Fried waters

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  Childhood memories from the other side of the water

  Rare Books

  "In Childhood Memories from the Other Side of the Water, artist Eduardo del Valle depicts experiences and recollections of the first ten years of his life in Cuba, from 1951 until 1961, when he left the country of his birth, never to return. Over the past nine years, del Valle has made images that are central to his reminiscences and which portray painful aspects of his childhood that have stayed with him throughout his life and career. These memories of Cuba come together to form an outstanding visual autobiography"--Publisher's description.

  653243

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  Between runs

  Rare Books

  "This off-the-wall artist's book is comprised of photographs made at the Hing Yip printing plant in Dongguan, China by the highly acclaimed husband and wife team of Eduardo del Valle and Mirta Gomez. Between Runs refers to the 'down time' artists are given when they are on press, between approving one printing form and waiting to see the next. During a five-day stay in Dongguan to oversee the production of their previous title, Fried Waters, del Valle and Gomez made good use of their down time to produce an insightful body of work that combines elements of traditional Chinese scroll paintings, theatrical backdrops and modern graffiti; all found objects within the sprawling grounds of the printing plant. The resulting images are raw snippets of time that resonate with a rare and unlikely beauty"--Publisher's description.

  653244

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  From the ground up

  Rare Books

  These are not tragic pictures. They do not condemn consumer culture or show the limitations or emptiness of globalization. They show, rather, the vigorous, touching and continuing permutation of an ideal, that of home.

  653072

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  William S. McBride diary

  Manuscripts

  Diary kept by William S. McBride as he traveled overland from Indiana to Utah in 1850. He departed from Goshen, Indiana, on March 31 in company with Eli W. Summey, Fred Summey, Enoch Willett, and Louis Mitchel, who were already calling themselves "Californians." On April 7 they took the steamer Falcon to St. Louis (which McBride called a "second Babel"), and immediately departed on the steamer Globe. Their steamer was delayed several times and it took ten days to reach Jefferson City, and another five to arrive in St. Joseph. While they camped nearby for several days, McBride took the opportunity to observe his fellow emigrants, and although he was impressed by their appearance ("All seemed jovial and full of life...the horses too...pranced along like gay studs on a celebration day," he noted), he was not entirely caught up in the moment. "This is the going out upon the plains," he wrote. "We will see by & bye how it contrasts with the 'coming in from the plains.'"His group departed in a company of 14 wagons on May 2. He writes often of hunting buffalo and antelope (which "made excellent soups"), and that while he himself had cut out a buffalo tongue (which "would be considered a delicate morsel...at St. Louis"), he "felt a deep sympathy" for buffalo approaching the pioneer guns, as they seemed to be "running the gauntlet." He writes extensively of his surroundings, including a mirage, a "very singular but...common occurrence" which made "men...[look] like giants 14 or 15 feet high...horses double their natural size, and...rivers of water when there was no water." McBride also records the initial high morale in camp, as "we often had music and singing." But about a week after their arrival at Fort Kearney on May 16, McBride began to worry about his party's progress, noting that they had fallen behind and were being passed by emigrants who left St. Joseph several days after they did. Blaming the large size of the wagon train for delays, McBride and his companions went on ahead of the rest of the company. They quickly traversed a Sioux village (McBride formed a favorable opinion of the Sioux people), climbed a rock in the area of Chimney Rock (at "no little danger to life & limb"), passed Scott's Bluffs, caught their first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains, crossed the Laramie River, and arrived at Fort Laramie on May 31. He noted the diminished morale of emigrants at Fort Laramie, and noted that many of them were forced to leave their wagons and horses behind, "in some instances sold for little or nothing, or abandoned." By June 1 he reached the Black Hills, and soon crossed the Platte River, observed Independence Rock (which he recognized from a picture he had seen in his "school boy days"), passed Devil's Gate, and reached the Big Sandy on June 16 ("I believe we are in Mexican Territory," McBride guessed on June 17). On June 18 he crossed the Green River with the aid of a "half breed" mountaineer who was "gifted with no ordinary degree of intelligence & energy." He subsequently passed Fort Hall and the Oregon Trail and crossed the Red Fork (on a "very inferior ferry, constructed out of logs pinned together" and attached to "a heavy cable"). On the other side of the river he observed a "very white human skull set up on a stick" which had been "very much used of late as a kind of tablet on which memoranda were written." On June 25 he had his first view of the Utah Valley, and arrived in Salt Lake City on June 26. McBride gives an extensive description of the Salt Lake Valley, and praises the Mormons for having done "a great deal in a short time." But his overall opinion of the Mormons was "very poor," and he described them as "poor silly fanatics, reckless renegades, and blood seekers [with]...no moral honesty." Guided by "artful...dishonest leaders," McBride thought they were prone to excess drinking, "concubinage," lying, cheating, and extortion. The diary ends in Salt Lake City on June 26. The entire diary appears to have been copied over by McBride from his original notes. Also includes a photograph of McBride.

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