Totally off Topic-

But in the Foggygates Victory Garden, our string-tied tomatoes have gone from this-

to this in just 3 weeks!

No ripe tomatoes yet, but they're loaded with green ones, so we're just waiting (im)patiently...

Here's Something to Grab Your Attention!

We've updated our sale list to include almost 400 titles!

Click here to see them all

SHELF-CLEARING TIME!

It's those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, but it's too hot to build new bookcases, so we're going to clear some instead. Today we have 97 special books marked down 20-50%. Please visit our store and see if there's something you never-before knew you had to have!

See Our SPECIALS!!

Baby__ ???

1 guess as to who the baby in this 19th century book engraving grew up to be-

Our New Catalog-

Ah, Spring! For the Book Elves that means its time to dig out the grill & beer cooler and spend pleasant, balmy evenings passed out in the half-dug garden amidst a welter of beer cans and potted tomato seedlings. It also means, regrettably, Spring Cleaning. As part of that ritual this year, the book Elves decided to re-organize the private library in the Cataloging Cave, which is variously described as being somewhere between “a gabajillion” and “umpty bazillion” volumes. Being Book Elves, the “re-organization” consisted of moving every single book one bookcase to the left.

But before they were lost to sight under mounds of hardcovers, softcovers, leather-covers and no-covers, the Book Elves finished our latest catalog-

CATALOG 338: RECENT ACQUISITIONS for JULY:

Books on the Fine and Decorative Arts, Antiques, Design & related subjects.

You can see the entire catalog, with illustrations, on our website.

Renaissance & Baroque Bronzes

We are pleased to

present a special list:

Books on Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes,

most from a private collector's library.

You can see the entire catalog,

with illustrations, on our website.

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Our New May Catalog-

What a production the Royal Wedding was! The pomp, the red & gilt-coated ushers, the brass bands, live swans, incense, Latin chants and silly hats –and that was just the Book Elves’ party here in the Cataloging Cave.

Of course, if we’re making a list we might also include the cartons of nachos, dozen kegs of beer, three wide-screen televisions (two of which survived the festivities), obscene limerick contest, and two live badgers that got loose on the hors d’oeuvres table...

But before the Book Elves maxed out all their credit cards and re-created Westminster Abbey in quarter-scale using only matchsticks and rubber cement, they finished our latest catalog-

CATALOG 337: RECENT ACQUISITIONS FOR MAY:

Books on the Fine and Decorative Arts, Antiques,

Design & related subjects is now ready for viewing!

You can see the entire catalog,

with illustrations, on our website!

Books on Native American Arts-

We recently added a number of additional titles to our stock of books on American Indian arts & crafts.

They can be seen here.

Our April Catalog-

The Book Elves are nothing if not rabid baseball fans, and this year to celebrate Opening Day they decided to build a miniature replica of FenwayPark in the field out behind the Cataloging Cave. The whole thing went surprisingly smoothly for a project of this size (or indeed, for any project involving the Book Elves), with a minimum of explosions, fires, hospitalizations or court orders. By Opening Day everything was ready for a party, and they brought in grills and hot dogs and coleslaw and chips and kegs of beer –and then it started to snow. And the grill went out, and the hot dog buns got soggy, and the coleslaw froze... and then Sox pitcher Jon Lester gave up three home runs in five innings. By game’s end the Book Elves had retired to the Cataloging Cave with the chips and beer, and their Fenway Park replica was sitting under three inches of new snow.

And then the cops showed up...

But before they admitted to the court that they built their amazing replica of Fenway’s left field wall (the Green Monster) by “liberating” the backboards from the town’s tennis courts, the Book Elves finished our latest catalog-

CATALOG 336: RECENT ACQUISITIONS:

Books on the Fine and Decorative Arts, Antiques,

Design & related subjects is now ready for viewing!

You can see the entire catalog,

with illustrations, on our website!

FEATURED CATALOG-

"Silver by the Fox Family of Silversmith. A Major Collection & Various Properties"

Gallery/Date: London; Phillips: September 23, 1988.

Discussion: The sale of a unique collection of silver spanning the 19th century, all made by the Fox family of silversmiths, Charles Fox and his family. The private collection was amassed with care over several decades, and some other Fox family silver is added to round out the sale.

Description: Softcover. 7”x9.5”, 68+ pages, 104 lots, color and black & white illustrations.

Condition Notes: Light soil to the covers, contents fine.

$50.00

FEATURED BOOK- First Impressions are important...

“Lasting Impressions. American Painters in France 1865-1915”

By William H. Gerdts, et al.

Published by the Musee Americain Giverny & Terra Foundation for the Arts in 1992.

DISCUSSION: A magnificent catalog to the loan exhibition at the Musee Americain Giverny, paired with the fine extended essay (pp 13-124) “American Art and the French Experience” by Professor Gerdts.

DESCRIPTION: Hardcover. 9”x12”, 286 pages, 98 color and 140 black & white illustrations, dust jacket.

CONDITION NOTES: Minor wear, but overall clean and nice, with a tight binding and no marks.

PRICE: $35.00

Our March Catalog-

Figuring “better late than never”, and having finally been cleared for interstate travel by the Department of Homeland Security, the Book Elves packed up the lime-green VW microbus with shovels and rakes and implements of disruption, and debauched for Florida and Spring Break.

[Editor’s Note: astute readers will have noticed the completely incorrect use of the word “debauched” by the author; he assures me that, taking into account the confluence of the Book Elves, Florida, Spring Break, and unlimited quantities of beer and inflatable pool toys, the word “debauched” fits, if not in a technically correct sense, then at least in a moral one].

But before they left us trying to figure out how they got the snowblower up on top of the carriage house roof, and how much bail money we are going to need to wire down when the inevitable call comes in from the Florida State Police, the Book Elves finished our latest catalog-

CATALOG 335: RECENT ACQUISITIONS:

Books on the Fine and Decorative Arts, Antiques,

Design & related subjects is now ready for viewing!

You can see the entire catalog,

with illustrations, on our website!

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Our New February Catalog-

It’s been snowing here more or less constantly since December, and as the drifts hit six feet the Book Elves collectively threw their snow shovels aside and announced that it was a grand time to go sledding. The only problem with this otherwise engaging idea was that all the sleds had been destroyed last July in the Great Goat-Sled Rodeo Disaster. Where the stupi-, er, imaginative idea of substituting kayaks for sleds came from has now been lost, and perhaps it’s better that way.

So up to the top of Mt. Crumpet, um, Mt. Tom, the Book Elves trudged with their fleet of Kayaks, in a real-life “Paddle to the Sea” moment. And in fact, that may be where they ended up, because ever since they slid back down Mt. Tom in the general direction of the Connecticut River, nobody has seen a trace of them. Or the kayaks. Or ten cases of beer that we had been storing for our Super Bowl party.

But before the Book Elves launched themselves down the icy mountain slope of fame or disaster, they finished our latest catalog-

“RECENT ACQUISITIONS for FEBRUARY, 2011”

features books and catalogs on the decorative and fine arts, design, trades, and related subjects, and it is browsable on our website.

20% Off 285 Selected Books!

It was 13 degrees this morning- that's not a temperature, that's a football score. To keep themselves warm before the coffee kicked in this morning the Book Elves got busy and marked down 285 selected books from our stock by 20%. You can see them, and pictures, here at our Ebay store->

http://tinyurl.com/jhrb-sale

If you see something you want you don't have to order thru Ebay, you can also call or email us, and we'll put it aside for you.

All right, now I have to go peel three Book Elves off the radiator.

Our New Winter Catalog!

Ah, Christmastime in New England! And what better way to celebrate the holidays (thought the Book Elves), than to set up a traditional Nativity Scene on the front lawn! What better way indeed? No problem- except the Book Elves are not into plastic, made-in-China stuff from Wal*Mart. Oh no- they’re into bigger, more inventive, more, um… “realistic” projects.

And we all know what that means, don’t we? Yes, it’s time double-check that our lawyer & the Fire Dept. are on speed-dial.

But before the Book Elves started answering angry questions from the DPW about the three dumptruck-loads of sand that disappeared from their facility last Thursday night, and from the Springfield zoo about their missing camels, and from the SPCA about the possible use of duct tape to keep the sheep from wandering away, and from the TSA about the three odd men in flowing robes and turbans who were detained at Logan Airport, they finished our latest catalog-

CATALOG 333: RECENT ACQUISITIONS:

Books on the Fine and Decorative Arts,

Antiques, Design & related subjects

is now ready for viewing!

You can see the entire catalog,

with illustrations, here!

Happy Birthday, Frida Kahlo

July 6, 1907 - Frida Kahlo, Mexican Realist, Symbolist, and Surrealist painter, was born. "Frida Kahlo de Rivera (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954; born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón) was a Mexican painter, and a communist born in Coyoacán. She painted "pain and passion" using intense, vibrant colors. Her style "close to folk art" was influenced among others by indigenous cultures of Mexico, European Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. Many of her works are self-portraits. Kahlo was married to Mexican muralist and communist Diego Rivera."

Robert Adam & John Singleton Copley

ALMANAC-

July 3, 1728 – Robert Adam, Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer, was born in Kircaldy. "Robert Adam was the son of William Adam, Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his older brother John, Robert took on the family business, which included lucrative work for the Board of Ordnance, after William's death. In 1754 he left for Rome, spending nearly five years on the continent studying architecture under Charles-Louis Clérisseau and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. On his return to Britain he established a practice in London, where he was joined by his younger brother James. Here he developed the "Adam Style", and his theory of "movement" in architecture, based on his studies of antiquity and became one of the most successful and fashionable architects in the country. Adam held the post of Architect of the Kings Works from 1761 to 1769. Robert Adam was leader of the first phase of the classical revival in England and Scotland from around 1760 until his death. He influenced the development of Western architecture, both in Europe and in North America. Adam was not content with providing houses for his clients but very ready to design the fittings and accessories as well."

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July 3, 1738 – Colonial portraitist John Singleton Copley was born. "John Singleton Copley (1738[1] – 1815) was an American painter, born presumably in Boston, Massachusetts and a son of Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Irish. He is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects. His paintings were innovative in their tendency to depict artifacts relating to these individuals' lives. According to art historian Paul Staiti, Copley was the greatest and most influential painter in colonial America, producing about 350 works of art. With his startling likenesses of persons and things, he came to define a realist art tradition in America. His visual legacy extended throughout the nineteenth century in the American taste for the work of artists as diverse as Fitz Henry Lane and William Harnett. In Britain, while he continued to paint portraits for the élite, his great achievement was the development of contemporary history painting, which was a combination of reportage, idealism, and theatre. He was also one of the pioneers of the private exhibition, orchestrating shows and marketing prints of his own work to mass audiences that might otherwise attend exhibitions only at the Royal Academy, or who previously had not gone to exhibitions at all. Boston's Copley Square, Copley Square Hotel and Copley Plaza bear his name."

Copley's portrait of silversmith Paul Revere

The Wreck of the Medusa

July 2, 1816: The French frigate Medusa grounds and subsequently begins to break up –the ensuing tragedy became the subject of Gericault's famous painting "Raft of the Medusa".

"The Raft of the Medusa is an oil painting of 1818–1819 by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791–1824). Completed when the artist was just 27, the work has become an icon of French Romanticism. It is an over-life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse, which ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania on July 2, 1816. At least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the 13 days before their rescue, and those who survived endured starvation, dehydration, cannibalism and madness. The event became an international scandal, in part because its cause was widely attributed to the incompetence of the French captain acting under the authority of the recently restored French monarchy."

"In choosing the tragedy as subject matter for his first major work—an uncommissioned depiction of an event from recent history—Géricault consciously selected a well-known incident that would generate great public interest and help launch his career. The event fascinated the young artist, and before he began work on the final painting, he undertook extensive research and produced many preparatory sketches. He interviewed two of the survivors, and constructed a detailed scale model of the raft. His efforts took him to morgues and hospitals where he could view, first-hand, the colour and texture of the flesh of the dying and dead. As the artist had anticipated, the painting proved highly controversial at its first appearance in the 1819 Paris Salon, attracting passionate praise and condemnation in equal measure. However, it established his international reputation, and today is widely seen as seminal in the early history of the Romantic movement in French painting."

"Although The Raft of the Medusa retains elements of the traditions of history painting, in both its choice of subject matter and its dramatic presentation, it represents a break from the calm and order of the then-prevailing Neoclassical school. Géricault's work attracted wide attention almost immediately from its first showing, and was subsequently exhibited in London. It was acquired by the Louvre soon after the artist's early death at the age of 32. The painting's influence can be seen in the works of Eugène Delacroix, J. M. W. Turner, Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet.

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July 2, 1864: Legislation to create National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol building, is passed. The Hall, one of the earliest examples of Neoclassical architecture in America, contains statues of important Americans, contributed by all 50 states.

Salvador Dali Dives for Surrealism & Almost Doesn't Return-

ALMANAC-

July 1, 1936: During The International Surrealist Exhibition in London, Salvador Dali attempts to give the lecture 'Fantomes paranoiaques authentiques' while wearing a deep-sea diving suit, but almost suffocates and has to be rescued by the young poet, David Gascoyne, who arrives with a hammer in the nick of time. In his 1942 autobiography Dali recounted the adventure-

“Lord Berners was in charge of renting the diving suit in question, and over the telephone they asked him to specify exactly to what depth Mr Dali wished to descend. Lord Berners replied that I was going to descend to the subconscious, after which I would immediately come up again. With equal seriousness the voice answered that in this case they would replace the helmet with a special one.”

“I got into the diving suit, and the mechanic from the diving-suit establishment bolted my helmet on tight. The diving suit had extremely heavy lead shoes which I could barely lift. I therefore had to walk very slowly, leaning on friends who helped to move me, as though I were completely paralysed, and thus I appeared before the audience holding two luxurious white Russian wolfhounds on a leash.

“My apparition in a diving suit must have had a very anguishing effect, for a great silence fell over the audience. My assistants managed to get me to my seat behind the microphone. It was only at this moment that I realised that it would be impossible for me to deliver my speech through the glass window of my helmet. Moreover, I had been shut up in this thing for 10 minutes and became heated from the exertions I had made in walking across the stage to reach my chair, so that I was dripping with perspiration, and felt faint and on the point of suffocating.

“I made the most energetic gestures I could to have the helmet of my diving suit removed. Gala and Edward James, immediately understanding my painful situation, came running to take off my helmet. But it was solidly bolted on, and there was nothing to be done, for the worker who had put it on me had disappeared. They tried to open a slit between the helmet and the suit with a billiard cue so that I would be able to breathe. Finally they brought a hammer and began to strike the bolts energetically to make them turn. At each blow I thought I would faint.

“The audience for the most part was convinced that all this was part of the show, and was loudly applauding, extremely amused at the pantomime that we were playing so realistically. When I at last got out of the diving suit everyone was impressed by my really deathly pallour, which constituted the accurate gauge of that Dalinian dramatic element which never fails to attend my most trivial acts and undertakings.”

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There is, of course, no video of this, so I had to make do with this Dali-esque moment-

Let's Take a Sleigh Ride with the Greek Slaves to the Globe Theatre!

NOTED-

- Adding the Personal to the Purely Sacred: "Illuminations of sacred and ritualistic texts are forms of eruptions. Out of familiar and formulaic script leap the strange and extravagant. Rigorous textual arguments give way to decorative ornamentation. Formulaic words submit to a rich brocade of image. Go to the Yeshiva University Museum at the Center for Jewish History and you can begin to see how this urge to illuminate text helped shape the Jewish tradition. An exhibition there, “A Journey Through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books,” has extended its stay until Aug. 1; it will then travel to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem..." read more

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ALMANAC-

June 29, 1613: The Globe Theatre in London, England burns to the ground. "The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. The Globe was built in 1599 using timber from an earlier theatre. On 29 June 1613 the Globe Theatre went up in flames during a performance of Henry the Eighth. A theatrical cannon, set off during the performance, misfired, igniting the wooden beams and thatching. According to one of the few surviving documents of the event, no one was hurt except a man whose burning breeches were put out with a bottle of ale. It was rebuilt in the following year."

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June 29, 1805: Hiram Powers, American sculptor, was born. "The son of a farmer, Powers was born in Woodstock, Vermont, on the July 29, 1805. In 1826 he began to frequent the studio of Frederick Eckstein, and at once conceived a strong passion for the art of sculpture. In 1837 he settled in Florence, where he remained till his death, though he did travel to England during this time. He developed a thriving business in portraiture and "fancy" parlor busts, but he also devoted his time to creating life-size, full-figure ideal subjects. In 1843 he produced his celebrated statue The Greek Slave, which at once gave him a place among the leading sculptors of his time. It was exhibited at the centre of the Crystal Palace Exhibition and Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote a sonnet on it. The sculpture The Greek Slave became an abolitionist cause and copies of it appeared in many Union-supporting state houses."

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June 29, 1908: Leroy Anderson, American composer, was born. "Leroy Anderson (June 29, 1908 – May 18, 1975) was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams described him as "one of the great American masters of light orchestral music." His pieces and his recordings during the fifties conducting a studio orchestra were immense commercial successes. "Blue Tango" was the first instrumental recording ever to sell one million copies. His most famous pieces are probably "Sleigh Ride" and "The Syncopated Clock", both of which are instantly recognizable to millions of people. Anderson's musical style, heavily influenced by George Gershwin and folk music of various lands, employs creative instrumental effects and occasionally makes use of sound-generating items such as typewriters and sandpaper. Anderson would occasionally appear on the Boston Pops regular concerts on PBS to conduct his own music while Fiedler would sit on the sidelines. For "The Typewriter" Fiedler would don a green eyeshade, roll up his sleeves, and mime working on an old typewriter while the orchestra played."

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