Books on architecture, interiors, remodels and decorative features.

#hardcover #Rizzoli #architecture #townhouse #American  This is a Rizzoli art book, so it is beautifully printed and illustrated. 

NOTE:  There is a small tear to the dust jacket cover (see last photo).  

Oversized Hardcover (4 to 6 lbs)

California

Explores the designs of twenty-six recently built town homes by such architects as Tod Williams, Dan Solomon, Mark Mack, and Dirk Lohan.

The New American Townhouse

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#hardcover #kitchens #renovations. Features modest, understated but stylish and functional kitchen designs. 
Almost new with only the slightest shelf wear to the paper cover.

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

From the Kitchen You Have to the Kitchen You Love

Kitchens for the Rest of Us emphasizes kitchens that place function, craft, and intelligent design over grandeur and extravagance. By showing you twenty newly remodeled and hard-working kitchens built within typical-sized spaces, you'll be inspired to pursue your own mix of dreams, hopes, and needs.

Along the way, you'll pick up fresh ideas from the inspired minds of the homeowners who have been through the process: the professional cook in Wyoming who holds classes in his kitchen; the emergency-room nurse in California who designed her kitchen to replicate the efficiency of a hospital; and the Texas couple who got rid of the obligatory kitchen island to simply have more space.

These kitchens represent a highly informative cross-section of what is happening right now in kitchen design, material choices, style trends, appliance selections, and clever new storage strategies. But more importantly, these stories give you a truer sense of what goes on in real kitchens and a clearer sense of what is truly possible in yours. The author has chosen remodeling projects where all of the choices have grown out of a desire to create smart, good-looking kitchens rather than out of a need to impress and awe the neighbors.

Kitchens for the Rest of Us

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#hardcover #Wright #lightscreens #stainedglass #architecture #decoration
 
Beautifully illustrated. Using light screens and stained glass in modern architecture.


This exquisite representation of Frank Lloyd Wright's lighting treatments is the first comprehensive study on the subject. In captivating color and well-researched commentary, Mr Heinz captures the essence of Frank Lloyd Wright's genius.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Stained Glass and Lightscreens

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Architecture & interiors

Reference books on Asian fine and decorative arts.

The author offers tips to potential buyers on authenticating ancient Chinese bronzes with illustrated examples of fake and authentic bronze objects from various periods.  Please see all photos: the contents gives an idea of the merits and limitations of different methods of authentication. Please note:  Allen discusses only ancient bronzes, and bronzes from the later Ming and Ching dynasties are not covered.

Please be sure to follow or visit my store often for more books on Asian art and antiquities to be added weekly. Thank you.

Allen's Authentication of Ancient Chinese Bronzes

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C. A. S. Williams

Like new condition except for minute tears on paper cover (see all photos). Hardback, third revised edition of a scholarly classic. 

Please be sure to follow or visit my store often for more books on Asian art and antiquities to be added weekly. Thank you. 

"The Eight Immortals, the five elements, the dragon and the phoenix, yin and yang -- representations of these important cultural symbols are pervasive in Chinese art and architecture. Indeed, without an understanding of their significance, much Asian art cannot be fully appreciated." "In this comprehensive handbook, C.A.S. Williams offers concise explanations of these essential symbols and motifs. The book is an unabridged reprint of the third edition of Outlines of Chinese Symbolism and Art Motives, published in Shanghai in 1941, a work that has become a standard reference volume for students of China and Chinese culture." "Arranged alphabetically for easy access, the book not only explains essential cultural symbols, but also contains many articles on Chinese beliefs, customs, arts and crafts, food, agriculture, and medicine." "For those China-bound, Chinese Symbolism and Art Motifs is an indispensable guide to the Middle Kingdom's artistic and architectural wonders. For the general reader, it is an essential compendium of sinological lore. Book jacket."--Jacket.

Chinese Symbolism and Art Motifs

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Stephen Little

Kristofer Shipper

Patricia Ebrey

Wu Hung

Nancy S. Steinhardt

See all photos for sample pages. 416 numbered pages, generously illustrated with erudite text. Very clean pages, no marks or tears. Some creasing to the glossy paper covers may be difficult to see in photos. This is a heavy volume. Ask us about combined shipping options.

Oversized Paperback (4 to 6 lbs)

A celebration of Taoist art traces the influence of philosophy on the visual arts in China.

Taoism and the Arts of China

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Asian art & antiques

Books related to business, organizations and the workplace.

#diversity #organizations #social#paperback 

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Surprising Things We Say That Widen the Diversity Gap

EVEN WELL-INTENDED PEOPLE CAN CAUSE HARM Have you ever heard yourself or someone else say: ""Some of my best friends are... (Black, White, Asian, etc.)""? ""I don't think of you as... (Gay, Disabled, Jewish, etc.)""? ""I don't see color, I'm colorblind""? These statements and dozens like them can build a divide between us and the people we interact with. Though well-intended, they often widen the diversity gap sometimes causing irreparable harm personally and professionally. If you've ever wanted to be more effective in your communication with others, or have been afraid of saying the wrong thing, then this concise guide is essential to becoming more inclusive and diversity-smart. A POWERFUL DIVERSITY TRAINING TOOL FROM ONE OF THE MOST RESPECTED DIVERSITY TRAINERS.

35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say

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Like new condition except inscribed on title page “For Marc, Make the switch!” and autographed by the author (see all photos). #business #futurism #paperback

Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google

Building on the success of his industry-shaking Does IT Matter? Nicholas Carr returns with The Big Switch, a sweeping look at how a new computer revolution is reshaping business, society, and culture. Just as companies stopped generating their own power and plugged into the newly built electric grid some hundred years ago, today it's computing that's turning into a utility. The effects of this transition will ultimately change society as profoundly as cheap electricity did. The Big Switch provides a panoramic view of the new world being conjured from the circuits of the "World Wide Computer." New for the paperback edition, the book now includes an A-Z guide to the companies leading this transformation.

The Big Switch

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Small shelf scuff mark to cover. Unread copy, immaculate. #paperback #change #business 

Making the Most of Change, 2nd Edition

The business world is a place of constant change, with stories of corporate mergers, layoffs, bankruptcy, and restructuring hitting the news every day. Yet as veteran consultant William Bridges maintains, the situational changes are not as difficult for companies to make as the psychological transitions. In the best-selling Managing Transitions, Bridges provides a clear understanding of what change does to employees and what employees in transition can do to an organization. Directed at managers and employees in today's corporations, Bridges shows how to minimize the distress and disruptions caused by change. Managing Transitions addresses the fact that it is people who have to carry out the change. When the book was originally published a decade ago, Bridges was the first to provide any real sense of the emotional impact of change and what can be done to keep it from disrupting the entire organization. With new information and commentary on layoffs, corporate suspicion, and the increasing tumult in the business world, Managing Transitions remains the definitive guide to dealing with change.

Managing Transitions

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Business & Organizations

Essay collections and literary criticism.

Simon Leys

No. 9 The Cahiers Series. These “notes” refer to Simon Leys’s collected essays, “The Hall of Uselessness,” also available for on this store. Brand new copy, sealed and unopened.

Simon Leys, novelist, unflinching cultural and political commentator, Sinologist, and occasional illustrator, presents here timely meditations on the experience and hazards of literary translation. Preceding his essay are observations on everything from demented tyrants to musical geniuses who gain insights from vacuum cleaners. Leys is rightly renowned for his wisdom, his insight, and his linguistic and literary expertise.

Notes from the Hall of Uselessness

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Clean copy with small mark to underside and minor shelf soiling to edges (see photos).  Film criticism and literary criticism (book reviews) from the New Yorker. #paperback

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Writings from the New Yorker

Anthony Lane on Con Air--

"Advance word on Con Air said that it was all about an airplane with an unusually dangerous and potentially lethal load. Big deal. You should try the lunches they serve out of Newark. Compared with the chicken napalm I ate on my last flight, the men in Con Air are about as dangerous as balloons."

Anthony Lane on The Bridges of Madison County--

"I got my copy at the airport, behind a guy who was buying Playboy's Book of Lingerie, and I think he had the better deal. He certainly looked happy with his purchase, whereas I had to ask for a paper bag."

Anthony Lane on Martha Stewart--

"Super-skilled, free of fear, the last word in human efficiency, Martha Stewart is the woman who convinced a million Americans that they have the time, the means, the right, and--damn it--the duty to pipe a little squirt of soft cheese into the middle of a snow pea, and to continue piping until there are 'fifty to sixty' stuffed peas raring to go."

For ten years, Anthony Lane has delighted New Yorker readers with his film reviews, book reviews, and profiles that range from Buster Keaton to Vladimir Nabokov to Ernest Shackleton. Nobody's Perfect is an unforgettable collection of Lane's trademark wit, satire, and insight that will satisfy both the long addicted and the not so familiar.

Nobody's Perfect

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Philip Thody

An illustrated comic book style primer on Roland Barthes. Please see all photos.

Philip Thody and Ann Course elucidate Barthes' application of these ideas to literature, popular culture, clothes and fashion. They further clarify why his thinking in this area made him a key figure in the structuralist movement of the 1960s.

Introducing Barthes

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Essay & Criticism

Novels, novellas and short story collections.

Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played with Fire

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#hardcover Very clean copy. Small red remaindered dot along underside of pages (see photo).  Dust jacket in perfect condition.

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

On their wedding day, a young couple--Florence, daughter of an Oxford academic and a successful businessman, and Edward, an earnest history student with little experience of women--looks forward to the future while worrying about their upcoming wedding ni

On Chesil Beach

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Atwood at her best. First U.S. edition. Hardback in like new condition with a beautiful dust jacket.

In the aftermath of the second World War and her sister's suicide, Iris witnesses an unlikely series of events that are interwoven with the sci-fi tale of a pair of anonymous lovers and the death of Iris' industrialist husband.

The Blind Assassin

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Fiction

Books related to all manner of fine and decorative arts, from various cultures.

Victoria and Albert Museum Staff

Please see all photos for table of contents and cover description, and some examples of the text and illustrations. Very slight shelf wear to cover.

At the Victoria and Albert Museum

Studie over een deel van de collecties van het Victoria and Albert Museum, Londen.

Art and Design in Europe and America,1800-1900

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Lesley Jackson

A sumptuously illustrated survey of 1950s decorative arts. See all photos for back cover description, table of contents and brief photo excerpts from the book. Slightly shelf wear to the paper cover but in vey good condition. Clean pages throughout. Catalog to an exhibition with scholarly treatise. 

Design in the Fifties

Delves into Christian Dior's Spring collection of 1947 and chronicles his creations in relation to the impact the new shapes and styles have had on the fashion industry throughout the past fifty years. Reprint.

The New Look

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Fine & Decorative Arts and Antiques

First editions and other collectible books.

First Editions, Autographs, Antiquarian & Collectible

Cookbooks, and all books related to food, drink, cocktails.

#vegetarian #cookbook #hardcover Very clean, minor wear to cover, tiny black mark (see photo) across top edge of pages.  Many, but not all, recipes are illustrated.


Vegetables take center stage in the book's 125 original recipes, but there are also plenty of creative ideas for fruit, herbs, pasta, rice, legumes, eggs, dairy, and even cocktails.

The Vegetarian Option

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#herbalism #ethnobotanicals  #hardcover

This is a modern scientific analysis of herbalism and various ethnobotanical traditions. It is not a traditional herbal, but explores the potential of herbalism as complimentary to modern medicine.


Plants and Modern Medicine

Are herbal medicines effective? Are organic foods really better for you? Will the cure to cancer eventually come from a newly discovered plant which dwells in the Amazon basin? Will medicines ever become affordable and available to the neediest? How will we produce enough food to keep up withan ever-increasing world population? Written with these issues in mind, Let Thy Food Be Thy Medicine is a response to the current flood of conflicting information regarding the use of plants for both consumption and medicinal purposes. Kathleen Hefferon addresses the myths and popular beliefssurrounding the application of plants in human health, revealing both their truths and inaccuracies, and provides an overview of the technologies scientists are using to further their research.The book covers herbal medicines, functional and biofortified foods, plants and antibiotics, edible vaccines, and organic versus genetically modified foods, discussing each from a scientific standpoint. It these topics together for the first time, providing a much-needed overview of plants asmedicine. Intended for scientists and professionals in related disciplines as well as the interested reader educated in the sciences, this book will confront claims made in the media with science and scientific analysis, providing readers with enough background to allow them to make their ownjudgments.

Let Thy Food Be Thy Medicine

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#alcohol #bitters #herbs #absinthe
Fine essays on food and drink, mostly drink. The writing style recalls MFK Fisher although the emphasis here is on spirits. 


Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Libation - A Bitter Alchemy

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Food & Drink

Books on gardening, landscape, plants and herbs.

Proud Owners * Private Estates * 1890-1940

A tribute to America's grand era of private estate gardens and their illustrious owners. The book presents over 500 of the nations's most exquisite gardens and the people who built them, from DuPont's Longwood (Pennsylvania) to the Huntington's San Marino Ranch (California).

The Golden Age of American Gardens

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This book is intended primarily for SAN FRANCISCO and SF Bay Area gardeners. It is very climate specific. 
Very clean copy with only slight wear to cover. Large format #paperback 

The Complete Guide to Year-Round Food Gardening in the San Francisco Bay Area and Coastal California

The bible of vegetable gardening in the San Francisco Bay Area has been revised and updated! Packed with more than 400 pages of reliable information, Golden Gate Gardening offers encyclopedic coverage of gardening principles and practices specific to the Bay Area and the Northern California coast. Author Pam Peirce explains strategies for growing common favorite vegetables and herbs, plus unusual ones that bring variety to the garden. She includes information on organizing a garden, dealing with pests, assessing a microclimate, cultivating fruit trees, gardening on a rooftop, harvesting the crop, and creating delicious gardener's dishes. This third edition also contains new or updated information on resources for specific seeds, tomato planting, organic gardening, and vegetables not included in previous editions, including amaranth, shell beans, Chinese broccoli, broccoli raab, Florence fennel, oca, okra, and quinoa. Charts, sidebars, maps, and online resources help make the vegetable gardening experience easier and more fun.

Golden Gate Gardening, 3rd Edition

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Karen Platt

Black plants (actually purple) in the house and garden? 

Complete Guide to Dark Plants

The only comprehensive guide to over 1350 dark plants for the garden and home. 300 colour photographs, 5 watercolor garden designs.

Black Magic and Purple Passion

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Gardening & Landscape

Reiko Mochinaga Brandon

Loretta G. H. Woodard

Beautifully illustrated with text in English and Japanese, this is the catalog of an exhibition of Hawaiian quilts. See all photographs above.

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

Tradition and Transition

Recognized the world over for their bright colors and bold graphic designs, Hawaiian applique quilts reflect the lush subtropical flora of the islands where they were born. The book provides an extensive overview of Hawaiian quilting from its beginning as an art form in the 1870s to the present day. The book includes twenty-two quilts created by three influential master quilters and thirty contemporary quilts by six highly respected modern quilters that reflect a new range in styles and techniques, from traditional to trend setting, being explored by island quilters today. This bilingual publication, English and Japanese, visually explores a vibrant and ongoing cultural treasure of Hawai'i. These quilts demonstrate both the rich tradition of this textile art and its continuing strength in the realm of contemporary art.

Hawaiian Quilts

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Dennis R. Dodds

Excellent condition with an autographed inscription “To Robert / Dennis R Dodds / San Francisco 2006. Paperback with an unusual cloth tape reinforcement (original). See all photos above. 198 numbered pages. Color photographs with commentary on each rug. Carpets organized by region. 

Oriental Rugs from the Robert A. Fisher Collection in the Virginia Museum

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Roy Hamilton

Catalog of an exhibit of the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History Los Angeles. Published with the assistance of the Getty Grant Program.  See all photos above.

Textiles of the Southern Philippines

This volume examines the rich and varied cloth traditions of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. A wealth of illustrations, both contemporary and historical, introduce the reader to traditions that range from the blood-red, polished abaca cloths of the B'laan and the dazzling headcloths of the Tausug to the striking plaids in magenta and orange silk created by the Maguindanao. Essays explore in detail the textile traditions of the Bagobo, the B'laan, the Maguindanao, and the Maranao.

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Shelves by Robert’s Books

Robert’s Books

Architecture & interiors

Asian art & antiques

Business & Organizations

Essay & Criticism

Fiction

Fine & Decorative Arts and Antiques

First Editions, Autographs, Antiqua...

Food & Drink

Gardening & Landscape

Oriental Carpets & Textiles