Rare Books
Stillwater
Image not available
You might also be interested in
Image not available
Mining & miners, and diggers & priggers
Rare Books
A British satire on the California Gold Rush and other gold mining practices. The author, who calls himself "a shareholder," was a member of a mining shareholding company and provides an insider's view of the system. The book begins by explaining that there are two types of gold mining companies: "those that have not, and never had any Mines at all, but possess an unlimited imagination," and "those that have plenty of Mines, equally fertile brains, but no Gold." The author, or "victim," describes the Gold Rush as "popular madness."
446600
Fireworks Sanderson & Lanergan, pyrotechnists
Visual Materials
Image of a fireworks advertisement by Sanderson & Lanergan from Boston, Massachusetts. Central image is of a winged man in armor (possibly a reference to Archangel St. Michael), holding up a flaming scepter and wearing a crown while radiating in air. He points with his right arm towards six small vignettes of radiating female angels in various poses. Title is decorative with intricate scrollwork.
priJLC_SPO_001893
Image not available
Redwood saw
Rare Books
"In the summer of 2004, Richard Rothman traveled west with a 4x5 camera to explore the remaining fragments of ancient old-growth forests in Northern California. He pitched a tent amid the mammoth stands of redwoods and began making formal, intricate portraits of the forest, which he describes as 'the most visually stimulating environment I had ever been in.' Unexpectedly, he also began developing an interest in the neighboring town of Crescent City, an economically depressed logging and fishing community. Rothman was affected by the town's architecture, its emotional tenor, its political and religious culture, and the sometimes unconscious relationship that the townspeople had with the corralled forest to the east and the Pacific Ocean, which represents the end of the Western frontier. The contrast between the radical, spectacularly ornate environment of the forest and the trashed, disposable landscape of the town that abutted it became the subject of a more complex project which would take some surprising twists and turns. The body of work, made over a five-year period, is gathered together in the artist's monumental first book, Redwood Saw. This stunning monograph is an ambitious attempt to represent the culture, people, and landscape of Crescent City, and, by extension, the current American moment. Crescent City - a place that at one time must have seemed to possess an almost limitless abundance of natural resources - is revealed here as a compelling and dramatic model of a former boom town that staked its future on what can only be described as an 'unsustainable cultural and economic reality'"--Publisher's description.
653221
Image not available
Sea etchings
Rare Books
"This gorgeous, limited edition artist's book by Nicola Dill is a 48-page 'installation' of the artist's elegant and meditative photographs of surf grasses. Unstaged and recorded in-camera, the photographs comprising this series are gestures in patience and time. The individual pieces leave the narrative aspect of photography behind, focusing on constantly changing structures and lines, preserving on film the temporary etchings created by the surf and sandy shores of the Pacific"--Publisher's description.
653325
Image not available
Namibia : the forbidden zone
Rare Books
"Namibia, on the south-west coast of Africa, is sandwiched between two vast deserts. It is a land of amazing beauty and, quite literally, hidden gems, being one of the world's primary sources of diamonds. The sand dunes, shaped by the winds, are colored by the prevailing light. Richard Ehrlich has captured not only the breathtaking landscape but also the insides of homes occupied now only by piles of drifting sand. The colors, shapes, patterns, and small signs of former inhabitants are meticulously and beautifully recorded in this gorgeous new book"--Publisher's description.
653173
Every ticket a prize! No blank tickets! ... : lottery for the benefit of the state of Delaware, class 252 for 1861
Visual Materials
Image of a broadside listing information about lottery prizes for a drawing taking place on Saturday, April 27th, 1861 in Wilmington, Delaware. The scheme on the print lists totals of "76,076 prizes, amounting to $578,557," and the print advertises tickets selling for $10. The venders of the lottery drawing are Bowers Wilkins & Co., and Wood, Eddy & Co. are the managers. The broadside is surrounded by a decorative border with intricate scrollwork.
priJLC_SPO_003570