There are names in horological history that echo much more than just watches… Such is the case of Jaquet-Droz, 18th Swiss watchmakers with an international horizon, whose ceremonial clocks, prodigious androids, fashionable birdcages, pocket watches with moving scenes or collector’s snuffboxes remain the stuff of dreams for passionate enthusiasts. Today, the Maison Jaquet Droz continues to draw its inspiration from this rich heritage in order to reinterpret techniques and aesthetics, pushing back the boundaries of watchmaking and representing a perpetual source of fascination for collectors.
Based on the latest research on the subject and published on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-2021), this book offers a deep dive into the history of characters with a captivating journey. Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, in what was then the principality of Neuchâtel, Pierre Jaquet-Droz founded a watchmaking workshop and developed it through a combination of technical, artistic and commercial skills enabling it to reach international markets. His son Henry-Louis developed the family business and further diversified production, a significant portion of which found its way to China and its dignitaries, devotees of luxurious and ingenious mechanical marvels.
This richly illustrated book aims to enable a rediscovery of their mechanical masterpieces as well as those of the Maison Jaquet Droz, whose rebirth and recent history are recounted here. These splendid historical and contemporary pieces embody a love of technical challenges and a taste for artistic refinement, adhering as much as possible to the sources of inspiration offered by nature. The Worlds of Jaquet Droz thus reveals part of the expansive universe of pre-industrial watchmaking while drawing parallels between past and present productions.
Time is a great mystery. A changeable element, which expands or vanishes, but that appears concrete as it is marked by the passing of seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years. The path toward the capture of minutes and seconds coincided with the phases of scientific evolution that allowed man to manufacture watches that are increasingly reliable, but that are also in tune with changes in customs, social needs, and aesthetic canons.
This book covers the art of watch manufactory as well as 60 great models, covering both their technical evolution and style trends. In each chapter in-depth studies will guide the reader to the history of the most important manufacturers, the personalities linked to the models treated, technical innovations, styles of the period, or records achieved by the wristwatches: from the watch that helped Charles Lindbergh during the first transatlantic solo flight, to the one worn by Sir Edmund Hillary on the top of Mount Everest, the most iconic models will be discussed in detail.
By the early seventeenth century the Tokugawa shogunate had achieved supremacy over the islands of Japan. Meanwhile, the great Ming dynasty of China, which came to power in 1368, was on its last legs. North of the Great Wall, the nomadic Jurchens were beginning to cause the Ming government trouble. Across this stage of international conflict and intrigue wanders a completely unlikely couple, the Jurchen princess Abiya, shipwrecked on the island of Hirado, and the minor samurai Katsura Shosuke, charged by his lord with returning her to her North China homeland. Neither has any inkling that they will soon become caught up in events that will shape the history of East Asia, and will bear witness to the birth of two remarkable and enduring regimes. An epic of colorful characters animating pivotal events taken straight from documented history, The Tatar Whirlwind was penned by Japan’s most popular writer of historical fiction and rendered in a masterful and accurate translation by a noted scholar of East Asian history.
Between the second half of the 15th century and the 20th century, many painters added a fly to both their sacred and profane compositions. It was painted so convincingly that it seemed real. André Chastel, art historian, reconstructed in this book the history of the fly in painting, here reviewed and updated by Sylvia Ferino-Pagden. At least at the beginning, the fly was introduced as an odd masterpiece, an affirmation of the artist’s skill and convictions. A joke for illusionists, which however contains more complex meanings. The fly in painting then evolved. The insect, as we know it, is not well-loved and goes from simply being a nuisance to being the sign of death itself. And over time, la burla di Giotto, Giotto’s joke, generated a series of symbols where the artist wanted to represent the transience and precariousness of life, of earthly joys. The book chases the flies in picture after picture and recounts how the pictures are strewn with even minuscule signals, plots, and traps which, from time to time, take the form of a flower, an insect, a gem. It is a question of knowing how to interpret them to delve into a story that is also an adventure of the human spirit.
Text in English and Italian.
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.
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.
“A jewel of Baroque architecture, the Castelluccio Palace is the spotlight of a beautiful book retracing its history, its long restoration and its precious ornaments. These photographs reflect the Sicilian Golden Age.” —Fanny Guenon des Mesnards, AD France
“This monograph is an invitation to visit the Palazzo Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio.”—Italian Vogue
“A Palace in Sicily: A Masterpiece Restored doesn’t just pull back the curtain on the finished palace, it details the four-year-long process through an elaborate array of photos…” —Architectural Digest, and Yahoo
With its sun-drenched sands and Mediterranean waters, Sicily has been a favored destination of travelers for centuries. History is alive on this island, from ancient accounts of the Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Normans; to the journals of wealthy young European men embarking on the Grand Tour. This book captures the sun-steeped aesthetic of the island, while detailing the restoration of one of its finest attractions: the Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio palace.
Marquis de Castelluccio was one of the last “servals” or “leopards” of Sicily – wealthy aristocrats who flooded the island with luxury. Following his death, his home fell to ruin. A half-century later, Jean-Louis Remilleux fell in love with this dilapidated 18th-century palace and made it his mission to restore it. Unveiled for the first time in this beautifully illustrated book, the Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio palazzo is one of the finest testaments to Sicilian architecture and art.
Today, lush green palm trees welcome you to the palace’s imposing front façade. Frescoes, arabesques, masks, imitation marble, ceilings and wainscoting have all restored to their former glory, over decades of elaborate work. This book charts the restoration process and celebrates the astonishing end results. It contains an album’s worth of photographs that capture the beauty of this palace beneath the Mediterranean sun.
The catalogue presents Christ Carrying the Cross, recently rediscovered by Carlo Falciani in a private collection, which was born out of the intense friendship between the painter and art historian Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) with Bindo Altoviti (1491-1557), important banker and refined art collector and patron. The artwork was painted in 1553, just before Vasari’s return to Florence to take service as court painter of the Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. The painting shows the extremely high quality reached by Vasari’s production in Rome – where he was working for Pope Julius III and where the Florentine banker Bindo Altoviti had a palace and conducted business – and, at the same time, it shows the experimentations of his manner, characterized by the re-elaboration of modern and contemporary models, in this case works of Michelangelo, Francesco Salviati and Sebastiano del Piombo.
Published to accompany an exhibition at the Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini, Palazzo Corsini, Rome from 24 January-30 June 2019.
Text in English and Italian.
“The RSN has worked on regalia for every Coronation since 1902, when Edward VII was crowned, and most recently designed and embroidered the robes of state for their Coronation last year. Its patron, Queen Camilla, has written a charming foreword to this beautifully illustrated book.” — The Lady
“Bees, butterflies, beetles and 24 different plants – the astonishing sewing secrets behind the gorgeous Coronation robes of the King and Queen.” — The Mail Online
Many initiatives to support women were begun in the late 1800s, but the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is one of the few that remain. This initiative was born from the desire of three women – Princess Helena, Lady Victoria Welby and Lady Marian Alford – to popularize the lost art of ornamental needlework and place it on a par with other decorative arts, such as painting and sculpture. Their other, yet no less important goal was to provide employment for women compelled to earn their own livelihood. Though women are no longer so limited in occupational options, the RSN has been keeping traditional embroidery techniques alive for a century and a half.
An Unbroken Thread tells the story from the RSN’s founding in 1872 to the current day. It highlights key people, royal and other special commissions, the changing fortunes of the school as fashions changed and the approach to teaching hand embroidery, as well as bringing attention to the role and position of the RSN historically and today, associating with everyone from society ladies and theater impresarios in the late 19th century to working with fashion designers Patrick Grant, Nicholas Oakwell and Alexander McQueen, and architects in the 21st century.
First published to coincide with the RSN’s 150th anniversary, this revised edition details the most recent projects worked by the RSN, showcasing their skilful work on regalia for the coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla – The King’s Robe of State, The Queen’s Robe of Estate, The Anointing Screen, The Stole Royal and Girdle, The Chairs of Estate and The Chairs of State.
Delhi Then and Now comprises two masterful essays that trace the story of Delhi from the days when it was known by other names Indraprastha, Firozabad, Dinpanah to its reincarnation as New Delhi. Historian Narayani Gupta takes us through the city of Sultans, Mughal emperors and viceroys, while journalist Dilip Bobb shows us the face of New Delhi as it is now. A rich portfolio of archival photographs and illustrations, together with vibrant new pictures, edited by Pramod Kapoor, capture Delhi in all its glory past and present.
Delhi Then – A city of empires and dynasties, Delhi through the ages has evoked nostalgia of its history written on the red sandstone walls. From Quila Rai Pithora to the palace on Raisina Hill, the changing face of Delhi is remarkably discernible in these photographs – a special collection that give words to the spoken and unspoken history of this city. Delhi Now – A city of dreams and desires, Delhi’s urban landscape is incomplete without the stones of seven ancient cities which give it a distinct meaning, a distinct outlook. A modern city on the move, the colors and digital vibrancy of the photographs capturing Delhi in all moods and moments, is as imposing as the grand old structures of yesteryears. A twin city of old-world charm and new extravagance, Delhi has evolved through the ages and is looking forward to an era that will be remembered down the ages.
A century and a half ago, extravagant costume balls and skating carnivals were the pinnacle of society’s entertainment, bringing forth a kaleidoscopic array of characters, most drawn from history. The opportunity to reimagine oneself as a noble hero or heroine from the past was no less than the chance of a lifetime. Participants acquired extravagant costumes and flocked to the photographer’s studio, as witnessed by the sheer abundance of mementos of these occasions in the McCord Stewart Museum’s collections.
The book accompanies the exhibition Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870-1927 at the McCord Stewart Museum, Montreal. A lead essay presents an overall view of the fancy dress phenomenon, and the major events in Canada with their colonial underpinnings. Other essays look in turn at the commemoration of these balls in art, photography, and publications, a decolonizing perspective on the representation of Indigenous and other marginalized peoples in fancy dress, and the ephemeral nature of the extant objects.
A section consists of detailed profiles of astounding garments, with several images to show views of each that cannot be seen in the exhibition: interior construction and labels, closeup views of textiles and materials, and comparisons of archival photographs of ball guests in costume.
The book is unique amongst historical fashion publications as it is the first to be devoted to fancy dress in such detail.
For almost 300 years, pocket watches were important accessories for the nobility and middle-classes. In order to store the watches securely and stylishly, artfully designed stands that matched the wearer’s interior were developed and were an impressive reflection of the history of European art and culture from the Baroque to the early 20th-century. The stands ranged from miniature versions of grandfather and mantle clocks to one-off works of art made from wood, ceramic or metal.
Until now, research on pocket-watch stands has attracted little attention. This publication provides a first representative overview of more than 800 objects from a unique private collection in southern Germany, documenting its wealth of designs, which encompass a large repertoire of Christian, mythological and political themes. Scholarly texts on the history of the objects, their designs, and restoration issues make this an indispensable standard work in this field.
Text in English, German and French.
“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.
Personal and private outdoor space is becoming ever-more elusive as urban areas become more crowded due to population growth and increasing development. Urban Oasis: Tranquil Outdoor Spaces at Home explores projects from London to New York and Sydney to San Francisco that reveal inspirational designs of rooftops, garden spaces, outdoor rooms, terraces and courtyards, and provide refuge from the modern world with private pockets of paradise. These outdoor spaces provide relaxing, sociable, and plant-filled settings for residents to savor peace and calm, and the company of family and friends.
Awadh has historically been among the most important regions in India, politically, religiously and socially, and holds a vital position with respect to the development of Indian fashion. As such, fashion and history are not mutually distinct, but rather intricately intertwined. This book takes a fascinating journey, connecting dates and events to the evolution of costumes, textiles, colors, motifs and ornamentations from the eighteenth century up to present-day India. It recaptures the ambience of the Nawabi Era and the British Raj in Awadh, and makes them relevant for contemporary times. Costumes & Textiles of Awadh is the culmination of five years of research into an area hitherto untouched by books on costumes. The work is further embellished with rare photographs and exclusive pictures of costumes and textiles. The book makes for an important reference work on the rich textile history of an important region of India, and will appeal to anyone with an interest in the intricacies of fashion with history.
The book has a selection of 186 of the most interesting arms in the Jaipur royal palace and discusses them as weapons in their social and historical context. The book breaks new ground in Indian arms scholarship and is also a very readable account that takes in Rajput, Mughal and British Indian history, anthropology and art history. The objects are stunning: swords belonging to the Mughal Emperors Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb; wonderful court daggers with hilts of carved rock crystal, jade, ivory and gilt steel; ferocious tribal arms; some remarkable historic firearms and beautiful painted shields, some of which were decorated in Japan for the Mughal court. There is even a device for extracting arrows from wounds with toe-curling ancient medical remedies. Most of these arms are from the reserve collections and published for the first time. Contents: Foreword by Princess Diya Kumari of Jaipur; Acknowledgements; Cataloguing terms; Introduction; Daggers; Katars; Swords; Children’s Arms; Lances, Spears and Shields; Armour; Axes, Ankus, Chhadi and Maces; Bows and Arrows; Accoutrements; Guns and Pistols; Map; The Rulers of Amber – Jaipur; Endnotes; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.
“Broek’s work’s got attitude.” – Marlene Dumas
“In combining extremes, Broek homes in on our zeitgeist.” – Wilma Sütö
The central theme in the oeuvre of Dutch artist Hans Broek (b. 1965) is landscape. He often paints locations where history has left an indelible mark, manifesting his belief that art should jolt you awake. He finds inspiration all around the world: a telegraph pole under a dark, cloudy Spanish sky; modern bungalows on the outskirts of LA; melting ice caps in Greenland; and wind-blown, rainy landscapes on the Atlantic seaboard in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. His series of paintings that depict prisons, dungeons, cell doors, plantations, and seats of colonial power funded by slavery – ‘guilty architecture’ where injustice was witnessed without intervention – serve as moving, silent witnesses to the ugly history of the Dutch slave trade. With contributions by Edo Dijksterhuis, Dominic van den Boogerd, Wilma Sütö and the artist himself. This book is published on the occasion of the exhibition.
Text in English and Dutch
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.
Over the past twenty-five years, the Austrian artist Margit Hart has created an extremely diverse oeuvre of contemporary jewelry. Mindscapes, the name of her latest group of works, is synonymous with her ever changing jewelry objects. Since 2009 Margit Hart’s work – parallel to her jewelry has extended into abstract photography, resulting in a mutual dialogue between both disciplines. In her Schattenflug [Fleeting Shadows] works, she goes beyond illustrating the purely representational to create imaginary three-dimensional pictorial spaces that immerse us in mysterious worlds of light and shade. This monograph showcases the interplay between both modes of artistic expression in a tangible way.
Text in English and German.
Between the twilight years of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867) and the end of the Meiji Era (1868–1912) that followed it, photography offered a unique insight into the rapid transformation of Japan from an isolated, feudal society to a modern, industrialized state. In the four decades that followed the opening of the country in 1853, the camera evolved from an imported novelty to a familiar witness of Japanese daily life. Operating from the Treaty Ports of Yokohama and elsewhere, early practitioners of photography plied an often precarious trade in images of Japan and laid the foundations of what would soon become a highly competitive industry with a global reach. Whether cherished as souvenirs of an exotic land of fond imagination or curated as visual documents of a fast-changing society, these images by foreign and Japanese photographers, often packaged in exquisitely produced albums, enjoyed a wide circulation abroad and played an important role in influencing perceptions of Japan in the West well into the early 20th century.
Drawing from an extensive private collection assembled over many years, this book presents a unique selection of 19th century photographs of Japan, many of which are published here for the first time.
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.
The garden of the Rubens House is a hidden gem in the heart of Antwerp. This is the place where the world-famous artist lived with his family and entourage and could relax. The garden has been reconstructed and, thanks to advice from fashion designer Dries Van Noten, provides year-round color, season after season. The design hearkens back to plant species from Rubens’ time, including columbine, marigolds and citrus plants.
This book presents the results of years of archive research that went into the reconstruction of The Rubens Garden, describes the historical context and provides an overview of the main flowers and plants and their story. With beautiful details from floral still lifes and other works of Rubens and his contemporaries, this richly illustrated book reveals the beauty of the unique garden of the Rubens House in Antwerp. In addition, it offers a glimpse of little-known historical material about this magical garden and city gardens in Antwerp in the time of Rubens.
Cosmograph Daytona… a legendary name among watch aficionados, is one that conjures up montages of speed, engines and sound, but is also a symbol of prestige and admiration. The origin of the myth is linked to a city in Florida, Daytona Beach, famous for its motorcycle and automobile races on the beach. In 1959, the Daytona 500 race was born and three years later, Rolex became the official timekeeper of the Daytona International Speedway – hence, the start of the story of the legendary “Cosmograph Daytona”.
The chronograph complication and the history of Rolex have always been inextricably linked. Rolex’s first foray into measuring time began in the 1930s with the manufacture’s very first Oyster chronograph model. In 1963, Rolex launched the Cosmograph Daytona, a sports chronograph that has never stopped evolving in respect to the spirit of the brand, and which has always strived to improve existing technology by pushing the boundaries of what is technically possible.
The history and diversity of this chronograph is such that two (independent) volumes have been devoted to it. This first volume is dedicated to hand-wound Daytonas, manufactured between 1963 and 1988. It is a celebration of its illustrious history, which has been forged by many people, but if we had to choose one person in particular, it would be Paul Newman.
Cosmograph Daytona… a legendary name among watch aficionados, is one that conjures up montages of speed, engines and sound, but is also a symbol of prestige and admiration. The origin of the myth is linked to a city in Florida, Daytona Beach, famous for its motorcycle and automobile races on the beach. In 1959, the Daytona 500 race was born and three years later, Rolex became the official timekeeper of the Daytona International Speedway – hence, the start of the story of the legendary “Cosmograph Daytona”.
The chronograph complication and the history of Rolex have always been inextricably linked. Rolex’s first foray into measuring time began in the 1930s with the manufacture’s very first Oyster chronograph model. In 1963, Rolex launched the Cosmograph Daytona, a sports chronograph that has never stopped evolving in respect to the spirit of the brand, and which has always strived to improve existing technology by pushing the boundaries of what is technically possible.
The history and diversity of this chronograph is such that two (independent) volumes have been devoted to it. This second volume is dedicated to self-winding Daytonas, manufactured after 1988. It is a celebration of its illustrious history, which has been forged by many people, but if we had to choose one person in particular, it would be Paul Newman.