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Time in a bottle; this is a collection that explores the unlocking of history through the identification of its unique seals, using crests and coats-of-arms as the ‘keys’ towards identifying the original owner. This three-volume collection examines the evolution of the sealed bottle from the 1640s to the late 1800s and provides a detailed description to accompany each entry, supported by numerous photographs, including the number of examples known, their condition, and the collections where the bottles and detached seals are held. The laying down of wine to improve its quality and longevity related to the social history of the day, the design of the bottles, their evolution and manufacture, are a reflection of the individuals who ordered and used the bottles at home or in the private gentlemen’s clubs, much influenced by the historic events of the 17th through to the 20th centuries. Wine consumption has a place in cultural history; these collected bottles existed at times of incredible upheaval and social change. From the early colonial settlements of the New World, into the slave markets of Richmond, VA, New Orleans, Charleston, SC, and Philadelphia, and with the plantation owners who amassed vast wealth and prestige as a result of this trade. In the taverns and coffee houses of London, alongside the bear baiting and cock fighting to be found across the River Thames in Southwark, in the cellars of the Oxford colleges and Inns of Court, these sealed bottles give much information on the early drinking habits of the aspiring and upwardly mobile, and the established aristocracy. Contents: Volume One: Dated Sealed Bottles 1650 – 1900 Volume Two: Undated Sealed Bottles 17th Century; Undated Sealed Bottles 1700 – 1900; Crests and Coats of Arms, pre-1700 identified; Crests and Coats of Arms, pre-1700 unidentified; Crests and Coats of Arms, post-1700 identified; Crests and Coats of Arms, post-1700 unidentified Volume Three: Chapter One: What is a Sealed Bottle? Chapter Two: Sealed Bottles from the Seventeenth Century; Chapter Three: Sealed Bottles from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries; Chapter Four: Heraldry and Sealed Bottles; Chapter Five: Sealed Bottles from the West Country; Chapter Six: Sealed Bottles from Wales; Chapter Seven: Sealed Bottles associated with the American Colonies; Chapter Eight: Sealed Bottles in Major Public Collections; Chapter Nine: Building a Collection; Chapter Ten: Price Guide and Price Trends

Where are we going to eat tonight? What’s the best place for a drink? Where do locals buy their fruit and vegetables? Where are the best delicatessens? All tourists who love good food have asked themselves these questions when visiting a city or country.
Many travel guides suggest some food addresses but these are generally very few, unoriginal and, most of the time, crowded with other tourists. This new series, on the other hand, promises the opposite: each title will bring you the heart of gastronomy of the selected destination. Starred restaurants, bistros, canteens, street food, Asian cuisine, chic picnics: in Eat London the best of London is lying on a silver platter just for you!
In addition, you’ll find addresses to the best delicatessens, the best wine bars, the best cookery equipment stores or specialised gastronomy bookstores of each city…
Contents: Stores and General Food; Markets; Tea Time; Bakeries and Pastry Shops; Breakfast; Pubs and Drinks; On the Go; Restaurants.

The upsurge in publishing in the sixteenth century turned the Reformation into a media event, and printed products of every kind superseded the communication methods used thus far. Flyers were particularly successful in reaching their audiences as an easily affordable information medium. Renowned artists such as Hans Sebald Beham, Lucas Cranach Sr, Albrecht Dürer and Michael Ostendorfer produced the woodcuts for these single-sheet prints, which thematised the political, religious and societal happenings of the time. Portraits of protagonists, such as Luther and Karl V., but also fables and proverbs as well as reports on miracles and celestial phenomena, catastrophes and crime all found their platform in these pages. One of the largest collections of illustrated single-sheet prints in the Palace Museum of the Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha provides a rich treasure trove of prints that informed the Reformation. The Gotha inventory of around 700 flyers from 1480 to 1599 is today considered unprecedented. Now for the first time it has been published in its entirety. Text in German.

Goldscheider, a Viennese factory (est. 1885), soon sped to the top of European ceramics makers. Figures and vessels of faience and terracotta as well as bronze and alabaster, all of top quality in respect of form and workmanship, were created in the Historicist, Jugendstil and Art Deco period styles. A crucial factor was collaboration with distinguished sculptors and ceramicists of the day – including Demetre Chiparus, Walter Bosse and Josef Lorenzl – who were responsible for a great many of the Goldscheider designs. This success story was quashed by National Socialist aryanisation in 1938: the Goldscheider family was forced to emigrate, the firm was sold and the new proprietor was unable to sustain the high aesthetic quality standard. The Goldscheider brothers did manage to open new ceramics businesses while in exile in the US and England and Walter Goldscheider even returned to Vienna after the Second World War to resume his post as managing director of his old firm; however, in the 1950s the great ceramics tradition of this venerable Viennese business ended when it was sold to the German Carstens company.

Text in English and German.

Lace was a passion of Leopold Iklé (1838-1922), scion of a Hamburg textile dynasty who successfully produced machine-made embroidery over the course of the industrial boom in St. Gallen around 1900. He exported to England, France and the United States, among other places, at a time when St. Gallen was the market leader in the lace industry. Iklé’s collection of handmade European bobbin lace and needlepoint from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century originally served as inspiration for his firm’s textile designers. Through his passion for collecting, however, it quickly surpassed the practical demands of a simple pattern collection, and in 1904 he donated it to the Textile Museum St. Gallen. Historische Spitzen provides a comprehensive review as well as highlights of the lace samples in this unique collection.

Text in German.

With contemporary advertising and sales catalogues as its sources, this book represents the first exhaustive survey of the Ikora and Myra lines in glass produced between the 1920s and 1950s by the Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik AG (WMF) at Geislingen/Steige. At the instigation of the then WMF director general, Hugo Debach, WMF had been making high-quality art glass (called Unika pieces, indicating that they were one-of-a-kind) as well as lines in mass-produced art glass (Ikora and Myra). First presented to the public to great acclaim at the Württembergisches Landesmuseum in Stuttgart by museum director G. E. Pazaurek, these pieces are now much sought-after as valuable collector’s items.

Ikora and Myra Glass by WMF not only deals exhaustively with the history of this glass but also provides aficionados and collectors of Ikora and Myra glass for the first time with a complete catalogue of WMF products. The availability of this information makes it possible, first, to distinguish from the original later glass made in imitation of WMF glass by rival competitors and, second, to identify accurately each piece of Unika, Ikora or Myra glass.

Text in English and German

With passion and expert insight, Frank Nievergelt compiled an impressive collection over forty-five years of more than 900 pieces of contemporary ceramics, ranging from vessels and sculptures via display pieces to monumental works. Over one hundred leading figures of the international ceramic scene from 1970 to 2015 are represented in the collection, the emphasis of which is on newer objects. In this publication, the most significant pieces of this renowned collection are presented in a selection of forty-one artists, hence impressively highlighting the unaffected beauty and diversity of contemporary ceramic art. Moreover, Nievergelt introduces the artists individually, enhanced with reflections from Anne-Claire Schumacher (curator of the Musée Ariana) and Prof. Volker Ellwanger. The catalogue documents the latest inventory of the Musée Ariana in Geneva. Text in German and French.

Interactive installation art is an important medium of artistic expression, generated alongside the development of technology and art throughout the 21st century. This book includes a number of interactive installation projects, dedicating particular attention to how designers convey their message.

Instead of accepting information passively, in an interactive installation the audience is encouraged to communicate directly with the art. This book is divided into three parts: immersive installation (environment), experimental installation (technology), and feedback installation (engagement). Featuring examples drawn from 3D-rendered images, photographs and video projects, this book will explain the relationship between art and technology, and explore some of the ways these fields can be combined. It is a high-quality and practical guidebook, to accompany any interactive installation art exhibition.

This book includes a cross-section of projects from outstanding global design agencies such as teamLab, Dem, and Random International. When placed in conjunction with testaments from practising designers, these examples provide a comprehensive introduction to interactive installation art.

In October 2015, metal detectorist James Mather discovered an important Viking hoard near Watlington in South Oxfordshire. The hoard dates from the end of the 870s, a key moment in the struggle between Anglo-Saxons and Vikings for control of southern England. The Watlington hoard is a significant new source of information on that struggle, throwing new light not only on the conflict between Anglo-Saxon and Viking, but also on the changing relationship between the two great Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex. This was to lead to the formation of a single united kingdom of England only a few years later.

The hoard contains a mixture of Anglo-Saxon coins and Viking silver, and is in many ways a typical Viking hoard. However, its significance comes from the fact that it contains so many examples of previously rare coins belonging to Alfred the Great, king of Wessex (871-99) and his less well-known contemporary Ceolwulf II of Mercia (874-c.879). These coins provide a clearer understanding of the relationship between Alfred and Ceolwulf, and perhaps also of how the once great kingdom of Mercia came to be absorbed into the emerging kingdom of England by Alfred and his successors. A major fundraising campaign is being planned by the Ashmolean to secure this collection for the museum.

The Wilshere Collection offers a remarkable insight into one Englishman’s enthusiasm for the early Christian church. A wealthy landowner travelling frequently to Italy, Charles Wilshere (1814-1906) saw it as his mission to acquaint the British with the then brand-new subject of early Christian archaeology and art. Newly discovered documentation, including correspondence held at the Vatican Library and the Biblioteca San Luigi, Posilippo, recount Wilshere’s acquisition of a remarkable collection of early Christian, Jewish and pagan gold-glass, sarcophagi and inscriptions, shipped to England for public display.

Previously unpublished evidence presents the reader with intriguing new information about the provenance of the collection. In addition to this, recent scientific analysis of the objects, now in the collections of the Ashmolean Museum, allows major new insights, notably into the origin of gold-glass and its use in fourth-century Rome.

From the Ivory Tower: 200 Years of Ghent University tells the story of Ghent University and its societal impact, from its foundation in 1817 to the present day. From the very beginning, the university was closely involved in major social issues through its professors, students and former students, who sometimes played a leading role. In eleven thematic chapters ranging from pluralism and democratisation to gender and sexuality, the environment and biotechnology, historian Gita Deneckere outlines two hundred years of history. Each chapter ends with a point of contention for the future. In addition to archival and other sources, the author also obtained information from interviews with privileged witnesses. Their personal stories combine with the ‘big history’ to provide a monumental synthesis. The author does not avoid controversy. She makes clear why the university is important, for everyone. This jubilee book is thus an example of how scholarship and societal engagement go hand in hand under the motto ‘Dare to Think’. This book is a must for all those who are involved with UGent or who want to get to know the university better, and for those who are interested in the role of the university today.

After his last book Escapes, Stefan Bogner returns to the Alps again with this illustrated book. This time not only did he photograph particular routes, but he looked for the ideal tour through the Alps: 3 countries, 14 passes – the perfect little escape for 4 days.

Different from Bogner s photographs in Escapes or Curves, where Bogner just presents dreamlike empty streets, Porsche Drive focuses on the journey in Porsche models such as Porsche 906, Porsche 911, Porsche 918 and more. Stefan Bogner drives his own Porsche 911 1970 ST.

Apart from Bogner’s photographs, Porsche Drive offers information on each route and height profile. Thus you can follow Bogner’s itinerary on a long weekend.

Text in English and German.

After his last book Escapes, Stefan Bogner returns to the Alps again with this beautifully illustrated book. This time he not only photographed particular routes, but he looked for the ideal tour through the Alps: 3 countries, 14 passes – the perfect little escape for 4 days. Different from Bogner’s photographs in Escapes or Curves where Bogner presents dreamlike empty streets, Porsche Drive focuses on the journey in Porsche models like Porsche 906, Porsche 911, Porsche 918 and more.

Stefan Bogner also drives his own Porsche 911 1970 ST. Jan Karl Baedeker’s sweeping lyrics make the track even more tangible – almost as if you were at the wheel of your own Porsche. In addition to Bogner’s amazing photographs, Porsche Drive offers information on each route and height profile, allowing the reader to follow itinerary.

Text in English and German.

Wine, whisky or gin tastings are standard, but more and more people wish for a high quality of basic food too. With their interest in brand-new high-quality olive oils, the community of culinarians is about where it was some thirty years ago with wines. Like the ambitious and rebellious young vintners, the young guns back then, today ambitious olive farmers and oil millers create top-quality products by using state-of-the-art techniques and being open to scientific findings.

About ten years ago, these highly aromatic oils that are rich with polyphenol did not exist for lack of the necessary oil mill technology. To help consumers make informed decisions, this book introduces the background of production and cultivation, presents the stars of the scene and a fine choice of exquisite but easy to cook recipes.

“Fascinating details of the original pictures and a social history of footwear fashion” VOGUE
In acclaimed photographer Lois Lammerhuber’s pictures, shod feet in the Louvre paintings reveal undreamt-of information about people. The details are not only separate works of art, but also studies on centuries of shoe fashion and an excursion into social history. Almost intimate, the photographs raise the world of feet and footwear to eye level, showing delicate shoes and stout limbs; feet without shoes and shoes without feet. The viewing angle is a special one, not only for art enthusiasts but also for shoe lovers. Raphael, Goya, or Ingres did not produce or design footwear, but they all ‘recorded’ shoes, contributing to a history of footwear and at the same time creating fashion archives of shoes that people stepped out in between 1280 and 1863. In a brilliant discourse, Margo Glantz, an icon of Mexican literary studies, introduces the viewer to original thoughts on painting and footwear design, the history and sociology of shoes. Text in English, German, French & Spanish.

Born into slavery around 1853-4 on a cotton plantation in Benton, Alabama, Traylor has become one of the most important self-taught artists of the twentieth century, and certainly one of the most celebrated African-American artists, along with Thorton Dial and William Edmondson. The story of Bill Traylor’s life and work is a remarkable one. It is a story that deserves attention both nationally and internationally.
This publication, generously illustrated with full-page high-quality reproductions, provides a close examination of Traylor’s recurrent themes, composition schemes, favoured iconography, and contextual information related to the artist’s biography, creative process and tools, visual environment, and artistic mindset.
Each artwork is considered in a context beyond that of an isolated image and in response to one another, forming a series of intricate and consistent narratives, intriguingly cinematic in its development. The elements of Traylor’s biography are the anchors of an individual mythology. Instead of merely being a basic depiction, the subject becomes a visual statement structuring Traylor’s mind, bringing together hidden symbols from Kongo Vodou, Hoodoo, Southern Baptist, Freemasonry, and Blues sources, as well as layers of references: slavery, uncensored violence in the Jim Crow era, and turbulence within the black enclave known as ‘Dark Town’ in Montgomery, Alabama.
Text in English and French.

Italian Wines is the English-language version of Gambero Rosso’s Vini d’Italia, the world’s best-selling guide to Italian wine, now in its 30th edition. It is the result of a year’s work by over 60 tasters, coordinated by three curators. They travel around the entire country to taste 45,000 wines, only half of which make it into the guide. About 2,400 producers are selected. Each entry brings together useful information about a winery, including a description of its most important labels and price levels in Italian wine shops. Each wine is evaluated according to the Gambero Rosso bicchieri rating, with Tre Bicchieri awarded to the top labels. This guide acts as an essential reference tool for both wine professionals and passionate amateurs around the globe: it provides the instruments for finding one’s way in the complex panorama of Italy’s wine world.

Italian Wines is the English-language version of Gambero Rosso’s Vini d’Italia, the world’s best-selling guide to Italian wine, now in its 31st edition. It is the result of a year’s work by over 60 tasters, coordinated by three curators. They travel around the entire country to taste 45,000 wines, only half of which make it into the guide. About 2,400 producers are selected. Each entry brings together useful information about the winery, including a description of its most important labels, and price levels. Each wine is evaluated according to the Gambero Rosso bicchieri rating, with Tre Bicchieri awarded to the top labels. The guide is an essential tool for both wine professionals and passionate amateurs around the globe: it provides the instruments for finding one’s way in the complex panorama of Italy’s wine world.

The combination of the woodcut – a print method devised early in the fifteenth century – with Johannes Gutenberg’s revolutionary invention of printing with moveable type resulted in a powerful explosion of information and ideas. For the first time, it was possible to use a mechanised system to print identical copies of books containing both text and images. Featured in A Heavenly Craft are the earliest surviving examples of these books from throughout Western Europe, all printed within the first century after Gutenberg’s invention. The contributors bring these rare books to life, exploring the evolution of the technique, composition and colouration of the woodcut beginning with the earliest publications. Many of the woodcut designs grew out of the tradition of manuscript illumination, in which book illustrations were painstakingly executed by hand. The authors also present the distinguishing features of national style and taste, treating the reader to examples from Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands. In addition, A Heavenly Craft describes the provenance of these volumes, providing an account of how Lessing J. Rosenwald purchased them from the heir to the Lea and Perrins fortune and later donated them to the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. These early printed volumes are the predecessors of today’s illustrated books. A Heavenly Craft celebrates these origins, making these early publications available to bibliophiles and print lovers.

First published in 1995 and out of print for several years, this is a comprehensive anthology comprised of the most important American poets who produced work during the half century between 1820-1870. Paul Kane has included not only the well-known masters, like Thoreau, Dickinson, Poe, and Whitman, but also African-American, Native American and female poets, making his book one of the most thorough and well-researched anthologies available today. Kane’s critical introduction offers historical context, along with informative head notes and helpful resources in a convenient and accessible format. There is an extensive reference section located in the back of the book, providing information for students and academics interested in further reading.

“Neural networks do not understand what optical illusions are.” – Technologyreview.com

“Some pictures tell a thousand lies.” – hplyrikz.com

An optical illusion confuses the eye by pretending to be something it isn’t. It both misleads and deceives the brain, which is trying to make sense of the information the eye is sending. This book presents a selection of brain-bending optical illusions featuring graphic art and photography by 60 artists, and includes an overview of the history of optical illusions in art.

(Re)discover Art Nouveau at the heart of Brussels. At the end of the 19th century, the anti-academic movement pushed Brussels’ architects towards Art Nouveau. Both Victor Horta, in an organic style, and Paul Hankar, in a more geometrical tendency, created an architecture that quickly gained an international reputation. In a little more than a decade, from 1893 on, hundreds of Art Nouveau-fashioned buildings appeared in Brussels, elaborated first by the great pioneers and later by their students and imitators who are also influenced by the Vienna Secession and other trends of European Art Nouveau. At first, this style fulfilled industrial bourgeoisie’s dreams, yearning to assert itself in the city’s structure through this new, and sometimes exuberant, architecture. This book offers nine walks to discover – in different districts – the multiple aspects of architectural Art Nouveau in Brussels. Witness the personal style of the most important architects as well as decorative methods such as sgraffito. Through interviews with owners, custodians and restorers of Art Nouveau-styled buildings, Brussels Art Nouveau describes the fundamental guardians of this remarkable heritage.

Phase 3 of digitalisation has started. A phase of artificial intelligence has revolutionised the buying behavior of customers: collecting information, the buying process and customer service have changed dramatically. This book explains the impact of the ‘internet of things’, virtual assistants, bots and client data. But first of all this is a book about customers. In a world of automatisation the most important question remains: how can I be customer-oriented? “Steven is a much asked for keynote speaker for our events, always a highlight. He has a unique and authentic style: with a combination of academic depth and well-built cases he spices up his presentations with a tremendous amount of humor.” – Anthony Belpaire, Google Website: stevenvanbelleghem.com Youtube: StevenVanBelleghem/videos Twitter: @StevenVBe

Belgium is well-known for its delicious chocolate. In Fine Chocolates: Gold Jean-Pierre Wybauw expresses in clear, concise language how to create and shape your own chocolates. How do you make ganache? How can you extend the shelf life of fine chocolates? He also takes a closer look at the different flavourings you can use and combine. Various mouth-watering and original praline recipes are described in detail. The interesting background information and superb photographs will invite anyone to indulge in this sweetness. This book is another must for the kitchens of professional chocolatiers, experienced amateur cooks and chocolate lovers.