World Food Books

On Growth and Form
by D'arcy Thompson

1983, English
Softcover, 346 pages, 21 x 13.5 cm
Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Cambridge University Press / Cambridge

$35.00 - In stock -

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1983 Cambridge edition, edited by J. T. Bonner.

In 1917, the Scottish mathematical biologist, zoologist and Classics scholar D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1860-1948) published On Growth and Form, a poetic and mathematical study of scale, gravity, order and process. This book has occupied an important place in biological literature and also lodged itself within the consciousness of twentieth century sculpture. In it, D'Arcy Thompson analysed biological processes in their mathematical and physical aspects and also succeeded in producing a work that is, to quote Professor Bonner, 'good literature as well as good science; it is a discourse on science as though it were a humanity'.

It is a book about the way things grow, and the shapes they take. Here a great man of science who was also a poet tells of the shape of horns, of teeth, of tusks; of jumping fleas and slipper limpets; of buds and seeds, bees' cells and drops of rain; of the potter's thumb and the spider's web; of cylinders and unduloids; of a film of soap and a bubble of oil; of the splash of a pebble in a pond.

To bring this work to a wider readership, including those who cannot find time to study the complete work of over 1000 pages, Professor Bonner has made this abridgement. By omitting the less essential parts of the book and those which have been rendered out of date by recent research, and some of the large number of examples, it has been possible to present, in D'Arcy Thompson's own words, the core of the original book.

VG copy, light age, edge markings.

File under: D'arcy Thompson Cambridge University Press / Cambridge Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay Ecology / Earth Sculpture / Installation

Mirrors of Infinity: The French Formal Garden and 17th-Century Metaphysics
by Allen S. Weiss

1995, English
Softcover, 144 pages
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by Princeton Architectural Press / New York

$55.00 - In stock -

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First 1992 edition.

From the Japanese Zen Garden to André Le Nôtre's Versailles, the history of landscape reveals that every garden embodies a philosophy. Focusing on the metaphysics, aesthetics, and theology of the seventeenth century, Allen Weiss's analysis offers new insight into the major gardens of this period: Vaux-le-Vicomte, Chantilly, and Versailles.From the Meditations of Descartes and Pascal's Penss, to the intrigues of court politics, Weiss reveals how the structure of these gardens reflects—sometimes literally—the power of Louis XIV, the relationship between God, King, sun, and infinity, and the new science of optics. Weiss's sophisticated yet highly readable text combines contemporary theory with a careful historical reading. He gives us a richer understanding of gardens than allowed in more traditional formal and stylistic analyses.

Near Fine copy.

File under: Allen S. Weiss Princeton Architectural Press / New York Theory / Essay Art Ecology / Earth Architecture / Interior Philosophy

Le Sang et La Rose No.1—4 1968—1969

1968 / 1969, Japanese / French
4 Vols., softcover, approx. 1000 pages, 23 x 18 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo

$350.00 - In stock -

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Complete 4 issue run of Le Sang Et La Rose — a masterpiece of the Japanese underground! Opening with Kishin Shinoyama's photographic portraits of Yukio Mishima depicted as Saint Sebastian and onward through one thousand pages exploring the outer limits of subversive human potential!

Revue de Érotologie, Homosexualité, Sadisme, Masochisme, Fétischisme, Narcissime, Infantilisme, Magie, Occultisme, Humour Noir, Complexe Psychisme. What more could you ask for? Le Sang Et La Rose was a groundbreaking, yet short-lived Japanese arts and literary journal published in Tokyo from late 1968—mid 1969, published in a total of four luxurious, now collectible, volumes. The first three issues were edited by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (1928—1987), a legendary, controversial Japanese novelist, art critic, translator of French writers such as Jean Cocteau, Georges Bataille and Marquis de Sade, and specialist in medieval demonology. The fourth final issue, and rarest of the four, edited by critic Masaaki Hiraoka and designed by self-taught painter, graphic designer and political activist, Kiyoshi Awazu (!) The importance of this magazine to the Japanese avant-garde and radical culture cannot be overstated.

Born from a period of political, social and economical turmoil in Japan, Le Sang Et La Rose may be understood as a emblematic distillation and product of the late ‘60s student rebellion and anti-authoritarian underground culture. Wilfully politically subversive, the publication drew upon a vast range of perspectives - from criticism, literature, obscure esoteric sciences, art, eroticism, radical avant-garde and a historical-rooted Japanese counterculture; featuring literature, theory, art, photography, illustration and graphic design from the most innovative and subversive Japanese and international (predominately French) artists, authors and critics, spanning the themes above. As instigator, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa in effect formulated the magazine’s design to be a spiritual and political operative that would weaponize its readers minds. This stance was made clear in the 1969 manifesto text — "My 1969" — in which Shibusawa discuss' how he perceived the ‘60s as being the age of ideas, ideas as weapons, and outlined a distain towards systems of power, moralism, State oppression, sanitised and harmless liberalism, dogmatic academic sciences and an outright distrust for ideological, progressive literary scholars who advocate "freedom of expression", but have never caused friction with the judicial power. The magazine sketched out an aim to push towards a new kind of personal freedom, intellect, autonomy and moral compass. Here, the concept of ‘erotism’ — as discussed by Georges Bataille in his highly influential 1957 book "Erotism: Death and Sensuality" — acts as a critical force. 

Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (1928—1987), was a well-known and controversial Japanese novelist, art critic, and translator of French writers such as Jean Cocteau, Georges Bataille and Marquis de Sade. In 1960 he and his publisher, Kyōji Ishii, were trialled for public obscenity over the publishing of Shibusawa's translation of de Sade's Juliette into the Japanese language. What was to be known as the "Sade Trial" took 9 years and although many of Japan's leading authors testified for the defense, in 1969 the Japanese Supreme Court ruled them guilty and charged. This did not deter Shibusawa, whose essays on black magic, demonology and eroticism were popular reading in Japan, and in 1981 he was awarded the 9th Izumi Kyoka Literature Prize.

All Good—VG copies with general wear and age.

File under: Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo Periodicals Counterculture Eros Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Fiction / Poetry Occult / Esoterica Ancient / Medieval / Gothic Art Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Crime / Violence Dada Drawing Drugs / Psychedelia Ecology / Earth Ecology Fetishism / BDSM Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Japanese Photography LGBTQ+ Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language Out-of-print / Rare Painting Performance / Dance / Theater Philosophy Photography Poetry Protest / Revolt Psychoanalysis Renaissance / Neoclassicism / Romanticism Sociology / Politics Surrealism Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Theory / Essay

Sonsbeek '71

1971, Dutch / English
Softcover (2 volumes), 232 pages + 96 pages, 29.7 x 21 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Sonsbeek / Arnhem

$140.00 - In stock -

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Scarce Sonsbeek '71 complete 2 volume catalogue set, published in conjunction with exhibition held at Sonsbeek Park, Arnhem, June 19 - August 15, 1971. Sonsbeek Park had been the site of international sculpture exhibitions periodically from 1949. The concept of sonsbeek '71, which was described in the catalogue as an adventure and a dynamic manifestation, was both revolutionary and controversial. It made a radical departure from the usual format by expanding the conceptual and physical territory "beyond the boundaries" and commissioning site-specific works that appeared throughout all of Holland. Along with sculpture, installation, environmental works, and performances, the exhibition aimed to make visitors aware of the influence of (new) communication technologies, such as the telephone and the telex machine, on the perception of space, distance and time. An on-site film and audio studio produced new video works and an offset printing press where artists' plans could be printed was installed, with new artists' publications being sponsored by the exhibition (such as Ruscha's Dutch Details; the artist's book statement reproduced herein). This catalogue itself becomes a vital element of the conceptual activity, reproducing documentation of the works, statements, drawings, instructions, and many artist page-works created specifically for the publications. Edited by Geert van Beijeren and Coosje Kapteyn, with texts (in English and Dutch) by art historian Willem A. L. Beeren and others.

Participating artists include Vito Acconci, Bas Jan Ader, Carl Andre, Ben d`Armagnac, Richard Artschwager, Bruce Baillie, Douwe Jan Bakker, Joseph Beuys, Ronald Bladen, Boezem, Stanley Brouwn, Daniel Buren, Javacheff Christo, Tony Conrad, Hanne Darboven, Walter de Maria, Ad Dekkers, Jan Dibbets, Ger van Elk, Pieter Engels, Groep Enschede, E. R. G., Hans Eykelboom, Barry Flanagan, Hollis Frampton, Ernie Gehr, Dan Graham, Robert Grosvenor, Michael Heizer, Douglas Huebler, Ken Jacobs, joepat, Donald Judd, On Kawara, W. Knoebel, Hans Koetsier, Axel van der Kraan, Peter Kubelka, George Landlow, Standish Dyer Lawder, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Moving Mass, Yutaka Matsuzawa, Mario Merz, Moore, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Robert Nelson, Groep Noord-Brabant, Claes Oldenburg, Dennis Oppenheim, Nam June Paik, Panamarenko, Egbert Philips, Emilio Prini, Klaus Rinke, Peter Roehr, Ulrich Rückriem, Edward Ruscha, Fred Sandback, Jean-Michel Sanejouand, Wim T. Schippers, Richard Serra, Paul Sharits, Eric Siegel, Tony Smith, Robert Smithson, Kenneth Snelson, Michael Snow, Ellen Edinoff, Koert Stuyf, Shinkichi Tajiri, Sajiki and Yokoyama Tenjo, Carel Visser, Andre Volten, Hans de Vries, Lex Wechgelaar, Lawrence Weiner, Joyce Wieland.

Very Good copies each, with light wear/tanning/creasing, otherwise tight and well preserved.

File under: Sonsbeek / Arnhem Out-of-print / Rare Curatorial Minimal Art Conceptual Art Art Sculpture / Installation Theory / Essay Arte Povera Ecology Ecology / Earth Film / Video Group Shows / Collections Performance / Dance / Theater Photography

Gandalf's Garden Issue 5
"Mind Revolution"

1969, English
Softcover (stiff-boards, staple-bound), 34 pages, 30 x 21 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Gandalf's Garden / London

$140.00 - In stock -

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Rare original copy of issue 5 of the legendary Gandalf's Garden magazine from 1969, an important piece of Britain's underground press, issue featuring Soft Machine by drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt, poetry by Joan Baez, psychedelic artwork by Hans-Joachim Zeidler and John Hurford, "Mind Revolution", Cornwall free press, Meher Baba, communes, Middle-earth, cosmic magazines, record reviews (Third Ear Band, Marc Bolan, etc.), and much more. The "Mystical Scene Magazine" was published by Gandalf's Garden, a mystical community and shoppe based in World's End, Chelsea, which flourished at the end of the 1960s as part of the London hippie-underground movement. Edited by Muz Murray and a huge cast of commune contributors and artists, the magazine emphasised the mystical interests of the period, before 'New Age' was a thing — meditation, psychedelics, back-to-the-land ideology, occultism, cosmic rock... The magazine emerged in 1968 publishing 6 issues, all beautifully designed using different colours of ink and various coloured paper stocks throughout each issue. Each issue was heavily illustrated and filled with articles, poetry, interviews, letters, reports and reviews, and, much like fellows of the underground press such as The International Times and OZ, included a healthy dose of satire and "Earthly Revolution".

Very Good copy of the scarce publication, rubbing/pinching to spine, general wear and light marking.

File under: Soft Machine Robert Wyatt Joan Baez Hans-Joachim Zeidler John Hurford Marc Bolan Third Ear Band Gandalf's Garden / London Counterculture Occult / Esoterica Drugs / Psychedelia Health Ecology Ecology / Earth Out-of-print / Rare Periodicals Fiction / Poetry Theory / Essay Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction

Animal Liberation
by Peter Singer

1975 / 1995, English
Softcover, 320 pages, 23.5 x 15.5 cm
Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Pimlico Books / London

$40.00 - In stock -

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1995 UK second edition of Australian philosopher Peter Singer's groundbreaking book, Animal Liberation, first published in 1975. Considered to be the founding philosophical statement of the ideas behind the animal liberation movement, Animal Liberation exposed the realities of life for animals in factory farms and testing laboratories and provided a powerful moral basis for rethinking our relationship to them.

"An extraordinary book which has had extraordinary effects. It galvanised a generation to action. Groups sprang up around the world, equipped with a new vocabulary, a new set of ethics and a new sense of mission...Singer's book is widely known as the bible of the animal liberation movement."—Independent on Sunday

Immensely influential and powerful, Animal Liberation is also highly unusual. A comprehensive analysis of conditions in factory farms and animal laboratories, it compellingly argues that we should stop eating meat. A work of philosophy, it includes recipes for vegetarian food. In this revised edition, Peter Singer discusses the evolution of the animal rights movement and the extent to which his own views have changed since first publication. He also graphically updates his account of what is being done to animals in the name of scientific, military and commercial research.

"A reasoned plea for the humane treatment of animals that galvanised the animal-rights movement the way Rachel Carson's Silent Spring drew activists to environmentalism."—New York Times

"Important and responsible...Everyone ought to read it."—Richard Adams, English novelist and writer of the books Watership Down, Maia, Shardik and The Plague Dogs

Good—VG copy with tanned pages (usual with this edition).

File under: Peter Singer Pimlico Books / London Ecology / Earth Ecology Animal Rights / Veganism Sociology / Politics Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay Philosophy Crime / Violence

Tommaso Protti
Terra Vermelha

2023, English
Softcover, 224 pages, 28 x 21 cm
Published by Void / Reykjavík—Athens

$89.00 - Out of stock

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The Amazon Rainforest—often referred to as 'Lungs of our Planet'—has long been idealised as a dense, green expanse and a pristine sanctuary inhabited by isolated tribes. Terra Vermelha, the culmination of 10-years’ work by photographer Tommaso Protti, presents a raw and unfiltered, alternative portrait of the region. Depicting fields ablaze, the dark river as a conduit for cocaine trafficking and urban areas plagued by violence—the images in the book depict a dystopia, dispelling such romanticised notions.

“As I sat in my hotel room in Marabá, a city in the Amazon state of Parà, Jornal Nacional – Brazil’s flagship news program – transmitted images of the country’s newly elected president, Jair Bolsonaro: “The indigenous in their reservations are like animals in a zoo,” he said. It was November 2018. […] It seemed like a threat, an omen of bad times ahead. I felt that the slow-motion social and environmental breakdown I had seen in the previous years in the Amazon was about to get worse.”

“Deforestation, unregulated development, pollution. All of these scenarios are driven by the same forces; poverty, weak institutions, corruption and savage self-interest. More than in other places, in the Amazon region it becomes clear that land is worth more than human life. And on the path towards the destruction of the planet, the first and closest step for mankind is still its own annihilation… The violence consuming the Brazilian Amazon affects us all and sometimes we are even the unknowing perpetrators of it.”

Tommaso Protti (Italy, 1986) lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. Tommaso Protti has documented the intersecting social and environmental crises plaguing the Amazonian states of Brazil, where the photographer has been based for almost a decade. He started his career as a photographer in 2011 after graduating in Political Science and International Relations. Since then, he has devoted himself on creating his own long-term projects focusing on themes such as crime, the environment, and rural conflict. His work has been featured in global publications and exhibited worldwide.

“This is the Brazilian Amazon today, where indigenous communities are fighting for survival in the face of rampant deforestation. What follows is a dense, disorientating and elliptical reportage that riddles through a conflict-stricken hinterland, unravelling – in the dead of night – stories about savage land-grabs, forest fires and brutal gang murders. […] Needless to say, few publishers could have taken us into the Amazon’s heart of chaos as nightmarishly as Void have.”—Alessandro Merola, 1000 Words

File under: Tommaso Protti Void / Reykjavík—Athens Photography Ecology / Earth Ecology Crime / Violence

Indigenous Aesthetics and Knowledges for Great Ocean Renaissances
by Dr Léuli Eshrāghi

2023, English
Softcover, 72 pages, 10.8 x 17.6 cm
Published by Common Room / Naarm

$18.00 - Out of stock

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The essays in this reader chart archipelagos of related beings and stories places: ceremonial-political structures, display territories, languages, materials and experiences of sensuality that constitute international Indigenous art and thought today. These texts situate reflections and propose avenues for Indigenous renaissances spanning the Great Ocean basin and its shores.

Introduction by Cara Kirkwood.

File under: Dr Léuli Eshrāghi Cara Kirkwood Common Room / Naarm Sociology / Politics Ecology Ecology / Earth

The Sphinx and the Milky Way : Selections from the Journals of Charles Burchfield
by Charles Burchfield; Edited by Ben Estes

2023, English
Softcover, 200 pages, 21.6 x 15.2 cm
Published by The Song Cave / New York

$55.00 - In stock -

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Mystical and everyday reveries from the visionary American modernist.

In the early years of the 20th century, Charles Burchfield painted mystic and visionary landscapes, and with some of his contemporaries, including Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe and Grant Wood, can be seen to have built the foundations of a particularly North American sensibility that critic Dave Hickey said "continues to evoke an unrepentant, gnostic vision of this vast, rolling, abandoned continent—America without Europe—America without Americans—a massive, alluring kingdom."

For nearly his entire life, Burchfield also kept a journal. Over 54 years, he filled nearly 10,000 pages. To call this journal epic would be an understatement. A masterpiece whose bulk has remained unread, it is a handwritten tome that combines elements of the American nature journal with a dash of 19th-century spiritual autobiography. It is a record of a man who spent much of his life looking at and considering the sky.

In this comparatively small selection pulled from the original 62 volumes, we find Burchfield writing about sitting in the grass with his wife to nap and watch the sunset. He writes about the elation he feels at seeing the first flowers in the spring. He writes about the rain, wind and sun. There's the resentment of having a job; the depression that sneaks in as he gets older; sometimes, too, he writes about the state of human progress; and occasionally, thoughts about God. It is the tender record of a life devoted to the essences of earthly beauty.

"Burchfield would be proud"—Robert Gober

Best known for his romantic, often fantastic depictions of nature, watercolorist Charles Burchfield (1893-1967) developed a unique style of watercolor painting that reflected distinctly American subjects and his profound respect for nature.

File under: Charles Burchfield Charles Burchfield Ben Estes The Song Cave / New York Painting Art Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language Whole Earth / Crafts Ecology / Earth Ecology

Living in the environment
by Alistair Knox

1975 / 76, English
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 150 pages, 25 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Mullaya / Canterbury

$120.00 - Out of stock

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Rare first 1975 edition, 1976 printing of Alistair Knox's hardcover mud brick classic, Living in the environment, now a cherished bible in the library of any Australian bush-builder, and the first book by the pioneer of the Australian environmental building movement.

"Environmental building and environmental living are not a withdrawal from life, but a renewal of it. Neither is it a habit or fashion. It is a belief in action."—Alistair Knox (1912—1986)

"The history and progress of environmental building is synonymous with the history of modern mud brick building, but it is not confined to this alone. Earth-wall construction stimulates a point of view and a relationship with nature that no other material is able to do. The universality of earth-walling springs first from its availability, and secondly from the fact that it can be produced by human labour alone. It is the heart and soul of the Low Technology lifestyle that is so exercising the minds of conservationists today. The feeling of humanity of earth-walling is one of its greatest ingredients. It also has marvellous insulation qualities. But perhaps the greatest single quality of earth walls is found in the sense of serenity one feels within them. They are almost completely sound absorbent. They neither echo nor creak, but just remain as silent and immutable as the distant Australian landscape itself. In Living in the Environment Alistair Knox, who is considered to be the originator of the Australian environmental building movement, not only tells of his designing activities spanning half a lifetime, but also discusses with deep perception the conservation problems facing society today. In his far-ranging review of the Australian environmental building scene he discusses the influence of Francis Greenway and Walter Burley Griffin, relating their design concepts to their affinity with the Australian landscape."—book jacket

Alistair Samuel Knox (1912—1986) was an Australian designer, builder and landscape architect who used recycled materials and mudbrick in his constructions and is considered to be a pioneer of modern mudbrick building, having designed more than 1,000 houses throughout the Nillumbik region of Victoria as well as in other parts of Australia. Largely self-taught, Knox believed that houses should be built using available resources and by working in harmony with the environment. Knox's main influences were Justus Jorgensen at Montsalvat, Francis Greenaway, Walter Burley Griffin and Frank Lloyd Wright In landscape design Knox was particularly impressed by the work of Ellis Stones and Gordon Ford, whose espousal of 'bush gardens' he helped to promote. As a building practitioner Alistair Knox played a key role in encouraging and facilitating the self-builder movement. By demystifying the building process he helped empower people to build for themselves. Knox was a founding member and fellow (1983) of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects. After more than 30 years of designing and building Alistair Knox was awarded an honorary degree as a Doctor of Architecture by the University of Melbourne in 1984.

Very Good copy with VG dust jacket. Light sunning/jacket wear.

File under: Francis Greenway Walter Burley Griffin Alistair Knox Alistair Knox Mullaya / Canterbury Ecology Ecology / Earth Whole Earth / Crafts Ceramics / Glass Architecture / Interior Out-of-print / Rare

The (updated) Last Whole Earth Catalog: Access To Tools

1971, English
Softcover, 448 pages, 36.5 cm x 27.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by Penguin Putnam / New York

$200.00 - Out of stock

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Original 1971 edition of the Back-to-the-land bible and hippie homesteading encyclopedia, The Last Whole Earth Catalog. Considered "the internet before the internet", The Whole Earth Catalog was an important American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by author, editor and founder of the Long Now Foundation, Stewart Brand, between 1968—1972. The magazine, sporting the famous slogan "access to tools", promoted self-sufficiency, ecology, alternative education, "do it yourself" (DIY), and holism, through featured essays, articles, poetry, practical guides, plans, philosophies, artwork and most importantly, a huge catalog of product reviews (from books by Buckminster Fuller to synthesizers by Wendy Carlos) that formed an important directory and direct network of craftspeople, educators, artisans, nomads, growers, idealists and independent developers. "It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along."—Steve Jobs. Oh how the internet has turned on us.

"We are as gods and we might as well get used to it. So far remotely done power and glory - as via government, big business, formal education, church - has succeeded to the point where gross defects obscure actual gains. In response to this dilemma and to these gains a realm of intimate, personal power is developing - the power of individuals to conduct their own education, find their own inspiration, shape their own environment, and share the adventure with whoever is interested. Tools that aid this process are sought and promoted by The Next Earth Catalog."

The back cover photo is of the earth from space. The caption reads, “We can’t put it together. It is together.”

VG copy, with exception of closed tear between front cover and bottom of spine only. Otherwise uncreased spine, only unusually light wear and tear and usual tanning to newsprint pages.

File under: Stewart Brand Buckminster Fuller Penguin Putnam / New York Ecology Ecology / Earth Whole Earth / Crafts Textiles Architecture / Interior Ceramics / Glass Counterculture Health Out-of-print / Rare Periodicals

The Dome Cookbook
by Steve Baer

1969, English
Softcover (newsprint newspaper), 40 pages, 28 x 38 cm
1st Edition, third print,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Cookbook Fund — Lama Foundation / New Mexico

$490.00 - In stock -

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The seminal, and very rare, Dome Cookbook — the first widely-read dome instruction manual, created by the founder of Zomeworks Corp, Solar Pioneer, a resident of Drop City, and beatnik architect and engineer Steve Baer in New Mexico in 1968, and a legendary piece of counterculture publishing. Baer’s eccentric, over-sized, hand-lettered 1968 work was written with daring, unskilled builders in mind as its audience — the back-to-the-land movement. "You don’t need to know that much, you just need to go ahead and try it out." Filled with diagram's and photographs, particularly in Drop City, a hippie community founded in 1966 in southern Colorado, Dome Cookbook encouraged the resourcefulness and innovation Baer found essential in his own experiments and elaborations on Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic forms and the creation of his own geodesic-inspired "zome". Published by Cookbook Fund — Lama Foundation, in New Mexico in 1969, in this first edition, third print.

Very Good copy with tanning and some light edge wear.

File under: Steve Baer Steve Baer Cookbook Fund — Lama Foundation / New Mexico Counterculture Ecology Anarchism Out-of-print / Rare Ecology / Earth

Music of the Whole Earth
by David Reck

1977, English
Softcover, 545 pages, 27.5 x 21.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Scribners / New York

$70.00 - Out of stock

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First edition of Music of the Whole Earth from 1977.

"I look upon the musician/composer," David Reck has said, "as a carpenter of sound (also a poet/philosopher/and highwire artist). I am delighted by the processes of making and building (the bricks can be invisible) and doing and thinking. I like to be surprised (by myself and others). But I study music, and play it, primarily for that magical touch, an emotional contact with music itself that mystically makes me (and others) more human, more attuned to the ecology of ourselves and the world."

In this extraordinary 545-page book, ethnomusicologist David Reck "invites you to discover the musical universe. MUSIC OF THE WHOLE EARTH explores the richness and variety of sound, instruments, and music from many different cultures and a great variety of musical traditions. Tribal, folk, and classical music of India, Tibet, China, Japan, the American Indians, Southeast Asia, Java and Bali, Oceania/Polynesia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas — including pop, rock, jazz, soul, and country. The mythical origins of music, endangered musics, ensembles, the ecology of sound, and music in relation to art, magic, ritual, theater, dance, and life-styles. The anatomy and mechanics of instruments, with special sections on how to make them yourself. Profusely illustrated with photographs, drawings, maps, and diagrams, MUSIC OF THE WHOLE EARTH narrows the gap between the audience and the performer and between our own musical culture and that of other peoples."

Very Good copy.

File under: David Reck Scribners / New York Sound / Music Performance / Dance / Theater Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay Ecology Ecology / Earth Occult / Esoterica Art

Against Civilization : Readings and Reflections
by John Zerzan

1999 / 2005, English
Softcover, 260 pages, 21.5 x 13.2 cm
Published by Feral House / Los Angeles

$35.00 - In stock -

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Against Civilization, first published in 1999 by Uncivilized Books and out of print for several years, is the well-regarded primer to Green Anarchism, Anarcho-Primitivism and the most radical but relevant form of anarchism to develop in the past decade. Anarcho-primitivism is a shorthand term for a radical current that critiques the totality of civilisation from an anarchist perspective and seeks to initiate a comprehensive transformation of human life. Revised and expanded edition.

File under: John Zerzan Feral House / Los Angeles Theory / Essay Anarchism Ecology / Earth Animal Rights / Veganism

Future Primitive Revisited
by John Zerzan

1994 / 2012, English
Softcover, 200 pages, 21.6 x 14 cm
Published by Feral House / Los Angeles

$35.00 - In stock -

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As our society is stricken with repeated technological disasters, and the apocalyptic problems that go with them, the "neo-primitivist" essays of John Zerzan seem more relevant than ever.

"Future Primitive," (1994) the core innovative essay of Future Primitive Revisited, has been out of print for years. This new edition is updated with never-before-printed essays that speak to a youthful political movement and influential writers such as Derrick Jensen and Paul Theroux.

An active participant in the contemporary anarchist resurgence, John Zerzan has been an invited speaker at both radical and conventional events on several continents. His weekly Anarchy Radio broadcast streams live on KWVA radio.

"Anyone who travels with his eyes open understands the sense of much of what you have written, and the longer I live the greater my contempt for the opportunists who run governments and dictate our lives with technology."—Paul Theroux

"Zerzan's writing is sharp, uncompromising, and tenacious."—Derrick Jensen

"John Zerzan's importance does not only consist in his brilliant intelligence, his absolute clearness of analysis and his unequalled dialectical synthesis that clarifies even the most complicated questions, but also in the humanity that fills his thoughts of resistance. Future Primitive Revisited is one more precious gift for us all."—Enrico Manicardi, author of Liberi dalla Civiltá (Free from Civilization)

"Of course we should go primitive. This doesn't mean abandoning material needs, tools, or skills, but ending our obsession with such concerns. Declaring for community, our true origin: personal autonomy, trust, mutual support in pursuit of all the joys and troubles of life. Society was a trap—massive, demanding, impersonal and debilitating from day one. So hurry back to the community, friends, and welcome all the consequences of such an orientation. The reasons for fear and despair will only multiply if we remain in this brutal and dangerous state of civilization."—Blok 45 publishing, Belgrade

File under: John Zerzan Feral House / Los Angeles Anarchism Ecology Ecology / Earth Whole Earth / Crafts Sociology / Politics Protest / Revolt Counterculture Theory / Essay

INFORMATION
by Kynaston McShine, Lucy Lippard, et al.

1970, English
Softcover, 208 pages, 20.3 x 25.4 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by MoMA / New York

$600.00 - In stock -

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Extremely rare first 1970 edition of MoMA's landmark book on conceptual art, published to accompany this groundbreaking avant-garde show.

In the summer of 1970, the Museum of Modern Art in New York mounted the now legendary exhibition Information, one of the first surveys of conceptual art. Conceived by MoMA’s celebrated curator Kynaston McShine as an “international report” on contemporary trends, the show and attendant catalog together assembled the work of more than 150 artists from 15 countries to explore the parameters and possibilities of the emerging art practices of the era. Noting the participating artists’ attunement to the “mobility and change that pervades their time,” McShine underscored their interest in “ways of rapidly exchanging ideas, rather than embalming the idea in an ‘object.’” Indeed, much of the work in the exhibition engaged mass-communications systems, such as broadcast television and the postal service, and addressed viewers directly, often encouraging their participation in return.

The catalog, rather than merely document the show, functioned autonomously: it included a list of recommended reading, a chance-based index by critic Lucy Lippard, and individual artist contributions in the form of photographic documentation, textual description, drawings and diagrams—some relating to work in the exhibition and others to artworks as yet unrealized.

Artists include Vito Acconci, Carl Andre, Siah Armajani, Keith Arnatt, Art & Language Press, Art & Project, Richard Artschwager, David Askevold, Terry Atkinson, David Bainbridge, John Baldessari, Michael Baldwin, Barrio, Robert Barry, Frederick Barthelme, Bernhard & Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Mel Bochner, Bill Bollinger, George Brecht, Stig Broegger, Stanley Brouwn, Daniel Buren, Victor Burgin, Donald Burgy, Ian Burn and Mel Ramsden, James Lee Byars, Jorge Luis Carballa, Christopher Cook, Roger Cutforth, Carlos D'Alessio, Hanne Darboven, Walter de Maria, Jan Dibbets, Gerald Ferguson, Rafael Ferrer, Barry Flanagan, Group Frontera, Hamish Fulton, Gilbert & George, Giorno Poetry Systems, Dan Graham, Hans Haacke, Ira Joel Haber, Randy Hardy, Michael Heizer, Hans Hollein, Douglas Huebler, Robert Huot, Peter Hutchinson, Richards Jarden, Stephen Kaltenbach, On Kawara, Joseph Kosuth, Christine Kozlov, John Latham, Barry Le Va, Sol Lewitt, Lucy Lippard, Richard Long, Bruce McLean, Cildo Campos Meirelles, Marta Minujin, Robert Morris, N.E. Thing Co., Bruce Nauman, New York Graphic Workshop, Newspaper, Group Oho, Helio Oiticica, Yoko Ono, Dennis Oppenheim, Panamarenko, Giulio Paolini, Paul Pechter, Giuseppe Penone, Adrian Piper, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Emilio Prini, Alejandro Puente, Markus Raetz, Yvonne Rainer, Klaus Rinke, Edward Ruscha, J.M. Sanejouand, Richard Sladden, Robert Smithson, Keith Sonnier, Ettore Sottsass Jr., Erik Thygesen, John Van Saun, Guilherme Magalhaes Vaz, Bernar Venet, Jeff Wall, Lawrence Weiner, Ian Wilson.

Kynaston McShine was formerly Chief Curator at Large at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Very Good copy. Light cover wear, single spine crack, all crisp, clean interior and tightly bound copy of a book that usually sees serious page detachments. Best copy we have seen.

File under: Vito Acconci Carl Andre Siah Armajani Keith Arnatt Art & Language Press Art & Project Richard Artschwager David Askevold Terry Atkinson David Bainbridge John Baldessari Michael Baldwin Barrio Robert Barry Frederick Barthelme Bernhard & Hilla Becher Joseph Beuys Mel Bochner Bill Bollinger George Brecht Stig Broegger Stanley Brouwn Daniel Buren Victor Burgin Donald Burgy Ian Burn and Mel Ramsden James Lee Byars Jorge Luis Carballa Christopher Cook Roger Cutforth Carlos D'Alessio Hanne Darboven Walter de Maria Jan Dibbets Gerald Ferguson Rafael Ferrer Barry Flanagan Group Frontera Hamish Fulton Gilbert & George Giorno Poetry Systems Dan Graham Hans Haacke Ira Joel Haber Randy Hardy Michael Heizer Hans Hollein Douglas Huebler Robert Huot Peter Hutchinson Richards Jarden Stephen Kaltenbach On Kawara Joseph Kosuth Christine Kozlov John Latham Barry Le Va Sol Lewitt Lucy Lippard Richard Long Bruce McLean Cildo Campos Meirelles Marta Minujin Robert Morris N.E. Thing Co. Bruce Nauman New York Graphic Workshop Newspaper Group Oho Helio Oiticica Yoko Ono Dennis Oppenheim Panamarenko Giulio Paolini Paul Pechter Giuseppe Penone Adrian Piper Michelangelo Pistoletto Emilio Prini Alejandro Puente Markus Raetz Yvonne Rainer Klaus Rinke Edward Ruscha J.M. Sanejouand Richard Sladden Robert Smithson Keith Sonnier Ettore Sottsass Jr. Erik Thygesen John Van Saun Guilherme Magalhaes Vaz Bernar Venet Jeff Wall Lawrence Weiner Ian Wilson Kynaston McShine Lucy Lippard MoMA / New York Performance / Dance / Theater Feminism Out-of-print / Rare Group Shows / Collections Conceptual Art Fluxus Minimal Art Arte Povera Photography Curatorial Art Counterculture Ecology / Earth Film / Video Sculpture / Installation

Earth House Hold
Poetry by Gary Snyder

1969, English
Softcover, 144 pages, 20 x 13.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by New Directions / New York

$25.00 - Out of stock

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First 1969 edition of Earth House Hold by Gary Snyder. Both Pound and Williams have shown how a good poet can revitalize prose style. Earth House Hold (a play on the root meanings of “ecology”) drawn from Gary Snyder’s essays and journals, may prove a landmark for the new generation. “As a poet," Snyder tells us, “I hold the most archaic values on earth. They go back to the late Paleolithic; the fertility of the soil, the magic of animals, the power-vision in solitude, the terrifying initiation and rebirth; the love and Ecstasy of the dance, the common work of the tribe.” He develops, as replacement for shattered social structures, a concept of tribal tradition which could lead to “growth and enlightenment in self-disciplined freedom. Whatever is or ever was in any other culture can be reconstructed from the unconscious through meditation . . . the coming revolution will close the circle––and link us in many ways with the most creative aspects of our archaic past.”

Good—Very Good copy with tanning, previous owners name to title page.

File under: Gary Snyder New Directions / New York Fiction / Poetry Poetry Out-of-print / Rare Ecology / Earth Whole Earth / Crafts

Radical Futurisms : Ecologies of Collapse, Chronopolitics, and Justice-to-Come
by T. J. Demos

2023, English
Softcover, 224 pages, 21.5 x 14.8 cm
Published by Sternberg Press / Berlin

$48.00 - Out of stock

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What comes after end-of-world narratives: visions of just futurity and multispecies flourishing.

There is widespread consensus that we are living at the end--of democracy, of liberalism, of capitalism, of a healthy planet, of the Holocene, of civilization as we know it. Drawing on radical futurisms and visions of justice-to-come emerging from the traditions of the oppressed--Indigenous, African-American, multispecies, anti-capitalist--as materialized in experimental visual cultural, new media, aesthetic practices, and social movements, in this book. T. J. Demos poses speculative questions about what comes after end-of-world narratives, arguing that it's as vital to defeat fatalistic nihilism as the false solutions of green capitalism and algorithmic governance.

How might we decolonize the future, and cultivate an emancipated chronopolitics in relation to an undetermined not-yet? If we are to avoid climate emergency's cooptation by technofixes, and the defuturing of multitudes by xenophobic eco-fascism, Demos argues, we must cultivate visions of just futurity and multispecies flourishing.

File under: T. J. Demos Sternberg Press / Berlin Art Ecology / Earth Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language

Gashō Yamamura
Plants

1976, Japanese
Hardcover, 88 pages, 26 x 23.7 cm
Ed. of 600,
Published by TB Design Institute / Japan

$380.00 - Out of stock

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Rare, first, limited edition printing of Gashō Yamamura's 1976 masterpiece, "Plants", for which he won the 1st Ina Nobuo Award in the same year. After Yamamura (b. Osaka, 1939—1987) began photographing plants in 1974, he published two incredible, largely unknown collections of his otherworldly botanical photo-studies before his sudden death by suicide in 1987 — “Plants” (1976) and “Botanical Planetarium” (1988). Yamamura's plant photography is like no-other. "Caught in stroboscopic light, the plants stiffen momentarily; they emerge as strange shapes not seen in natural light, rising up and towering high as if by desire." [...] "The perspective is different to how we usually see flower beds and plants; there are no downwards, surveying gazes. Instead, many of Yamamura’s photographs employ an upwards angle, taken in close vicinity to the plants, the way a bug would see them. Here, even the tenderest of flowers appear as bold, towering structures. With this insectuous, un-human perspective, Yamamura carves out the strange and unfamiliar hiding in everyday reality and questions a way of looking that turns its subjects into mere trivialities." [...] "The sights that Yamamura captured expose plants as strange entities that exist in indifference towards human life. At the same time, they let us imagine a world before the presence of human life, or perhaps the world after our disappearance from this earth."—Mika Kobayashi, photography researcher

Includes poetry by Yasuo Fujitomi.
Highly recommended, an absolute favourite.

Yamamura began photographing in high school, focusing mainly on the children in his neighborhood. In 1959, he turned his attention to Americans living in Washington Heights, a residential area in central Tokyo that housed soldiers and their families. His images of American children, shot through fences or wearing masks, convey not only a sense of sinister strangeness and distance, but also the stark economic differences between American and Japanese children immediately after the war. He began photographing plants in the mid-1970s and continued to do so until his suicide at age 47 in 1987.

Very Good copy, light cover wear. Limited edition of 600.

File under: Gashō Yamamura Yasuo Fujitomi TB Design Institute / Japan Ecology / Earth Japanese Photography Photography Out-of-print / Rare

Gashō Yamamura
Botanical Planetarium

1988, Japanese
Hardcover, (w. slipcase and obi), 31.5 x 31 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by ADV communication / Tokyo

$320.00 - Out of stock

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Rare, first edition printing of Gashō Yamamura's 1988 masterpiece, Botanical Planetarium, published posthumously in this lavish, over-sized slip-case edition the year after the photographer's sudden death. After Yamamura (b. Osaka, 1939—1987) began photographing plants in 1974, he published two incredible, largely unknown collections of his otherworldly botanical photo-studies before his sudden death by suicide in 1987 — “Plants” (1976) and “Botanical Planetarium” (1988). Yamamura's plant photography is like no-other. "Caught in stroboscopic light, the plants stiffen momentarily; they emerge as strange shapes not seen in natural light, rising up and towering high as if by desire." “Botanical Planetarium”, which can be translated from the Japanese as “Hunting Flowers”, is Yamamura's photobook of colour plant photography, focussing exclusively on blossoms, the plants’ reproductive organs. "The perspective is different to how we usually see flower beds and plants; there are no downwards, surveying gazes. Instead, many of Yamamura’s photographs employ an upwards angle, taken in close vicinity to the plants, the way a bug would see them. Here, even the tenderest of flowers appear as bold, towering structures. With this insectuous, un-human perspective, Yamamura carves out the strange and unfamiliar hiding in everyday reality and questions a way of looking that turns its subjects into mere trivialities." [...] "The sights that Yamamura captured expose plants as strange entities that exist in indifference towards human life. At the same time, they let us imagine a world before the presence of human life, or perhaps the world after our disappearance from this earth."—Mika Kobayashi, photography researcher

Highly recommended.

Yamamura began photographing in high school, focusing mainly on the children in his neighborhood. In 1959, he turned his attention to Americans living in Washington Heights, a residential area in central Tokyo that housed soldiers and their families. His images of American children, shot through fences or wearing masks, convey not only a sense of sinister strangeness and distance, but also the stark economic differences between American and Japanese children immediately after the war. He began photographing plants in the mid-1970s and continued to do so until his suicide at age 47 in 1987.

Very Good—Near Fine copy preserved in original illustrated slip-case w. original obi-strip, light case/obi wear. Book fine.

File under: Gashō Yamamura ADV communication / Tokyo Japanese Photography Photography Out-of-print / Rare Ecology / Earth

Infernal Proteus (A Musical Herbal)

2002, English
Hardcover + 4 CD, 96 pages, 23.5 x 16 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by The Anja Offensive / Oregon

$45.00 - Out of stock

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First hardcover edition of this luxurious hardcover book and 4 x CD cross-pollination of sound and botany, published in 2022 by Anja Offensive in Oregon. 40 artists are invited to choose a plant, herb or tree they resonate with and craft a song to honour it. From free folk to industrial, neoclassical to dark ambient, each artist contributes to 4 discs with a playtime averaging 67 minutes per disc, as well as artwork, texts, passages, lyrics, quotations, credits to the lavish full-colour art book — a directory of artistic botanical dedications. Includes Makoto Kawabata, Steve Roden, Aube, Lotus Eaters, In Gowan Ring, Allerseelen, Troum, Michael Northam, Apoptose, and many more.

Very Good—Fine copy, all CDs fine.

File under: Makoto Kawabata Steve Roden Aube Lotus Eaters In Gowan Ring Allerseelen Troum Michael Northam Apoptose The Anja Offensive / Oregon Sound / Music Objects / Ephemera / A/V Out-of-print / Rare Ecology / Earth Occult / Esoterica

Six Years : The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972
by Lucy Lippard

1973 / 1997, English
Softcover, 280 pages, 173 x 213 cm
Out of print title / used / good
Published by University of Chicago Press / Chicago

$70.00 - Out of stock

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“Conceptual art, for me, means work in which the idea is paramount and the material form is secondary, lightweight, ephemeral, cheap, unpretentious and/or 'dematerialized.'”—Lucy R. Lippard, Six Years

In 1973 the critic and curator Lucy R. Lippard published Six Years, a book with possibly the longest subtitle in the bibliography of art: The dematerialization of the art object from 1966 to 1972: a cross-reference book of information on some esthetic boundaries: consisting of a bibliography into which are inserted a fragmented text, art works, documents, interviews, and symposia, arranged chronologically and focused on so-called conceptual or information or idea art with mentions of such vaguely designated areas as minimal, anti-form, systems, earth, or process art, occurring now in the Americas, Europe, England, Australia, and Asia (with occasional political overtones) edited and annotated by Lucy R. Lippard. Six Years, sometimes referred to as a conceptual art object itself, not only described and embodied the new type of art-making that Lippard was intent on identifying and cataloging, it also exemplified a new way of criticizing and curating art. The result is a book with the character of a lively contemporary forum that offers an invaluable record of the thinking of the artists—a historical survey and essential reference book for the period. Lippard provides a new preface to this 1997 reprint edition.

Includes: Vito Acconci, Bas Jan Ader, Dennis Adrian, Carl Andre, Eleanor Antin, Keith Arnatt, Art-Language, Richard Artschwager, Michael Asher, David Askevold, John Baldessari, Robert Barry, Frederick Barthelme, N.E. Thing Co., Joseph Beuys, Mel Bochner, Alighiero Boetti, Stanley Brouwn, Daniel Buren, Victor Burgin, Donald Burgy, Ian Burn, Jack Burnham, James Lee Byars, Hanne Darboven, Agnes Denes, Jan Dibbets, Peter Downsbrough, Gerald Ferguson, Rafael Ferrer, Barry Flanagan, Gilbert & George, Dan Graham, Guerrilla Art Action Group, Hans Haacke, Charles Harrison, Michael Heizer, Douglas Huebler, Peter Hutchinson, Stephen Kaltenbach, Allan Kaprow, On Kawara, Joseph Kosuth, Christine Kozlov, John Latham, Barry Le Va, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Lee Lozano, Bruce McLean, Walter de Maria, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono, Dennis Oppenheim, Adrian Piper, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Sigmar Polke, Mel Ramsden, Allen Ruppersberg, Edward Ruscha, Robert Ryman, Gerry Schum, Richard Serra, Willoughby Sharp, Seth Siegelaub, Tony Smith, Robert Smithson, Michael Snow, Keith Sonnier, Athena Tacha Spear, Bernar Venet, Wolf Vostell, Franz Erhard Walther, William Wegman, Lawrence Weiner, William Wiley, Ian Wilson, La Monte Young

"Essential source book of documentation of the Conceptual Art, Land Art, Earth Art, Arte Povera, Minimal Art, Performance Art, Video Art movements. Documents the activities, day by day, month by month, year by year of artists including Vito Acconci, Bas Jan Ader, Dennis Adrian, Carl Andre, Eleanor Antin, Keith Arnatt, Art-Language, Richard Artschwager, Michael Asher, David Askevold, John Baldessari, Robert Barry, Frederick Barthelme, N.E. Thing Co., Josef Beuys, Mel Bochner, Alighiero Boetti, Stanley Brouwn, Daniel Buren, Victor Burgin, Donald Burgy, Ian Burn, Jack Burnham, James Lee Byars, Hanne Darboven, Agnes Denes, Jan Dibbets, Peter Downsbrough, Gerald Ferguson, Rafael Ferrer, Barry Flanagan, Gilbert & George, Dan Graham, Guerrilla Art Action Group, Hans Haacke, Charles Harrison, Michael Heizer, Douglas Huebler, Peter Hutchinson, Stephen Kaltenbach, Allan Kaprow, On Kawara, Joseph Kosuth, Christine Kozlov, John Latham, Barry Le Va, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Lee Lozano, Bruce McLean, Walter de Maria, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono, Dennis Oppenheim, Adrian Piper, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Sigmar Polke, Mel Ramsden, Allen Ruppersberg, Edward Ruscha, Robert Ryman, Gerry Schum, Richard Serra, Willoughby Sharp, Seth Siegelaub, Tony Smith, Robert Smithson, Michael Snow, Keith Sonnier, Athena Tacha Spear, Bernar Venet, Wolf Vostell, Franz Erhard Walther, William Wegman, Lawrence Weiner, William Wiley, Ian Wilson, La Monte Young and others. "The unusual form of this provocative book intentionally reflects the chaotic network of ideas connected with so-called conceptual art or information art or idea art, in America and abroad, from 1966 to 1972. Arranged as a continuous bibliographical chronology, into which is woven a rich collection of original documents - including texts by, and taped discussions with and among, the artists involved - and annotations by Lucy R. Lippard, the book has the informal quality of a lively contemporary forum. Only a minimum of order is imposed; for the most part the reader is left to confront the curious compendium of information on his or her own, to follow changing ideas and artistic developments over the six-year period, to witness the gradual (and controversial) "dematerialization" of the art object." -- publisher's statement."

Good—Very Good copy with general light shelf wear and tanning to spine.

File under: Vito Acconci Bas Jan Ader Dennis Adrian Carl Andre Eleanor Antin Keith Arnatt Art-Language Richard Artschwager Michael Asher David Askevold John Baldessari Robert Barry Frederick Barthelme N.E. Thing Co. Joseph Beuys Mel Bochner Alighiero Boetti Stanley Brouwn Daniel Buren Victor Burgin Donald Burgy Ian Burn Jack Burnham James Lee Byars Hanne Darboven Agnes Denes Jan Dibbets Peter Downsbrough Gerald Ferguson Rafael Ferrer Barry Flanagan Gilbert & George Dan Graham Guerrilla Art Action Group Hans Haacke Charles Harrison Michael Heizer Douglas Huebler Peter Hutchinson Stephen Kaltenbach Allan Kaprow On Kawara Joseph Kosuth Christine Kozlov John Latham Barry Le Va Sol LeWitt Richard Long Lee Lozano Bruce McLean Walter de Maria Robert Morris Bruce Nauman Claes Oldenburg Yoko Ono Dennis Oppenheim Adrian Piper Michelangelo Pistoletto Sigmar Polke Mel Ramsden Allen Ruppersberg Edward Ruscha Robert Ryman Gerry Schum Richard Serra Willoughby Sharp Seth Siegelaub Tony Smith Robert Smithson Michael Snow Keith Sonnier Athena Tacha Spear Bernar Venet Wolf Vostell Franz Erhard Walther William Wegman Lawrence Weiner William Wiley Ian Wilson La Monte Young Lucy R. Lippard University of Chicago Press / Chicago Conceptual Art Arte Povera Minimal Art Performance / Dance / Theater Feminism Curatorial Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay Art Photography Film / Video Ecology / Earth Fluxus Group Shows / Collections Sculpture / Installation

The Form of Becoming : Embryology and the Epistemology of Rhythm, 1760–1830
by Janina Wellmann

2017, English
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 424 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by Zone Books / New York

$60.00 - Out of stock

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First edition HC, out-of-print.

The Form of Becoming offers an innovative understanding of the emergence around 1800 of the science of embryology and a new notion of development, one based on the epistemology of rhythm. It argues that between 1760 and 1830, the concept of rhythm became crucial to many fields of knowledge, including the study of life and living processes.

The book juxtaposes the history of rhythm in music theory, literary theory, and philosophy with the concurrent turn in biology to understanding the living world in terms of rhythmic patterns, rhythmic movement, and rhythmic representations. Common to all these fields was their view of rhythm as a means of organizing time — and of ordering the development of organisms.

Janina Wellmann, a historian of science, has written the first systematic study of visualization in embryology. Embryological development circa 1800 was imagined through the pictorial technique of the series, still prevalent in the field today. Tracing the origins of the developmental series back to seventeenth-century instructional graphics for military maneuvers, dance, and craft work, The Form of Becoming reveals the constitutive role of rhythm and movement in the visualization of developing life.

Translated by Kate Sturge

As New copy.

File under: Janina Wellmann Zone Books / New York Ecology / Earth Sound / Music Out-of-print / Rare Theory / Essay

Ruskin, Turner & the Storm Cloud
Edited by Suzanne Fagence Cooper and Richard Johns

2019, English
Softcover, 120 pages, 26 x 21.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by Paul Holberton Publishing / London

$60.00 $30.00 - Out of stock

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Ruskin, Turner & the Storm Cloud presents new writing on John Ruskin’s vision of art and its relationship with modern society and a changing environment. As part of the re-evaluation of Ruskin, 200 years after his birth in 1819, art historians, scientists, geographers, artists and curators explore the critic’s lifelong commitment to the painted landscapes of JMW Turner and his own artistic ambitions, as well as his prophetic concerns about the world’s darkening skies, pollution and psychological turbulence.

In 1884 John Ruskin spoke out against an encroaching “Storm Cloud”—a darkening of the skies that he attributed to the belching chimneys of the modern world. The imagery of the pollution-stained sky also allowed Ruskin to articulate the internal distress that seemed to engulf him. His analysis of a “blanched sun, blighted grass [and] blinded man” overwhelmed by a modern “plague-wind” expresses both the visible climatic effects of industrialization and the effects of his own worsening mental health. Propelled by bereavement and anxieties over his religious faith, Ruskin became fixated on the skies, “watching a cloud from four in the afternoon to four in the morning”.

This collection of essays examining Ruskin’s distinctive blend of meteorology, morality and social criticism brings new perspectives to one of the most influential and provocative thinkers of the nineteenth century. Ruskin’s deep and personal engagement with Turner’s work over many decades emerges as a recurring theme. In Turner, Ruskin found the ideal “Modern Painter”—an artist whose powerful sunrises and sunsets, mountains and storms, inspired his own critical engagement with the natural world.

As an artist and critic, Ruskin consistently challenged the way others experienced the world, encouraging his audiences to recognise and record nature’s transient beauty, and doing the same with his own intimately observed drawings of animals, flora and weathered buildings. As an environmentalist, he witnessed a natural world changing before his eyes, as the landscapes, buildings and skies he had seen as a young man came under threat. As an ethical provocateur ahead of his time, he condemned the throwaway culture that spoilt the towns and rivers he loved, urging his audiences to take responsibility for these changes.

Responding to this rich and troubled legacy, the book brings together original contributions by artists and curators, art historians, geographers and climate change specialists, each of whom shares new insights into Ruskin’s concerns about the changing weather patterns and shifting landscapes of the modern world. Individual essays reconsider Ruskin alongside a range of contemporary issues, encompassing mental health, technology, environmental pollution and climate change. The collection’s diverse voices make a compelling case for the continuing relevance of Ruskin and his ways of seeing in the twenty-first century.

Ruskin, Turner & the Storm Cloud accompanies a major exhibition at York Art Gallery and Abbot Hall Art Gallery.

As New, out-of-print.

File under: J. M. W. Turner John Ruskin John Ruskin ruskin Paul Holberton Publishing / London Painting Theory / Essay Renaissance / Neoclassicism / Romanticism Art Drawing Ecology Ecology / Earth SALE