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.

Merry Christmas to All!

It's been a holiday season full of e-cards! This card from Harry N. Abrams shows a magical image of Central Park. CEO Michael Jacobs writes:

"When I picked this image for our company holiday card--from our forthcoming book Seeing Central Park by Sara Cedar Miller of the Central Park Conservancy--it was around 50° (F) in the city but I thought that the mood it evoked was so perfect and dreamlike that I couldn't resist. If you were in NY now you'd know that it's been snowing intermittently since Friday and the Sheephold is as wintry and beautiful as depicted in this photo. The red brick building in the background is a well known restaurant seen from a different angle and its red brick façade in the snow (not unlike what it looks like outside my window now) is an inspiration as well."



A wonderful e-card from Brian Morris, owner of AVA Books, takes you on a fantasy ride with Santa around the globe, through the works of British artist and illustrator Jacquie Lawson. Click on this link to see the animated card, it is really lovely!


Also received some really nice personal e-cards from friends and colleagues. One from Bahar Gidwani, publisher, entrepreneur, and currently CEO of a new start-up called Sonibyte that allows publishers to convert their content into podcasts. Bahar's card is photo-album of a year of travels, and he certainly echoed my sentiments in his wishes that 2009 be a year of positive change for all of us!

Paperwork

I once heard an anecdote about someone whose method of organizing papers resembled the psychoanalytic process. Their filing system was like the unconscious: a dark and confused jumble from which - after much struggle and searching - that which had been presumed lost for good would miraculously surface.

Right now this is also an excellent description of my year-end paperwork-organizing efforts. The possibility of final clarity and coherence appears only remotely likely, and there always seem to be key pieces of information that are buried, lost or in some cases so complicated that they are likely to remain an eternal mystery. Add to this, tempting distractions such as perusing through the beautiful catalogue I picked up at Art Basel Miami.

However, shuffling through papers can be a welcome diversion, particularly when the economy is tanking and the future seems uncertain.

Last week I spend several days in Washington, DC and Manhattan visiting clients. Here are a few comments representative of the week's business discussions:

"I can't see you this week as we're bunkered down in meetings to try to figure out how much we lost in 2008"; "We're expecting 6-7% layoffs and have no idea what our publishing plans are for 2009";"It's going to be like the great Depression! There are going to be bread lines! In Manhattan!"

All of this may have contributed to the fact that I got violently ill the night of Mondadori's annual Holiday Party. I said a quick hello to a few clients (several of which had just been laid off), and then rushed over to a friend's apartment and tossed my cookies. When I had recovered sufficiently to converse, I learned that my friend (one of my most high-achieving pals, too) had just been laid off from her job at a major international bank.

So for this week I am hiding my head in paperwork. Everyone in publishing seems so panicked that it's hard to have meaningful discussions right now. Let's see what Santa Claus brings for Christmas and the New Year. I've got my list, which begins with "Some Really Nice New Book Projects, Please...."

Art Basel Miami - What's happening on South Beach

It's almost more fun to check out some of the galleries exhibiting outside the Miami Convention Center.

After a thorough tour of the Convention Center, I drive down to South Beach with my friend George Dick, where a number of the famous deco-style hotels on the beach are hosting gallery shows.


The Aqua Hotel is hosting gallery shows in the Wynwood Design District and also at their hotel on South Beach. Each guest room at the hotel has been turned into a small gallery space, and in the central courtyard, you can enjoy free drinks from the open bar and have your own personal poem created for you.

I like the friendly chattiness of the artists and gallery owners who are exhibiting here - since most are not yet really really famous, they are much more open to talking. And I am sure all the free drinks help in this department too! Here's one piece I liked by Shag.


A series of photos by and of Hunter S. Thompson presented by Ammo Books, part of their new limited edition title Gonzo.


















I liked these works by Laura Sanders too. Very evocative of summers and vacations of my childhood.