Favorites (third post) - Big and Small

It's 7:30 am and I am about to board a JetBlue flight to Washington for meetings with several publishers and museums. I'll spend the balance of the week in New York, pounding the pavement with my rolly bag of books.

Before I head off, I wanted to post this last group of books, which I think nicely rounds out the range of work we accomplished in 2008: from the enormous Visual Atlas from National Geographic, to a special edition monograph of the work of Robert Vickrey from Hudson Hills Press; a survey of Post-Modern Art from Collins Design to the small and handy paperback Travel Guide to Beijing from National Geographic.


But now it is on to find more work! Wish me luck ....

Some More Favorites (second post) - From Across the Pond

I have to admit, I am slightly gleeful whenever I hear how cold it is in New York - because here in Florida 'cold' is waking up to 60 degrees with a daytime temperature of 75. I shiver anyway, just remembering how cold New York City in winter can be! Here in our front yard I get to enjoy the company of these guys - these green parrots fill the air from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale with their boisterous chatter. I love it that these Urban Birds are flying around and living here in among the houses and skyscrapers. Making as much noise as everybody else.

As I mentioned in my last post, I had asked the Mondadori plant in Verona to let me know what some of their favorite projects had been for 2008. Last week's post was about Museum Books. Today I want to highlight some beautiful projects from France and the UK.

From the UK, these vastly different titles were noteworthy: with selections made by Christian Lacroix from the Musee des Artes Decoratifs, Christian Lacroix on Fashion is a "riot of glorious color" so says the Times of London. It is a gorgeous book, published by Thames and Hudson, and printed on one of our more sumptuous paper stocks. This is definitely one for the coffee table to show off my good taste. And speaking, above, of my green feathered neighbors, the second favorite from the UK this year is Rainforest: Light and Spirit. This title is chock full of wonderful illustrations of the flora and fauna of the tropics as illustrated by artist Harry Holcroft. With a foreward by The Prince of Wales. Published by The Antique Collector's Club.


These three titles come from ... Yes: France. I adore the photographer Yves Arthus-Bertrand, whose new book shown here is France From The Air published by Editions de la Martiniere. His previously published, phenomenal, oversized book of photos from the Salon D'Agricole is one of my favorites and I wish he would pack up his camera and come to the US of A, and create a series of photos capturing the American farmer and his animals with a similar compassion and artistry. Maybe with the new administration, the idea of a visit to the States will seem less onerous to the French sensibility ... Also from Editions de la Martiniere, a catalogue of the artwork of the Omo People and Design and a book by Nat Geo France, enormous as usual, on Trees and Forests of The World.

Some Favorites (first of three posts) - Great Museum Books

I asked my colleagues in Verona what the staff thought were some of the most beautifully printed book projects for 2008. Some of their favorites are my favorites too, and I've covered a number of these projects in earlier blog posts this past Fall; here now are several more important projects that have not been covered. All of these titles are new, most released right before Christmas.

It's a stunning group of books - or perhaps I should say "weighty" since the boxes of books I received from Verona probably totaled over 50 lbs.

(And were delivered as one box of nearly 50 lbs and another of - 2 lbs! Not very convenient for lifting)

I've grouped these into several batches, the first of which is Museum Books.

This year brought a number of important titles from several of the top institutions in the United States. Featured in the foreground is The Color of Light: Watercolors by Winslow Homer from The Art Institute of Chicago. From left to right, back row, are shown: Art and Love in Renaissance Italy from The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Masterpieces: Great Paintings of the World in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and another title from the MFA El Greco to Velazquez

NOTE: And speaking of museums, for some interesting information on museums today, check out the NPR series Museums in the 21st Century.

I love having great samples like these to show potential customers, and I'll be in Washington and New York later this month for just that purpose. If only these books were not so heavy ... But the bigger issue on my mind when traveling in January is the weather: 8 degrees (F) this morning in New York! Here in South Florida it is a balmy 70 degrees.




This morning when I took the dog for a walk, the moon was out. A nice way to start a new week.

The New Year is like a Book

So says my friend and fellow yoga student David Hart. David said, "I got this quote from one of my teachers, and the 'book' reference made me think of you."

It goes something like this:

"The New Year is like a book with all the pages unwritten and blank for you to enter into it anything that you want to write. It is yours to do as you wish. You may write in letters of gold if you wish, and make it a thing of beauty."


Happy New Year. Let 2009 be a book written in letters of gold.