This delightful manuscript, published in facsimile, was composed around 1585 by a clergyman in a bid for the patronage of an Elizabethan magnate, Sir John Petre. Modeled on printed writing books, German and French, it presents a profusion of scripts, accompanying decorated capital letters from A to Z. Its texts are eloquent on the value of learning. All is transcribed in print and, when needed, translated, including poems in English and Latin in which Amos Lewis, the creator, presses his case, reinforced by colorful Petre heraldry. The commentary unravels the Alphabet Book’s precursors and analyzes its ingredients, including a lively range of ornament. The first writing book published in London, in 1570, was by a Frenchman, Jean de Beau Chesne. Lewis’s manuscript is the first attempt at an original writing book by an Englishman. This signal rarity, virtually unknown hitherto, is a window into handwriting and education in the age of Shakespeare.

“THANK YOU BYE was born out of a need to put down somewhere what I have experienced over the last five years. Although it gives the impression of a veil being lifted, it is simply a record of my personal experience. The intention, through these hundreds of photos, is to transcribe the absurd, crazy and little-known world of modelling, by means of an unpublished souvenir album of my time spent in fashion. The result is THANK YOU BYE, which owes its name to the phrase uttered by casting directors every time you walk in front of them. It recounts my moments of sadness, my anxieties, my unease, my questions, but also our laughter, our travels, our togetherness, our mutual support. Five years during which I fought not to lose myself. Thrown at the age of 18 at a speed I found hard to manage into a dimension that was not my own, I embrace all the models who ‘pose’ in this book and who, without realising it, helped me to escape. What you hold in your hands is none other than the last chance to prove that I was still worth something. When you turn the last page, you’ll know that I’ve resigned and can finally say that I’m happy.” – Clémentine Balcaen

“With this collection, I attempt to clarify that these are not only textile designs. There is a lot more to it than that: making links to developments in the fields of art, culture and politics is only logical and at least as important. My collection seeks above all to stimulate curiosity when reading (or learning to read) images.” – Marc Van Hoe

The Van Hoe Collection – Grammar of Textiles presents The Van Hoe Collection which mainly consists of textile designs, in part weaves and a number of rare books from the period from 1830 to 1990: a period of great artistic and aesthetic changes. Including essays by Mireille Houtzager – Dutch Textile & Costume historian and Johan Valcke, Hoanry Director, Design Flanders, and others.

Text in English and Dutch.

Framing the Ephemeral is the first monograph on Lois Dodd (b. 1927). At the age of 98, Dodd is still considered a pioneering yet often overlooked figure in postwar American art. This book offers a compelling exploration of her observation-based paintings, with a particular focus on light, atmosphere, and everyday scenes. For seventy years, Dodd has been quietly yet consistently defying entrenched gender norms, while remaining steadfast in her clear, attentive way of seeing – hallmarks of observational painting. Framing the Ephemeral highlights her significant contributions and reaffirms Dodd’s enduring place in art history.
With contributions by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries; Janice McNab, fellow at the Women’s International Study Center (Santa Fe); Karen Wilkin, New York-based curator and critic specialising in twentieth-century modernism; Katy Hessel, art historian and founder of The Great Women Artists podcast; Louise Bjeldbak Henriksen, curator at Kunstmuseum Den Haag; and many others.

Framing the Ephemeral is the first monograph on Lois Dodd (b. 1927). At the age of 98, Dodd is still considered a pioneering yet often overlooked figure in postwar American art. This book offers a compelling exploration of her observation-based paintings, with a particular focus on light, atmosphere, and everyday scenes. For seventy years, Dodd has been quietly yet consistently defying entrenched gender norms, while remaining steadfast in her clear, attentive way of seeing – hallmarks of observational painting. Framing the Ephemeral highlights her significant contributions and reaffirms Dodd’s enduring place in art history.
With contributions by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries; Janice McNab, fellow at the Women’s International Study Center (Santa Fe); Karen Wilkin, New York-based curator and critic specializing in twentieth-century modernism; Katy Hessel, art historian and founder of The Great Women Artists podcast; Louise Bjeldbak Henriksen, curator at Kunstmuseum Den Haag; and many others.

In the pre-digital age, before email and cell phones, letters carried an importance that few who were not part of those times will understand. The words on the pages of a love letter carry the nuances and emotions of love and desire, passion and anger in a deeply confidential way.

The urgency and the intimacy of the writers can be clearly felt in this collection of letters between Lee Miller, Photographer, and Roland Penrose, Surrealist Artist, as they conduct their long-distance romance. It begins with their meeting in Paris in 1937 and runs to 1939 when Lee Miller left her Egyptian husband Aziz Eloui Bey in Cairo and joined Roland Penrose in London at the start of World War 2.

In this real-life romantic drama, the period and their connections give us a supporting cast that includes Dora Maar and Picasso, Nusch and Paul Eluard, Leonora Carrington and Max Ernst, Ady Fidelin and Man Ray.

The nearly 300 pages of love letters in this book show that as the relationship grew it produced and supported some of the world’s best loved art and photography. The letters have never been published before and have only been read by a handful of people since they were first written.

Unfurling Dragon – The Multicultural Art of Vietnam is a companion volume to From the Red River to the Mekong Delta ISBN 9786164510722. A collection of over 20 essays from the world’s leading authorities on the art, history or archaeology of Vietnam. From the Bronze Age lowlanders who settled the Red River Valley, the technologically advanced people in the 10th century who stopped a Chinese fleet and declared sovereignty, a Buddhist state that would continue to expand southwards to dominate the long established and artistically advanced Hindu, Buddhist then Islamic culture of multiple ethnic Cam coastal settlements. Finally, in the 18th century the Nguyễn – Dynasty and absorbed the Khmer-Camic culture of the Mekong River Delta.

Published on the occasion of Albert Bitran’s first solo exhibition at Dirimart, Land of Shadows Land of Sky (3 May–2 June 2024), this trilingual catalog presents a comprehensive selection of works created between 1956 and 2013 by one of the pioneering figures of post-war abstract expressionism in Paris. The book highlights Bitran’s enduring spatial sensibility and the fluid transitions between his different series, offering readers a deeper understanding of his unique visual language. Essays by art historian and critic Clotilde Scordia and poet, writer, and pianist Laure Cambau provide critical insights into Bitran’s practice and its evolution across decades. The publication also includes inventory numbers from the artist’s catalogue raisonné, to be released in 2026. Beyond mere chronology, it invites readers to engage with Bitran’s abstractions as dynamic reflections of light, space, and perception.

Text in English, French and Turkish.

Silicon Valley has become the Mesopotamia of the Digital Age, built on cycles of innovation and disruption, monstrous ambition, and a steady supply of labour and capital. Yet for all that’s known about companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook – and the personas behind those companies – the culture of Silicon Valley remains elusive and contradictory, even to many locals. This unique guidebook, written by longtime local Floriana Petersen, takes you on an insider’s tour of 111 cool, offbeat, and very compelling places that offer insight into the evolving character of Silicon Valley. Visit the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford to see drawings done by Leland Jr. Stanford, after whom the university was named after his death at age 15 in 1884. Sit at the Rosewood Hotel bar to witness the mating habits of venture capitalists. Go to the Music@Menlo Festival to listen some of the best chamber music to be found anywhere in the country. Enjoy the Stanford Powwow, a festival to celebrate some of the great American Indian tribes of Northern California. Visit Steve Jobs’ final resting place, or spend an afternoon at the Hakone Japanese gardens. Explore the Filoli Estate, a living testimony to the wealthy families who used the Gold Rush to build the infrastructure that has become Silicon Valley.

Red Flags is a visual field guide to modern behavior — part satire, part mirror, and part survival manual. Created by Belgian designer and visual storyteller Bart Kiggen, the book unpacks the characters, archetypes, and micro-cultures that shape our digital and emotional lives. From the Ghoster to the Apex Pretender, from the Brand Messiah to the Yuppie Mephistopheles, each red flag is drawn, described, and decoded with wit and precision. Blending staged photography, cultural critique, and design, Red Flags turns online performance into visual anthropology. It examines how attention became identity and how charisma, care, or confidence can all tip into manipulation.

Each portrait is both absurd and familiar, reminding us that the red flags we recognize in others often reflect our own. In this carefully composed and conceptually sharp book, Bart Kiggen uses imagery, humor, and typography to explore the psychology of the age of exposure. Red Flags invites readers to look closer, laugh more softly, and perhaps notice a few signals in themselves before it’s too late.

Born at the height of the country’s centennial celebration, Mary Louise Curtis was raised by industrious New Englanders who created Ladies’ Home Journal and built it into the most widely read magazine in America. Aside from immense wealth, Mary’s parents bestowed upon their only child a sophisticated understanding of music that would lead to her hands-on involvement in the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia and the founding of the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music in 1924. A strong advocate of practical philanthropy, Mary worked tirelessly to ensure that her school’s mission was fulfilled. She cultivated a vast network of musical connections and provided opportunities to her students for sustained success. Among the many musicians whose careers she fostered were George Antheil, Rose Bampton, Samuel Barber, and Gian Carlo Menotti. Through author Barbara Benedett’s exhaustive research, this notable American philanthropist finally emerges from the shadows, and her immeasurable generosity, business acumen, and vision are fully acknowledged.

Costume jewelry is commonly understood to mean fashionable yet affordable adornments made from non-precious material. Originating in in mid-1700s France with the rise of the bourgeoise, the earliest ‘costume jewelry’ mimicked fine jewelry styles. Since then, costume jewelry has always been evolving. From Victorian sentimentalism to the mass-produced ornaments available today, costume jewelry has developed into an artform in its own right. An encyclopedic study of its history is long overdue. Flush with expert information, identification tips and historical anecdotes, Adorning Fashion explores the development of costume jewelry across the past four centuries. The styles of each era – Victorian, Edwardian, Arts & Crafts, Jugenstil, Art Nouveau, and each decade of the twentieth century – are given individual attention. Production methods are also explained in depth. Alloys and gilded electroplating can mimic silver and gold, while the refraction index of treated glass can, to the untrained eye, be mistaken for diamond.
Adorning Fashion discusses the contributions of a remarkable roster of designers and innovators, including Kokichi Mikimoto, Arthur L. Liberty, Carlo Giuliano, René Lalique, Elizabeth Bonté, the Castellani brothers, Jean Fouquet, Jean Després, Fulco di Verdura, Jean Schlumberger, Salvador Dalí, Miriam Haskell, Lina Baretti, Countess Cissy Zoltowska, Line Vautrin, Kenneth Jay Lane, Francisco Rebajes, Diane Love, Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Chanel, Van Cleef & Arpels, Paco Rabanne, Yves Saint Laurent, Napier, Haskell, Trifari, Brania, Bulgari, Versace and more.

“Fully illustrated, the charm of his English Roses comes across on every page, even if the reader has to imagine their scent.” – The Irish Garden

“Experts will appreciate the notes on each rose’s breeding.” – Historic Gardens Foundation

Informative, accessible and stunningly illustrated, David Austin’s English Roses introduces the reader to the world of rose propagation and care. The book focuses on English Roses, bred by David Austin to combine the sumptuousness of Old Roses with the strength and practical virtues of Modern Roses. It will be greatly prized by rose-growers and rose-lovers everywhere, whether professional or amateur.

Commissioned by the Water Colour Society of Ireland, this book is the first to chronicle in depth the history of this distinguished Society, established in Lismore, County Waterford in November, 1870 and recognised today as being one of the oldest and most outstanding art societies in these islands. Members have included such prominent participants as Sir William N.M. Orpen, R.A., R.I., H.R.H.A., Sarah H. Purser, R.H.A., Walter F. Osborne, R.H.A., Mildred A. Butler, R.W.S., H.B.A.S., Mainie Jellett, Paul Henry, R.H.A., Evie Hone, H.R.H.A., Tom Carr, H.R.H.A., R.U.A., R.W.S., O.B.E and many others who succeeded in achieving recognition for their work not only in Ireland but on the international stage. The author sets out to trace the historical development of watercolor painting in Ireland, the difficulties encountered by artists in relation to exhibiting watercolors in eighteenth and nineteenth century Ireland. Brief accounts of the establishment of the Royal Dublin Society’s Drawing Schools are included together with the influence of the nineteenth century English watercolor tradition in relation to Irish students, the foundation of the N.G.I, the role of the governess and drawing master, together with the influences which the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art exerted on countless future members of the Society.   The difficulties encountered by women in establishing themselves as either professional or amateur artists in nineteenth century Ireland, the opportunities for training not only in the field of art but in crafts such as wood-carving and lace and the availability to pursue an art academic training abroad all form part of this book. The vital role of Sketching Clubs and Drawing Societies which led to the birth of the Amateur Drawing Society (later to become known as  the Water Colour Society of Ireland) are included. Founded by six enterprising ‘Lady Artists’, their largely unknown biographical information is provided here for the first time.   Descriptions of early exhibitions, the aristocratic glamor attached to openings, conversaziones, the day to day running of the Society and the need by many artists, particularly women to transform themselves into professional painters form part of the early development of this remarkable Society. The birth of the nineteenth century exhibition watercolor and the requirement by members to market and sell their work throughout Ireland and the U.K. is described.   The author provides concise biographies of over one hundred W.C.S.I artists from the relatively unknown to the widely acclaimed together with illutrations of works from  both public and private collections, the latter, due to the generosity of their owners being illustrated here for the first time.

‘Sofreh’ is Persian for ‘spread’ – referring to the colorful arrangements of flowers, condiments and objects of spiritual or cultural importance that are displayed at Persian ceremonies. As the title promises, this book is a visual feast. Flush with lavish historical illustrations and contemporary photography, it documents Persian marriage and New Year celebrations in rich detail. Sofreh pays homage to ancient traditions, discussing the symbiosis of symbolism and culture. Despite their ancestral roots, the featured ceremonies are infused with life and creativity. Modern fabrics are welcomed alongside refined antique textiles, creative floral designs, unconventional pieces of furniture, and unexpected objects. References to Persian poetry, literature, art and folklore stimulate the imagination, and the text is illuminated with exquisitely detailed extracts from old manuscripts, antique woven textiles and embroideries. Each volume centres around a series of original and at times highly elaborate sofreh creations. Together they comprise an extensive project, involving research into Persian ceremonies and sofreh history by an eminent scholar, and the design and creation of stunning compositions. Book One is about the Persian New Year (Nowruz), which is celebrated on the first day of Spring. Book Two explores Persian marriage and wedding customs, and the elaborate settings for marriage ceremonies (Aqd). These two lavishly illustrated volumes, which make an enduring gift, are devoted to showcasing sofreh compositions in all of their glory. Never before have the splendour and beauty of the sofreh been presented in such an intricate and novel fashion.

London’s record shop scene is at its most vital and buoyant point since the 1990s, following a resurgence of interest in vinyl over recent years. Tom Greig, who has immersed himself in the world of London’s record shops for close to two decades, profiles and tells the story of 60 distinctive independent record stores, selling both new and used vinyl. Vinyl London is at once a practical guide, featuring maps, addresses, opening times and stock information, and an attractive visual celebration of London’s record shops. The book is organized geographically, and contains the following chapters; Soho; North; East; South; West; Suburbs; Markets; Vinyl Cafes. Also in the series: Art London ISBN 9781788840385 London Peculiars ISBN 9781851499182

Du Paquier, an independently operating Viennese porcelain factory, was established in 1718, only eight years after Meissen. Although its heyday was brief, lasting only twenty-five years, Du Paquier produced porcelain of great beauty, notable for an enchantingly graceful style and consummate sophistication of execution. In three sumptuously illustrated volumes, scholars of international standing present the distinctive style and the exciting history of Du Paquier porcelain in the context of Baroque Vienna. The first comprehensive publication on this important porcelain factory, this work has been made possible through a five-year research programme conducted by the Melinda and Paul Sullivan Foundation for the Decorative Arts. The objects shown, many of them for the first time here, are in major public and private collections. The first volume deals with the historical and stylistic background of Du Paquier porcelain: art and architecture in early eighteenth-century Baroque Vienna; furthermore, the history of the porcelain factory, its style and its manifold sources of inspiration as well as Du Paquier’s relationship to Meissen and the role played at Du Paquier by independent porcelain painters and decorators. The second volume places this Viennese porcelain in its cultural context, providing broad-ranging information on court banquet ceremony as well as private pleasures such as drinking and festive dining. Objects used in aristocratic circles are shown along with choice presents of state made to the Ottoman and Russian courts. In addition, this volume contains a new study on the Dubsky Room, the only room still in existence devoted to Du Paquier porcelain. The contents of the third volume include an annotated catalogue comprising approximately 500 objects, scholarly analysis and a chapter on the history of collecting Du Paquier porcelain, an inventory of the Dubsky Room, a bilingual glossary of terms and a complete bibliography. An enclosed CD-ROM contains transcriptions of original documents that have played an important role in the history of the Du Paquier porcelain factory. “This definitive work provides a fascinating survey of Viennese baroque court culture.”
The Art Newspaper

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 to their success was the collaboration with distinguished sculptors and ceramicists of the day, which included Demetre Chiparus, Walter Bosse and Josef Lorenzl, all of whom were responsible for a great many of the Goldscheider designs. This success story was quashed by the National Socialist aryanization 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. Over 600 color photographs show Goldscheider examples, demonstrating why this firm earned such a highly regarded reputation in the world of ceramics.

Text in English and German.

The work of the English artist Hamish Fulton (b. in London in 1946) uncontestedly occupies a unique position among the artistic stances taken in the 20th and early 21st centuries. Fulton is a “walking artist”, one whose central theme is nature and nature as humans experience it. For the past thirty years he has been taking long walks on all five continents. He captures the emotional and physical experiences resulting from this activity in photographs, drawings, murals and texts. They range from basic information on the duration, location and conditions of these walks to Haiku-like, poetically meditative excerpts from his diaries. His work contains aspects of both Land art and Conceptual art. Fulton has taken hundreds of walks and lives by the motto “No Walk – No Art”. On his most recent perambulations, his diary has increasingly replaced his camera; hence words and drawings have pride of place in the present book on the trip he took to Tibet in 2007. For Fulton is not concerned with providing travel documentation that is as objective as possible. On the contrary, he wants to capture the feeling of walking and express it in his – by now increasingly abstract – works.

Hugely popular in his own day and an enormous influence on Monet, van Gogh and other leading European artists, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 1858) has never lost his appeal. A prolific artist, he produced between 4,000 and 5,000 woodblock print designs. He is particularly renowned for his landscape prints, which are among the most frequently reproduced of all Japanese art in both Japan and the West. Hiroshige’s unusual compositions, humorous depictions of people involved in everyday activities and masterly expression of weather, light and season, are explored in this publication with its especially fine printing and experts’ notations. It is part of a series featuring the depth of the Japanese art holdings at the Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford, the world’s first university art museum. The gems of information are numerous, including a page on “how to read a print” — with such as a note on “the censor’s mark,” a detail that only the cognoscenti might recognize. The book adds greatly to the art lover’s knowledge and pleasure.

Contents:
How to ‘read’ a Japanese Print, Preface, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) Woodblock Print Designer, Making a Japanese Woodblock Print, I Views along the Tokaido, II Views of the Provinces, III Views of Edo, IV Views of Mount Fuji, Further Reading.

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.

Beautifully produced, Desmond Freeman Venice presents more than 50 captioned, black and white and full-color sketches of the architecture of Venice accompanied by quotations from well-known authors, poets and artists. The preface describes the story of how the book came into being, and was developed in addition to information about the artwork methodology. A set of thumbnail illustrations of each of the 50 or so full artworks has been included at the back of the book in the form of an index.

“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.