“Neighbours and Rivals, more than a travelogue, is a tract: one that calls for more pragmatism in the running of a modern city and out of which our policymakers would do well to take a leaf.” — Country Life

The first work of great French journalist Louis-Sébastien Mercier, this seminal work of travel writing remained unpublished for over 200 years.
Mercier first traveled to London, and began recording his impressions, in 1780. An exemplar of a new form of journalistic, reflective literature, he presented emotive representations of the city as collections of experiences, habits and personalities. And differently from Dickens’s London or Baudelaire’s Paris, with their contrasts of opulence and misery, Mercier describes a less familiar urban environment – more optimistic, perhaps even utopian. His version of London is, in fact, a projection of his philosophical imagination – not simply a rounded portrait but also a reflection of what he hoped Paris could become.

For this first publication in English, Laurent Turcot and Jonathan Conlin’s translation preserves the life and humor of Mercier’s text. It is illustrated with contemporary images, with an emphasis on Thomas Rowlandson and Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin, the first Parisian flâneur-artist.

Exploring fashion and interior design through a gender lens, from the Victorian era to contemporary designers like Martin Margiela and Raf Simons

Fashion & Interiors. A Gendered Affair explores the relationship between fashion and interiors from a gender perspective.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, bourgeois ladies embellished both their bodies and their homes with drapes, fringing and ruches. Male designers such as Henry van de Velde and Josef Hoffmann waged war on that decorative excess and designed women’s clothing and interiors as part of a well-thought-out total work of art. Fashion designers Paul Poiret and Jeanne Lanvin drew inspiration from this approach and used interior design to create a powerful brand for their fashion houses. The impact of clothing also resonated with modernist (interior) architects such as Adolf Loos, Lilly Reich and Le Corbusier.

This complex history is reflected in surprising ways in the visual language and creations of contemporary fashion designers such as Ann Demeulemeester, Martin Margiela, and Raf Simons.

If Richmond VA represented the historic heart of the Confederacy, then Monument Avenue was meant to memorialize its soul. The avenue was conceived in the 1870s, when the city elected to build a memorial to General Robert E Lee. It was not until 1890, however, that the massive monument was unveiled. Over the succeeding decades, Lee was joined by statues commemorating other leading Confederate military and political figures – JEB Stuart, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and Matthew Fontaine Maury.

Almost from the moment they were erected, the Confederate monuments, as symbols of white supremacy, were the focus of controversy and protest. The climax came in the summer of 2020 when Black Lives Matter protesters, outraged by the death of George Floyd, converged on the avenue to vent their fury. On July 10th, Jefferson Davis was dragged from his pedestal. Two days later, Brian Rose packed up his cameras in New York and drove back to his home state to document the last days of the grand boulevard of the Lost Cause. En route, he reflected on his own history and the roles played by his forebears in the Antebellum South.This new edition of a classic book captures a pivotal moment in modern American history.

Radiant City is a major monograph documenting a decade of figurative and geometric work by London-based British contemporary artist Lucy Williams (b. 1972, Oxford). Her mixed-media bas-relief collages depict modernist architecture and interiors, from tower blocks and municipal buildings to private residences in Palm Springs. 

All made painstakingly by hand, this is a contemporary art practice that, with the precision of an architect or a draughts person, references craft traditions, using materials including paper, Plexiglas, wood veneer, fabric, piano wire, and thread. Space, form, pattern, design, and geometry meet with color and light to form mesmerizing, detailed scenes such as tiled swimming pools with mosaic walls, the imposing facades of Brutalist buildings, and domestic interiors containing bookcases replete with books, vases and ornaments.

In addition to figurative works, the publication also features the artist’s Threaded Collages, abstract geometric pieces inspired by Bauhaus tapestries and constructivism. Williams creates repeated triangular and diamond forms, using colorful painted papers along with silk and cotton threads. 

Featuring a variety of text contributions, this, Williams’s second trade monograph, has been designed by Kristin Metho, edited by Matt Price, and produced by Hurtwood. It is published by Hurtwood with generous support from Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco.

Presented in a slipcase in celebration of 120 years, The Rolex Legacy offers a unique decade-by-decade journey through Rolex’s heritage, featuring 12 chapters that tell the story of the brand and the exceptional watches that cemented its fame and prestige.

Explore 120 meticulously photographed Rolex timepieces, showcasing the diversity of models, styles and finishes – from the legendary Submariner series to the elusive Rolex Unicorn and the iconic ‘Paul Newman’ Daytona. Accompanying these extraordinary watches is the most extensive collection of Rolex ephemera ever assembled, tracing the company’s history and influence with unparalleled detail.

James Dowling (‘Mr Rolex’) uncovers pieces in never-before-seen archives and specially commissioned photo shoots from around the globe, sharing personal encounters and stories from his quest to discover these beautiful specimens.

A collector’s edition measuring a prodigious 11.5 x 15.5 inches, India Through Iconic Maps is a sight to behold – an unprecedented display of the scale, story and beauty of mapmaking in India. There is more to a map than just the sheet of paper one sees – there’s a motive, a story, people, circumstances, science, mathematics, technology and analysis among other aspects. This book with more than 400 maps aims to highlight and bring forth these hidden layers of a map and trace a unique cartographical history of the Indian subcontinent.

Swiss Art Brut 1945–2026 is being published to coincide with an exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Collection de l’Art Brut (Swiss). It brings together a wide range of works from the Lausanne museum’s collection that were created by Swiss artists or artists who worked in Switzerland. With Switzerland as the common thread, this publication and the accompanying exhibition highlight the close and lasting ties between the originator of the concept of art brut Jean Dubuffet and this country. Indeed, it was this close bond that led him to donate his collection of outsider art to the City of Lausanne in order to ensure its preservation and the public’s access to it.

The book includes a foreword by writer Metin Arditi and a presentation by Sarah Lombardi, director of the museum and curator of the exhibition, followed by Jean Dubuffet’s own handwritten notes recounting his trip to Switzerland in search of extra-cultural works in the summer of 1945. This previously unpublished document is reproduced here in facsimile. Other authors provide further analyses of the works: Michel Thévoz, the museum’s first director; Lucienne Peiry, who succeeded him until 2011; Andreas Steck, president of the Aloïse Corbaz Association; and Astrid Berglund and Eleanor Philippoz, respectively curator and outreach coordinator at the Collection de l’Art Brut.

City Bridge Foundation is the oldest charity in London still operating under its original purpose. Established over 700 years ago to maintain London Bridge, it now cares for five of the Thames’s great crossings while distributing surplus income to charities across the capital. Worth £1.5 billion, it remains managed by the City of London Corporation. This lively and original book traces the development of the Foundation from its religious origins as the ‘Bridge House,’ through political intrigue, civic evolution and remarkable acts of giving. Written by legal historian Ian Doolittle, it introduces a little-known but extraordinary organization whose assets were built from the donations of ordinary Londoners. The Foundation’s story spans medieval craftsmanship, royal interference, and the complexities of modern governance, all while helping shape the physical and civic landscape of London. It is a story of bridges, certainly, but also of money, power, and purpose.

Focusing on Calouste Gulbenkian’s determination to preserve his cherished art collection intact after his death, this book tells the story of the creation of the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. It begins with the efforts of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, founded in 1956, to reunite an exceptional art collection then dispersed between Paris, Washington D.C. and London. The book examines the legal, diplomatic and practical measures that made this mission possible and follows the planning of a museum shaped by the most advanced museological thinking of the 1950s and 1960s, whereby the artworks themselves guided decisions across architecture, exhibition design and museography. It also highlights the key roles played by the first generation of Portuguese women curators and international consultants, from cataloguing the works to trial exhibitions and final installation. Ultimately, the volume shows how the Foundation interpreted and translated Gulbenkian’s taste and character into museum form, resulting in a unique and enduring institution.

Step into the world of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and desire – later worshiped by the Romans as Venus. Today she is thought of as a symbol of passion and beauty, but her story is far older and more complex. This catalogue explores Aphrodite’s beginnings on the island of Cyprus, where she was worshiped as an all-powerful goddess over 3,000 years ago, and traces her journey through the Greek and into the Roman world, where she became Venus.

This book reveals how, over the centuries, Aphrodite evolved into an iconic figure symbolizing love and beauty as her myths and images flourished – inspiring art, literature, and imagination from the Renaissance to the present day. Illustrated with more than 200 extraordinary objects – from sculpture and bronzes to gems and terracottas from Cyprus, Greece, and Italy, dating back from around 1400 BCE to the 21st century – this catalogue uncovers the making of a goddess whose legacy still shapes our ideas of love and beauty today.

Dedicated to the groundbreaking work of Marcel Duchamp, this art book explores the life and artistic revolution of one of the most influential figures of twentieth-century art. Through a rich selection of major works reproduced in large format and in color, the book traces Duchamp’s radical redefinition of art, from his early paintings to his iconic readymades and conceptual experiments. Clear and accessible texts place his work within the historical and artistic context of modernity, highlighting the ideas and innovations that transformed the history of contemporary art.

As a celebrated and accomplished artist of the 19th century, Rosa Bonheur succeeded in elevating animal painting to the status of art. Defying the social conventions of her time, she became the first female artist to receive the Legion of Honour, making her work a symbol of independence and freedom. Her realistic animal depictions and naturalistic style established her as a pioneer of her era. Largely forgotten after her death, her work, in this book, is being brought back into the spotlight by Armelle Fémelat, art historian, journalist, and specialist in the Italian Renaissance and animal studies. This book offers a precise and attentive reading of the artist’s work, allowing readers to appreciate the uniqueness of both her art and her life.

This book dedicated to the history of Formula 1 aims to establish itself as a reference title on the subject. Conceived as a large-format bilingual French English illustrated book, it retraces more than 75 years of motor racing through an exceptional selection of photographs from the archives of AFP, DPPI and Getty Images. The book brings together numerous previously unpublished and rarely seen images, covering not only the defining moments of the championship but also more intimate and behind-the-scenes moments from the history of teams, drivers and the sport itself. The texts are written by two of the most respected authors in motorsport journalism: French author Lionel Froissart, who explores the drivers, rivalries and legendary duels that shaped Formula 1, and British author Paul Fearnley, who examines the technical evolution, innovation and major transformations of the sport over the decades.

Text in English and French.

McMillen: 100 Years of American Decorating is a sweeping two-volume history of America’s oldest and longest-running full-service interior design firm, McMillen Inc.. Written by McMillen President Ann Pyne, the book traces the evolution of the legendary firm from its founding in 1924 by Eleanor McMillen Brown through a century of cultural, architectural, and aesthetic change.

Richly illustrated with photographs accompanying every chapter, the volumes chronicle McMillen’s pioneering role in shaping American interior decoration through periods of prosperity, depression, war, postwar expansion, and modern transformation. Beginning with the firm’s “Successful Beginnings” in the 1920s, the narrative follows Eleanor McMillen Brown’s conviction that decorating was both an art and a science—grounded in scholarship, craftsmanship, historical understanding, and exacting standards rather than passing fashion.

Across chapters exploring experimentation during the 1930s, wartime adaptation, the celebrated “Glory Years” of the 1950s and 1960s, and the firm’s evolution into the partnership era, the book reveals how McMillen cultivated some of the most influential figures in American design, including Albert Hadley and Mark Hampton. It also examines the firm’s work for distinguished private clients and historic residences.

More than a company history, McMillen: 100 Years of American Decorating is a portrait of American taste, craftsmanship, and domestic life across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through archival material, personal histories, and lavish photography, the book documents the enduring philosophy, artistry, and influence that established McMillen as a defining force in American interior design.

FMR Issue No. 18: “The Unreachable House of the Olsons” marks the start of a series from Giovanni Mariotti, “A River of Words, a Cascade of Astonishment” narrates the narrative of Niagara Falls, “Tesseract at the Palazzo” tells how staging art in Venice is an art unto itself, while “Paper Lion” traces Rembrandt’s brush with a big cat. “JACK OF FALCONS BEATS FOUR OF DUCKS” presents unfamiliar fauna in playing cards; “THE AEROPAINTRESS AND HER SWIFT MESSENGERS” reminds us that the one notable female Futurist was looking down from her cockpit at a world newly linked by now-old media; in “BUTTERED SPRINGTIME,” Gloria Fossi links art to asparagus. “THE PALACE OF TWELVE-POINTED STARS” tours us through a Moorish revival palace in Tangier. And “RUNAWAY QUEEN” tells the tale of an independent female royal eager to shed the ballast of her birth in the Eternal City.

Palazzo Giovanelli in Santa Fosca is certainly one of the most prestigious private buildings in Venice. While its first nucleus dates back to the fourteenth century, in 1527 it was donated by the Doge Andrea Gritti to Francesco Maria I, Duke of Urbino. The palace remained property of the family until its transfer to the Donà family, which gathered an important collection of works of art inside. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the palace reached the Giovanelli family, who expanded and modernized it. However, it was during the nineteenth century that the residence took on its definitive appearance. In an initial neoclassical phase, Count Andrea commissioned the arrangement of his private apartment to Giuseppe Borsato and Francesco Hayez. Shortly afterwards, in 1847, Giovambattista Meduna arranged one of the façades like that of a small Ducal Palace. In 1860, Meduna carried out further expansions, setting up a prestigious collection of paintings, including a masterpiece of Venetian art: Giorgione’s Tempest. The volume, in both Italian and English, reconstructs the history of seven centuries of the palace, the events it witnessed, and the artistic treasures inside it.

Text in English and Italian.

This cultural history of the great cafés of Europe and beyond will transport you to a world of heated debates, quiet observation, endless games of backgammon and heaps of political intrigue. On the menu are not only strong coffee, whipped cream and delicious cakes, but also the wise words of some of the most renowned café patrons, from Balzac to Hemingway. From the Ottoman coffee houses and London’s penny universities, to Viennese Kaffeehäuser and smoke-filled Parisian terraces, this book features the most important and historic establishments around the world. Chapters such as ‘Brewing Trouble’, ‘Northern Harbours’ and ‘Around the world in 8 cafés’ will trace the history of the café as a creative and intellectual hub; offer a guide to the best addresses to visit today; and zoom in on interesting elements, including the iconic bentwood café chair or the story behind the craze for absinthe, the Green Fairy.

This book is a comprehensive and in-depth study devoted to Lowbrow Art and Pop Surrealism, two artistic movements that originated in the United States and have profoundly transformed the contemporary art scene. Since the late 1960s, American artist Robert Williams has developed a radical and nonconformist style of painting, drawing inspiration from underground comics, hot rod culture, tattoo art, psychedelic posters, and carnival arts—all fields long ignored or disparaged by the fine arts world. Richly documented and generously illustrated, this book traces the history of this countercultural movement through four major periods, from 1850 to the present day, exploring its profound influences and its gradual global reach. It spotlights the movement’s pioneering figures through portraits and exclusive interviews with Robert Williams, Joe Coleman, Todd Schorr, Mark Ryden, and gallery owner Merry Karnowsky—true witnesses and participants in this artistic revolution. The book also addresses the emergence of Pop Surrealism in the 1990s—a new label that both broadened and challenged the boundaries of Lowbrow Art—before the movement went global in the 2000s, thanks in large part to Juxtapoz magazine, which by 2009 had become the most widely circulated art magazine in the United States.

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.

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.

The inspiration behind William Morris’s Earthly Paradise, the muse for J.M.W. Turner’s superlative seascapes, a home to hardy fishermen and the top holidaying spot for wealthy Victorians, as well as the scene for relentless witch-hunts and mob justice in the 17th Century, Southwold is far more than a picturesque postcard town. From the time of Saint Edmund, through plagues, fire and wars, to Damien Hirst’s driftwood creations, and the future day when this town will tumble into the sea, this book collects essays that reveal slivers of Southwold’s essence. Some are part-myth, some part-legend. But all make for excellent stories, especially when complemented by beautiful art. This 2017 edition keeps its celebrated essays on some of the more well-known aspects of Southwold’s past – such as the Battle of Sole Bay, one of the fiercest fights in British history. The Battle of Sole Bay was fought against the Dutch in 1672, and the bloody confrontation is fully described and illustrated with contemporary paintings and drawings. In addition, the text contains updated text and pictures. Among the most notable of the new sections is the chapter regarding the tragic dissolution of the romantic friendship between Franklin Lushington and Edward Lear, writer of the nonsense poem The Owl and the Pussy Cat and the lesser known (yet more autobiographical) The Daddy-Long-Legs and the Fly. Another remarkable addition is a page spread dedicated to the oil painting Tired Out by Philip Wilson Steer, which sold at Sotheby’s for £674 500 in 2014. A history, a celebration and an ode merged into one, Geoffrey Munn’s Southwold will take you on a trip through this famous seaside resort as you’ve never seen it before.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the history of French glass making. Glass makers can be compared to alchemists in the way that they transform sand and ashes into precious objects of great beauty. This book explores the value given to glassware throughout French history, focusing on the Ancient Régime from the 15th to 18th Centuries, when royally appointed glassmakers were considered more important than their artistic counterparts within the court; painters, musicians and actors. In the middle of the 19th Century, glassware was subjected to mass industrial production and as a result the benchmark of quality that had previously been set was no longer adhered to. However, it was out of frustration with this situation that Emile Gallé, a glassmaker who employed many experimental techniques, started his own workshop to produce incredibly high quality original glassware, a move that revolutionised glass making and placed it once again at the forefront of contemporary artistry. Le Verre argues that glass never left this pedestal, and that today, more than ever, ‘the world is living in the age of glass.’ Text in French.

Of all the world’s great cities, Paris is perhaps the one that marks its visitors and inhabitants the most, both in their discovery of the city, and their memories. With its many monuments, it is also a fabulous theatre where adventure, chance meetings, and the unexpected have fascinated the painters, poets and photographers that we meet in the pages of this book. While its history is ancient, and very long, its present is lively and attractive. This is a history of Paris that invites readers to wander in the city, to discover it. It presents the major events of the city, together with the most charming examples of daily life in its streets, which is always vibrant. It shows its crowds, who are delighted to find all the odours of the world, all the colours of life, and the marvels of everyday that are seen in this city. We also meet those writers who have praised Paris, such as Victor Hugo, Jacques Prevert, Gerard de Nerval and Léon Paul Fargue, and all those who have immortalised the city in their paintings, from the anonymous painters of the Renaissance up to the Impressionists. This is an intelligent history of Paris, but also friendly, entertaining, accessible, to whet your appetite for the city, and to arouse your curiosity. Also Available:
Lebanon: The Phoenician Pearl ISBN:9782867701443 $66.00
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