 301 pages, several color and line illustrations, dj. New. [95069]
Lang, Gordon (ed.). 1000 Tiles. Ten Centuries of Decorative Ceramics. San Francisco; Chronicle Books: 2004. A colorful extravaganza of antique tiles, from antique Islamic and Dutch tiles and Italian maiolica to Medieval pavements and colorful Victorian, Arts & Crafts and Art Deco examples. The authors include Paul Atterbury, Catherine Blake and Riccardo Sorani. If you love tiles you’ll love this thick, weighty book. Softcover. 8”x9”, 320 pages, packed with color illustrations. New. [95068] 
Well, for one brief, shining moment Spring came early to Foggygates. Yes, according to the calendar it was only January, but it was 71 degrees on Saturday and the Book Elves went into full Springtime Overdrive Frenzy, hauling out the rakes and yard tools, as well as the lawn chairs and barbecue equipment. The end result was that three of them got completely stuck in the mud in the garden and had to be rescued by the neighbor’s lawn tractor, and the barbecue was brought to an unfortunate and abrupt end by that unforeseen temperature drop and brief snow squall at dusk (around 4:30).
We don't carry many cookbooks, but when this one was brought to my attention, I knew we had to add it to our stock-
Established in 1806, the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia is the state’s oldest continuously-operated public cemetery. This book contains not only funeral lore and recipes, but many photographs of the beautiful and historic grounds and buildings. A unique cookbook.
