Hainan Island is the southernmost extent of what is now the People’s Republic of China. Today the island is strategically important for its geographic position and its rich mineral and oil resources, and economically important as a thriving tropical resort. Historically, however, Hainan had been regarded as a backwater by successive Chinese dynasties. In Shore of Pearls the eminent Sinologist Edward Schafer recounts the history and culture of the island, annexed during the reign of Han emperor Wu Di in 111 BC, when Chinese armies defeated its indigenous Li people. Pearl gathering became an important industry, and this “treasure island” also yielded other luxury goods prized by the Chinese court, including incense, medicinal herbs, precious metals, tortoise shell, ivory, and exotic woods. However, the difficulty of colonizing and exploiting Hainan’s riches changed its reputation from a “treasure island” to one of a “dank, poisonous land unfit for normal men,” and it later became a place of exile for scholars and officials who had offended the court, including the great poet Su Shi, as well as a lair for criminals and pirates. As in Vermilion Bird, Professor Schafer writes precisely and poetically about this fascinating interface between China and the cultures of its southern borders. Also available: 9781891640377 Vermilion Bird, $50.00

“The book “Rihanna and the Clothes She Wears” satisfies the cravings of fans and fashion enthusiasts alike, boasting over 100 images of Rihanna and her favorite designers who have influenced her taste.” — HOLA! Magazine

“I grew up on a really small Island, and I didn’t have a lot of access to fashion, but as far as I could remember, fashion has always been my defence mechanism. Even as a child I remember thinking, she can beat me, but she cannot beat my outfit.” – Rihanna, accepting the CFDA Fashion Icon of the Year Award in 2014.

From the author of the runaway bestseller Harry Styles and the Clothes He Wears comes a new, fresh look at style icon Rihanna.

Rihanna has learnt how to define her own terms whatever she does – whether in the worlds of fashion, music, beauty, philanthropy, business, or activism, she is both muse and creative, a collaborator and pioneer. To date she has 135 million Instagram followers and counting. In 2022 at the age of 34, largely because of her Fenty Beauty empire, she became Forbes’ youngest self-made billionaire.

But it is her personal wardrobe and the way she wears it that embodies Rihanna’s charisma, integrity, and humor most: everything she does reflects what she wears herself. She is a risk-taker, but as she said on the red-carpet in 2014 “you will never be stylish if you don’t take risks.” The gamble has paid off. Rihanna’s mix-and-match method of wearing high fashion and streetwear, young designers and vintage, hip-hop classics, and avant-garde custom-made pieces, has meant that she has equal footing in both the music and fashion industries. Chairman and CEO of the LVMH group, Sidney Toledano says she is: “a style icon for today’s generation”.

The breadth of Rihanna’s fashion knowledge and style is astounding. In Rihanna and the Clothes She Wears, Terry Newman steps into the world of this fashion icon by examining her style. From couture catwalks to her own empire Fenty, political statements to high street casual, this chic book fizzles with facts about Rihanna’s styling choices, presenting the star’s most revered looks. With quotes from key designers, this is the perfect gift for any fan.

Founded in 2003 by Laurent Vuilleumier and Paul Humbert, the architectural practice LVPH (Pampigny/Fribourg) primarily works on projects in Western Switzerland. Its tasks range from an autonomous residential building in Treyvaux supported by 14 columns, to larger projects such as the monolith of a sports hall in Geneva with a colorful anodized, expanded steel façade. All of the practice’s works have a poetic character expressed in reduced, radical architecture.

Text in English, German and French.

From the smoky backstage dressing rooms of New York and Chicago’s pioneering jazz clubs to the acclaimed Jazz festivals that flourished to enthral legions of fans, Ted Williams’ camera captured the intimacy and the wizardry of Jazz’s greats as they perfected their art over more than three decades from the 1940s-1970s. From his unique access and perspective, Williams diligently accumulated a unique and largely unseen archive that documented some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, the jazz and blues musicians who themselves not only inspired the greats such as Frank Sinatra but fired the aspirations and tastes of a new generation; The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton among them. Williams caught them in the act of exploring and defining their careers and music – while ensuring impassioned audiences and atmospheric venues remained inseparable from the iconic history he was chronicling. From Miles Davis to Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie to Stan Getz and Sarah Vaughan, Williams’ camera witnessed genius at work, rest and play, with an honesty and clarity that few photographers could replicate. When Williams died in 2009 at the age of 84, he left nearly 100,000 prints and negatives behind – many of which have never been seen before.

Jazz, the first book dedicated to the jazz photography of Ted Williams, will highlight hundreds of these unseen jazz images and will be captioned throughout by his own memories along with commentary from some of the leading jazz historians and journalists working today. Artists include Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ray Charles, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Thelonious Monk, Dinah Washington, Duke Ellington, Count Bassie, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Tony Bennett, Mahalia Jackson, Buddy Rich, Julian “Cannonball” Adderly, Art Blakey, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, Quincy Jones, Sonny Rollins, Muddy Waters, Max Roach, Woody Herman and Wynton Marsalis

Published for JonOne’s solo exhibition at the Magda Danysz Gallery in Paris, the pieces featured in JonOne Rock stunningly capture New York’s dynamic lifestyle and the magic that he felt when he painted there. The book is a testament to how JonOne never fails to produce a piece that is powerful, harmonious, dynamic, and multidimensional. “Jonone’s style is an innovation for street art. He is famous for working outside conventions and not following the “rules” of graffiti. What sets JonOne apart from other artists is his focus on the excitement and movement of colour as opposed to the typical associations of character drawing and insignias. Evolving from his early days tagging the streets of New York his style now goes beyond traditional codes of graffiti and finds its roots in American abstract expressionism.” – Magda Danysz

Zhang Ji was a friend and poetic correspondent of such giants as Bai Juyi and Han Yu. In this book, three hundred poems are rendered in accurate, readable translation, demonstrating the remarkable range of Zhang’s stylistic choices: from atmospheric landscape quatrains, evoking vast scenes.

An impressively tattooed but unnamed Easter Island (Rapa Nui) man appears often in the pages of Pacific Island histories and museum catalogs. The Swedish ethnographer Dr. Knut Hjalmar Stolpe knew him only as Tepano, the Tahitian version of the Christian name Stephen. But what was his real Rapanui identity, and what can his life story tell us about the history of Easter Island?

This book reveals his identity, who illustrated him, and how he transcended the tragic events of 19th-century Rapa Nui to become one of the most iconic faces of the Polynesian past. The authors summarize the history of tattoo as practiced by Rapanui artisans, link that history to island geography, and present rare barkcloth sculptures as a visual record of tattoo patterns.

This title is the first in a new series on Polynesian Arts & Culture by Mana Press, in partnership with Floating World Editions.

For a list of future titles, visit: www.FloatingWorldEditions.com. For more on Rapa Nui, the Mana Gallery and Mana Books, visit: www.eisp.org.

This stunning book documents a collection of 66 extraordinary pieces of petrified wood, mainly from Western United States (Arizona, Oregon, Washington). Specially photographed they are shown in their entirety and in magnificent details.

Petrified wood is formed from fallen trees that in the absence of oxygen and microbes, and with water containing minerals, through a replacement process called permineralization, slowly transform into visually spectacular fossils. But Nature often uses a paintbrush in its preservation magic, splashing the wooden canvas with an array of colors and hues before fixing it in a matrix of hard durable quartz, thereby creating splendid works of art. Petrified wood has been found throughout the world, but actual petrified forests are truly noteworthy in the United States, the most famous being the Chinle Formation forest of Arizona.

5000 Years of Indian Art demystifies the story of Indian art spread over the millennia. This visually stunning book offers a panoramic view of Indian art from pre-historic times to the contemporary period. The absorbing narrative links different predominant artistic genres (like prehistoric art, ancient Indian art of Vedic and Buddhist traditions, temple art, Mughal miniature painting, colonial art, modern Indian art, and contemporary art) that were prevalent in different eras, instead of following formally demarcated historical periods.

The illustrated tale encompasses the entire gamut from the earliest primitive markings on stones, caves, and frescoes to exquisite paintings, sculptures, modern photography, finely crafted artefacts, media-inspired work, popular installations, and other forms of contemporary art. The book displays around 200 select masterpieces of art from museums, galleries, and private collections around India and the world. The history of Indian art is as old as the civilization itself and every major period of history has given it newer modes of expression. This book successfully captures all the myriad influences that have enriched Indian art over the years.

Features works from the following museums: American Museum of Natural History, New York, Archaeological Museum, Sarnath, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford British Museum, London, Brooklyn Museum, New York, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Gujral Art Museum, New Delhi, Harvard Art Museum/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, Kabul Museum, Kabul, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, Indian Museum, Kolkata, Islamabad Museum, Islamabad, Lahore Museum, Lahore, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Mathura Museum, Mathura, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Musée Guimet, Paris, Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin, Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi, National Museum, New Delhi, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, Patna Museum, Bihar, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Sarnath Site Museum, Uttar Pradesh, Seattle Art Museum, Washington, Staaliche Museum of Berlin: 91, V & A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London Trustees of the British Museum, London .

Carleton Varney turns his decorating vision towards the water in his most recent tome, Decorating on the Waterfront.
Here, he gathers stunning images of new design projects in this collection of inspirational stories that use motifs and colors from years by the shore. Growing up on the Massachusetts coast influenced his penchant for bright cheerful color schemes and warm polished interiors that exude luxury living today. Varney continues to live near the ocean and decorates for clients on the waterfront from Palm Beach, Florida to the shores of Lake Huron, Michigan. This book brings into focus Varney’s career long journey to bring elements and inspirations from the world around us to life at home.

Between 1963 and 1970, Lawrence Halprin and Associates realized a quartet of public plazas in Portland, Oregon, that redefined the city and set a bold new precedent for urban landscape architecture. Dubbed the Portland Open Space Sequence and composed of the Lovejoy Fountain, Pettygrove Park, and Forecourt Fountain (later renamed Ira Keller Fountain), plus the lesser known Source Fountain, the plazas were a dynamic collage of striking concrete forms, gushing water, and alpine flora that, in their seamless mix of nature and theater, created a playful metaphorical watershed coursing through the central city. Where the Revolution Began is the story of how these plazas came to be. Born of the creative experimentation and collaboration between Halprin and his wife, pioneering choreographer/ dancer Anna Halprin, the sequence came to life in the unlikely setting of the city’s first scrape-and-rebuild urban renewal project. But Halprin defied the conventions of both American urban renewal and midcentury modernism, designing the kind of inviting, exuberant public space not seen since Renaissance Rome’s Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navonna. For Halprin, the plazas became the first step in a career-long exploration of sequential works of landscape design, from the Haas Promenade in Jerusalem to the Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C. For Portland, Halprin’s work marked the beginning of a tradition of remaking the city around interactive public spaces such as the famed Pioneer Courthouse Square. And for landscape architecture, the plazas offer some of the earliest precedents for the ecologically and socially responsive urbanism ascendant today.

Japan is a land of diversity and contradictions with a unique, somewhat mysterious culture. It is a place where you will find ancient temples, shrines and customs cherished and unchanged for over thousand years, as well as cutting edge technology and trendsetting architecture. V

isitors will be amazed by the courteous and warm way travelers are welcomed and the delicacy of Japanese food and art.

Although in Japan the majority of the population lives in vibrant contemporary cities like Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka, historical places like Kamakura, Kyoto and Nikko are always close. The Japanese archipelago consists of thousands of islands that are often densely forested and mountainous. Situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire the highly volcanic activity in the region has shaped over time stunning landscapes with many natural wonders to discover.

Marc Popelier’s frequent visits to Japan and life-long interest in the country and culture have crystallized into the pages of this book. It is a perfect introduction to Japan and will surely tempt anyone to visit this fascinating country.

From acclaimed Hollywood photographer Firooz Zahedi comes Look at Me, a collection of his most distinguished and intimate celebrity portraits. From editorial commissions from magazines – including Vanity Fair, Glamour, InStyle, GQ, and Entertainment Weekly, to iconic movie posters such as Pulp Fiction, Edward Scissorhands, and The Addams Family – Zahedi has been photographing Hollywood’s biggest stars for over 35 years.

Each photograph is accompanied by a short text offering personal insight into how each shot came together. Also included are never-before-seen photographs as well as special behind-the-scenes snapshots and notes from Zahedi’s appreciative subjects. Look at Me is a celebration of this golden age of celebrity as seen through the lens of one of Hollywood’s most accomplished photographers.

There is a rich tradition of hand-woven bands made by the nomadic pastoralists of Iran. They have a large and detailed design vocabulary, and were executed using weaving skills that were not exceeded by any other weaving tradition. No study of nomadic life and weavings in Iran is complete without them. Among Qashqa’i tribal weavers in particular, the warp-faced bands used to attach loads to pack animals were a key symbol of their nomadic life. These bands carry a large repository of motifs that may be a source of archaic design elements. Bands illustrate a connection between and among groups of nomadic pastoralists, as great distances may have separated their ancestors for hundreds of years. Although the overwhelming majority of weavers were illiterate, they possessed a different form of literacy in which they were capable of transferring an image into a woven structure. This is the first book devoted exclusively to these weavings.

Contents: Introduction; The Functions of Warp-faced Bands in Nomadic Life; Structure and Construction; Buckles & Fastening Systems on Bands; Dating Textiles; Design & Structural Changes on Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Warp-faced Bands; Imagery & Design Elements; Tribal Confederacies; Plates; Bands, Ropes, Braids, and Tassels among Qashqa’i Nomads; Glossary; Bibliography.

The design of French embassies presented in this book retrace a century of diplomacy and the influence of the French style abroad. They showcase the diplomatic role played by the decorative arts and, as a counterpoint, the enrichment of these through contact with other cultures. From the first Art nouveau and Art deco ensembles to design at the end of the century, the most prestigious designers of their time meet on this world tour: Süe and Mare in Warsaw, Francis Jourdain in Kabul, Jean-Michel Frank in Dublin, Jacques Émile Ruhlmann in Tokyo, Jean Dunand in Ankara, Jean Royère in Alexandria and Helsinki or, more recently, Michel Boyer in Brasilia and Jean-Michel Wilmotte in Washington. Throughout the pages, the little-known heritage of France abroad is revealed, thanks to documents, photographs and often unpublished drawings which reconstruct its memory.

Text in French. 

This volume brings together leading scholars of Sikhism and of Sikh art to assess and interpret the remarkable art resource known as the Kapany Collection, using it to introduce to a broad public the culture, history, and ethos of the Sikhs. Fifteen renowned scholars contributed essays describing the passion and vision of Narinder and Satinder Kapany in assembling this unparalleled assemblage of great Sikh art, some of which has been displayed in exhibitions around the globe. The Kapanys’ legacy of philanthropic work includes establishing the Sikh Foundation (now celebrating its 50th year) and university endowments for Sikh studies. Through this profusely illustrated book’s chapters, scholars examine the full range of Sikh artistic expression and of Sikh history and cultural life, using artworks from the Kapany Collection.

“A standout among the drink books published this year, which ought to be on the Christmas list of every wine lover, even if they don’t think they have much interest in American wine.”  —Victoria Moore, The Telegraph
“This is a book for novices and geeks interested in the significance of California through America’s wine history, from the swashbuckling era of Agoston Haraszthy through modern Napa’s cult cabernets and today’s despair over wildfires and drought.” —David McIntyre, Washington Post

“New York Times picks On California for their “This Year’s Best Wine Books”: “. Its short selections from nearly three dozen writers offer impressionistic, thought-provoking views of the state and its winemaking history.”—New York Times

“There is something for everyone here.” —Sommelier India

On California explores the grapes and the people who have made California wine great. The pioneers, the boffins, the whizz-kids and scientists, many of whom tell their stories on its pages – some in precious archive material, others have set down their thoughts mid-pandemic in 2021: Randall Grahm, Gerald Asher, Steven Spurrier, Paul Draper and Warren Winiarski take a bow….

Includes:

• California wine and the future: where will the ‘California spirit’ lead next?
• The ‘Hollywood Grape’: our authors chart the path of Cabernet Sauvignon, from the wish-list of Thomas Jefferson to the hallowed hillsides of Stag’s Leap and Screaming Eagle
• 1976? Of course it was a competition! Steven Spurrier and Patricia Gallagher look back at the motivations behind the famous Paris wine tasting
• Top New York sommelier Victoria James tells of her near-death introduction to the whacky world of winemaking in Sonoma
• Will the real Zinfandel please stand up? Paul Draper seeks out the true heritage of California’s versatile orphan grape
• Contributions from top California writers: Elaine Chukan Brown, Mary Margaret McCamic MW, Karen MacNeil, Esther Mobley, Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Liz Thach MW, Clare Tooley MW, and Kelli White
• Hugh Johnson, Jane Anson and Fiona Morrison MW introduce California’s intrepid wine pioneers
• Rex Pickett’s Sideways heroes, Jack and Miles, clink glasses over the Central Coast’s finest Pinot Noir
• A–Z: from ‘Bob’ Mondavi to Xylem sap-sensors and pink Zinfandel – California wine in bite-size

“This book takes in his introduction to wine – at the age of three! – through his continued travels and championing of New World wines when they were less fashionable.” – Matthew Nugent, The Irish Sun

“You can feel Oz Clarke’s expansive, chatty presence in every sentence” – Telegraph

“Reading Clarke may be the closest we’ll come to sharing a glass of sack with the Bard himself.” —David McIntyre, Washington Post
“Frankly, it’s the best and most entertaining wine read I’ve had in years.” —Tom Doorley, The Irish Mail

“You can never have too much of his captivating enthusiasm and rich knowledge and this is him at his best.” — Waitrose magazine

“A rollicking good read.” — Sommelier India

There have never been so many delicious and original wines in the world, and to discover them, all you need is a glass in your hand and Oz Clarke – the ideal wine companion. With his inimitable sense of adventure and fun, Oz explains how his fascination with flavor led him to abandon a promising acting career and follow his heart from Chablis to ‘the lost Himalayan valleys of Yunnan’ in pursuit new taste experiences and wine thrills. He found them! Oz Clarke On Wine takes us on a fast-paced, witty romp around the grape varieties key to the world’s major wine styles, then explores the vineyards and regions where a vast trove of wine treasure lies waiting for discovery. Oz’s passion for sharing, his deep wine knowledge, and his ability to conjure up the wine world’s most beautiful landscapes, make this book the most unputdownable wine read this century.

Includes:

• How Oz fell in love with wine: from his first dramatic encounter on a river-bank (aged three), to his post-performance tasting tales (after ‘governing Argentina’ as General Perón in the hit show Evita
• Oz explains how global warming affects what we drink today, and the new styles we can expect ‘tomorrow’
• Organic and Biodynamic wines, Oz’s favorite fizz
• The world’s best-tasting wines, from Aconcagua to Okanagan, from Patagonia to east Yorkshire…, and wines to enjoy, from budget to blue chip… For sipping and savoring now. Or to age and enjoy in 10, 20, 30-years’ time…

Michael Broadbent, wine critic, writer, auctioneer and much-admired expert revolutionized the wine trade with his first edition of Wine Tasting in 1968 and has continued to capture the magic of wine for over 50 years, bringing it to the page and to the public in compleling detail, always tinged with his uniquely wry sense of humor.

Michael’s original text (from the 1975 edition) updated with the latest vintages and footnotes revealing Michael’s reactions to the changing wine scene.

Personal tributes to Michael from Hugh Johnson OBE, Jancis Robinson OBE MW, Steven Spurrier, the late Gerard Basset OBE MW MS, and international wine auctioneers Paul Bowker and Fritz Hatton.

“He had added what the wine trade had lacked; a veneer of scholarship, and a dealer of genius.” – Hugh Johnson

“A must read” – Ian Harris, CEO of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust

The Caravane Earth Foundation presents The Majlis book, a rich and colourful documentation of the creation of the “Majlis” exhibition, a multi-layered nomadic project at the 17th annual Biennale di Venezia. The book tracks the multifaceted nature of the exhibition itself, which comprised an architectural object, an exhibition, and a garden, all three hosted by the Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, Italy. Additionally, the book tells the broader story of Caravane Earth, chronicling research conducted by the foundation and the key ideas that form its philosophy and agenda. The Majlis highlights the main elements of the project in Venice while giving an introduction to key members of Caravane’s community of experts.  

With a narrative structure broken into four sections – Exhibition, Architecture, Craft, and Earth – The Majlis book features interviews with important figures and institutions from these fields, stunning visual documentation of the creation process and featured artefacts, and critical writings on permaculture, architecture, and craft. Featuring discussions with the Smithsonian Foundation, landscape architect Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, The International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism (INTBAU), director and curators of the Sheikh Faisal Museum, and many more, the collection provides a deep look and education into the many causes championed by Caravane Earth.