July 2023: Art Books

The book group appreciated Art Books for the July 2023 meeting.  Subjects ranged from global, influential artists to regional folk art painters, and from under-rated to critically acclaimed artists.  Art types included painting, glass art, and illustration art.

Artists

Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973)

Linocuts

Picasso, Pablo.  Linocuts.  London: Thames and Hudson, 1963.  First issued as Linolschnitte in German by Verg Gerd Hatje (Stuttgart) in 1962.  Introduction by Wilhelm Boeck.  Contains 45 reproduction linocuts on 14 unnumbered pages with slipcover box.

Sample linocuts

Nino Caffe (1908 – 1975)

Nino Caffe exhibition brochure

Greene, Graham.  "Nino Caffe."  New York: Knoedler Gallery, 1953.  Four-page pamphlet with two pages of text in English by Greene.  Gallery brochure for the first American exhibition of Nino Caffe's works at the Knoedler art gallery in 1953.  This rare bifold brochure inspired and led to the 1960 publication of Nino Caffe.

Nino Caffe

Greene, Graham.  Nino Caffe.  Rome: Galleria L'Obelisco, 1960.  Introduction by Greene in English, Italian, and French.  Bound in velvet.  Contains 14 color plates of Caffe's whimsical flying priests.  This copy is inscribed in Italian by the subject, Nino Caffe, on the artist's photo page.

Caffe's flying priests

 

Mattie Lou O'Kelley (1908 – 1997)

From the Hills of Georgia: An Autobiography in Paintings

O'Kelley, Mattie Lou.  From the Hills of Georgia: An Autobiography in Paintings.  Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983.  Contains 28 color plates of paintings depicting the artist's life on the family farm and in her hometown of Maysville, Georgia.  This copy is signed by O'Kelley on the title page.

"Killing the Rats" and "Coming to the Celebration"

 

Alan Bean (1932 – 2018)

Apollo: An Eyewitness Account

Bean, Alan.  Apollo: An Eyewitness Account.  Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 1998.  Limited edition.  Bound in genuine leather with the spine, page edges, and cover decorated with gold.  Illustrated with artwork by the author.  This copy is number 203 of 3000 copies personally signed by Apollo 12 Moonwalker and artist Alan Bean.

 

Hubert Shuptrine (1936 – 2006)

Jericho: The South Beheld

Shuptrine, Hubert and James Dickey.  Jericho: The South Beheld.  Birmingham, AL: Oxmoor House, Inc., 1974.  First edition.  Jericho depicts life in the American South as seen and painted by Shuptrine, with commentary by novelist and poet James Dickey.  When published, Jericho "broke all records for art books," according to ArtNet, quickly selling out the first printing of 150,000 copies.  This copy is inscribed by Dickey and signed by Shuptrine on the half title page.

"Nettie" (Waycross, Georgia)

 

Hans Godo Fräbel (b. 1941)

Fräbel: Excellence in Glass Art

Ese, Gerrit op de.  Fräbel: Excellence in Glass Art.  Medford, OR: Morgan & Chase Publishing Inc., 2007.  A photographic retrospective of the artist's glassworks, including bespoke sculptures created for President Jimmy Carter, Sir Elton John, President Nelson Mandella, Queen Elizabeth II, and others.  This copy is inscribed by the subject, Hans Godo Fräbel, at the opening of the 2007 Orchid Daze with Fräbel exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

"The Dogwood" and "Zachor"

 

Illustrators

Chesley Bonestell (1888 – 1986)

The Art of Chesley Bonestell

Miller, Ron and Frederick C. Durrant III.  The Art of Chesley Bonestell.  London: Paper Tiger, 2001.  Foreword by Arthur C. Clarke.  Bonestell pioneered astronomical art and his paintings strongly influenced science fiction art and illustration.  This copy is signed by Ron Miller and Frederick Durrant III on a tipped in bookplate.

 

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 – 1973)

Pictures by J. R. R. Tolkien

Tolkien, J. R. R.  Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien.  London: George, Allen and Unwin, 1979.  Foreword and notes by Christopher Tolkien.  Contains artwork by Tolkien, mostly works published in calendars by George Allen & Unwin between 1974 and 1979.  Some images which were previously truncated for the calendars are published here in full for the first time.

"Doors of Durin" and "Moria Gate"

Tolkien, J. R. R.  Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien.  New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021.  A new edition published nearly 30 years after the 1992 revised edition.

The Art of the Hobbit

Tolkien, J. R. R.  The Art of the Hobbit.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.  143 p.  Wayne G. Hammond and Cristina Scull, editors.  Contains more than 100 of Tolkien's illustrations for or related to The Hobbit.  The editors state, "more than two dozen of these pictures are previously unpublished, and many have never before been printed in colour."

The Art of The Lord of the Rings

Tolkien, J. R. R.  The Art of The Lord of the Rings.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015.  143 p.  Wayne G. Hammond and Cristina Scull, editors.  Contains more than 190 of Tolkien's illustrations and maps for or related to The Lord of the Rings.  According to the editors, 101 illustrations are previously unpublished, and 42 are published in color for the first time.

 

Paul Hogarth (1917 – 2001)

Graham Greene Country

Hogarth, Paul.  Graham Greene Country.  London: Pavilion Books Ltd., 1986.  Foreword and commentary by Graham Greene.  Hogarth visits four continents, 20 countries, and 50 cities, traveling over 50,000 miles in one year, to capture the settings of Greene's novels to illustrate the Penguin paperback reprints of 21 of Greene's books.  This copy is signed by the artist on the half title page.

"Palace Pier, Brighton"

 

Frank Kelly Freas (1922 – 2005)

A Separate Star

Freas, Frank Kelly.  A Separate Star.  Virginia Beach, VA: Greenswamp Publications, 1984.  Introduction by Robert Silverberg.  Limited edition.  Signed, leatherbound edition in publisher’s slipcase.  Freas was a science fiction and fantasy artist.  He won 11 Hugo Awards for Best Artist.  This copy is number 1353 of 1500 signed copies.

 

Cor Blok (1934 – 2021)

A Tolkien Tapestry

Blok, Cor.  A Tolkien Tapestry: Pictures to Accompany The Lord of the Rings.  London: HarperCollins, 2011.  Blok was a Dutch artist and professor of art history.  Throughout the 1960s, he created more than 100 artworks inspired by Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

 

Greg Hildebrandt (b. 1939) and Tim Hildebrandt (1939 – 2006)

The Tolkien Years

Hildebrandt, Greg and Tim Hildebrandt.  The Tolkien Years.  New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2002.  Twin brothers Greg and Tim were fantasy artists who painted as a duo—either together or in shifts depending on the time they had to complete the art—until Tim's death in 2006.  In the 1970s, they produced Tolkien art, including the artwork for the 1976 Tolkien Calendar.

 

Alan Lee (b. 1947)

The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook

Lee, Alan.  The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook.  New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2005.  Lee is an English illustrator best known for his fantasy art inspired by Tolkien's novels.  Lee served as a conceptual designer for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film adaptations.  This sketchbook reveals Lee's conceptual design work for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

The Hobbit Sketchbook

Lee, Alan.  The Hobbit Sketchbook.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2019.  This sketchbook reveals Lee's conceptual design work for The Hobbit film trilogy.

 

Audrey Niffenegger (b. 1963)

Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger

Niffenegger, Audrey.  Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger.  Brooklyn, NY: PowerHouse Books, 2013.  A mid-career retrospective of Niffenegger's surreal work, containing book art, works on paper, and paintings in media including aquatints, lithographs, and letterpress prints.

 

Donato Giancola (b. 1967)

Middle-Earth: Visions of a Modern Myth

Giancola, Donato.  Middle-Earth: Visions of a Modern Myth.  Nevada City, CA: Underwood Books, 2010.  Giancola is a science fiction and fantasy artist painting in the style of narrative realism.  In Middle-Earth: Visions of a Modern Myth, he takes readers on a tour of Tolkien's world of wizards, dragons, dwarfs, and warriors through artwork reminiscent of classic realism artists like Vermeer and Rembrandt.

Middle-Earth: Journeys in Myth and Legend

Giancola, Donato.  Middle-Earth: Journeys in Myth and Legend.  Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books, 2019.  Giancola adds nearly 200 more paintings and drawings to complement Middle-Earth: Visions of a Modern Myth.

"Beacons of Gondor"

June 2023: Biography

Biography served as the topic for the June 2023 meeting.  Collectors presented an array of human subjects, spanning more than 300 years.  The people profiled ranged from shamelessly immoral poets to upstanding civic leaders and from confabulating spies to tireless champions for social justice.  The largest group of subjects biographized were some of the collectors' favorite authors, including Ray Bradbury, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Graham Greene. 

The biographies are listed by the chronological dates of the subjects.

John Wilmont (1647 – 1680)

Lord Rochester's Monkey

Greene, Graham.  Lord Rochester's Monkey: Being the Life of John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester.  New York: Viking Press, 1974.  John Wilmont, 2nd Earl of Rochester, was a Restoration poet and satirist, who lived a privileged and rakish life and died at the age of 33 from a sexually transmitted infection (most likely syphilis).  His poetry was often labeled pornographic and heavily censored, if not banned, throughout the Victorian Era.  Graham Greene set out to write an exhaustive biography of Wilmont between 1931 and 1934, following a brief revival of interest in Wilmont's poetry in the 1920s.  The biography was rejected by Greene's publisher at the time, William Heinemann, without reason or explanation; Greene did not know if it was because of his writing or the subject matter itself.  A passing reference to the unpublished biography in Greene's memoir, A Sort of Life (1971), sparked interest in the book, which was finally published 40 years after Greene wrote it.  This copy is inscribed by the author on the title page.

 

George Washington (1732 – 1799)

The Life of George Washington

Marshall, John.  The Life of George Washington.  Philadelphia: C. P. Wayne, 1804.  In 5 volumes, plus atlas.  John Marshall was the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, appointed by John Adams.  Shortly after taking his seat on the court in 1801, Marshall began working on a biography of George Washington, who died two years earlier.  The project was suggested by Associate Justice Bushrod Washington, a nephew of the first president, who supplied Marshall with his uncle's papers which he inherited.  The biography was published in five volumes from 1804 to 1807, plus a separately bound atlas containing ten engraved fold-out maps.  The Life of George Washington was the first biography of a United States president even published.

Title pages for Volume 1 and Atlas

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 – 1973)

Tolkien: A Biography

Carpenter, Humphrey.  Tolkien: A Biography.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1977.  Carpenter's authorized biography of J. R. R. Tolkien draws from interviews with Tolkien's family and friends as well as unrestricted access to Tolkien's papers.  Carpenter covers the writer's life from his sad and traumatic youth to the height of his writing career.  Carpenter focuses on Tolkien's academic career as both student and professor and highlights the importance of his relationships with his peers, especially C. S. Lewis and the Inklings.  Carpenter asserts that these men played a huge part in Tolkien's life and had a significant impact on his development as a writer.

J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century

Shippey, Tom.  J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2001.  Shippey's work appears more like a collection of literary criticism, but as a whole functions as a biography of Tolkien thematically arranged by the writer's works.  Shippey's Forward encapsulates Tolkien's life, then his essays on each of Tolkien's books examine the writer's life in greater detail during the time of writing that respective book.  Shippey contends Tolkien is "the most influential author of the century" and the book serves as a companion to Tolkien's works, situating them within the context of the author's life.

 

C. S. Lewis (1898 – 1963)

Harry Lee Poe's Biography of C. S. Lewis in 3 volumes

Poe, Harry Lee.  Becoming C. S. Lewis: A Biography of Young Jack Lewis.  Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Books, 2019.  Harry Lee Poe, a relative of the family of Edgar Allan Poe, is a professor of Faith and Culture at Union University, where he has taught a class on Lewis for over 20 years.  His 3-volume biography of C. S. Lewis reveals new information about the novelist and corrects previous misunderstandings.  Broadly, the trilogy shows how Lewis's experiences of education, war, friendship, and loss shaped his writings and molded him into one of the most important writers of the 20th century.  Volume I, Becoming C. S. Lewis, covers Lewis from birth through 1918, when he was demobilized from the British Army and resumed his studies at Oxford University.

Poe, Harry Lee.  The Making of C. S. Lewis: From Atheist to Apologist (1918-1945).  Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Books, 2021.  Volume II, The Making of C. S. Lewis, covers Lewis from 1918 through 1945, the period of his radical conversion to Christianity and the emergence of his writing career.

Poe, Harry Lee.  The Completion of C. S. Lewis: From War to Joy.  Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Books, 2022.  Volume III, The Completion of C. S. Lewis, covers Lewis from 1945 through his death in 1963, a time marked both by tragedy and disappointment and by meaningful relationships.

 

Graham Greene (1904 – 1991)

The Unquiet Englishman

Greene, Richard.  The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene.  New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2020.  Graham Greene's life has been microscopically detailed by other biographers, but their works have been controversial mostly for focusing on the darker and more personal aspects of Greene's life.  Richard Greene—no relation to his subject—presents a more rounded, complex, three-dimensional character than previously published biographies.  The author of this 2020 biography had the advantage of access to letters, papers, and diaries by Greene and memoirs by those who knew and loved him that were not available to previous biographers. 

 

Juan Pujol García (1912 – 1988)

Agent Garbo

Talty, Stephan.  Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.  Juan Pujol, a Spaniard, wanted to contribute to the fight against Nazi Germany.  He approached British intelligence offering to become a spy but was roundly dismissed because he had no contacts or information of value.  So, he went to German intelligence and offered himself as a spy; the Nazis eagerly accepted his offer, unaware that his elaborate network of spies and sources were purely fictitious.  He then returned to British intelligence and informed them of his modest infiltration.  While he never had useful information for the Allies, he became an indispensable asset in feeding misinformation and deception to the Nazis, all while Germany paid him and his fictitious agents for their services.

 

Donald Lee Hollowell (1917 – 2004)

The Sacred Call

Hollowell, Louise and Martin C. Lehfeldt.  The Sacred Call: A Tribute to Donald L. Hollowell, Civil Rights Champion.  Winter Park, FL: FOUR-G Publishers, 1997.  Hollowell as an Atlanta-based civil rights attorney.  He successfully represented cases fighting for integration into Georgia's public schools, colleges, and universities.  He represented Martin Luther King, Jr., Julian Bond, Ralph David Abernathy, and other demonstrators arrested during the Civil Rights Movement.  He was also the attorney for Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, the two black students who first integrated the University of Georgia.  This biography is authored by his wife, Louise Hollowell, and Martin Lehfeldt, a friend and highly regarded planning consultant and, at the time, trustee of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary.  This copy is inscribed on the front free endpaper by the authors, Louise Hollowell and Martin Lehfeldt, and the subject, Donald Hollowell.

 

Ray Bradbury (1920 – 2012)

Jonathan R. Eller's biography of Ray Bradbury in 3 volumes

Eller, Jonathan R.  Becoming Ray Bradbury.  Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2011.  The first installment in the 3-volume definitive biography of Ray Bradbury by Jonathan R. Eller, Chancellor’s Professor of English at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, senior textual editor of the Institute for American Thought, and director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies.  Volume I of this Bradbury biography covers his childhood in Illinois and his early writing career after moving to California.

Eller, Jonathan R.  Ray Bradbury Unbound.  Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2014.  Volume II of this Bradbury biography begins with the publication of Fahrenheit 451 in 1953 and continues through his film and television career into the 1960’s.

Eller, Jonathan R.  Bradbury Beyond Apollo.  Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2020.  Volume III of this Bradbury biography begins in the early 1970’s when he became a household name and continues until his death in 2012.

 

John Lewis (1940 – 2020)

His Truth is Marching On

Meacham, Jon.  His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope.  New York: Random House, 2020.  Afterword by John Lewis.  Meacham chronicles the life of John Lewis from his youthful organizing and protesting during the Civil Rights Movement to his seasoned legislative work in Congress.  While he covers the well-known events in Lewis's life, Meacham focuses on Lewis's persistent hope and his commitment to nonviolence not merely as political strategies but as deeply ingrained personal and spiritual values.  Meacham draws on dozens of interviews with Lewis, conducted over several decades, to flesh out this inspirational biography.  This copy is signed on a bookplate on the front free end paper, as the book was released during the 2020 covid lockdown and in-person signings were cancelled.

May 2023: Westerns

Buffalo Bill "Under the Lime Light" plate in Last of the Great Scouts

Members rounded up Westerns for the May 2023 meeting.  Collectors presented some of their favorite stories of the American frontier and California Gold Rush eras.  Classics such as My Antonia, epics such as Lonesome Dove, and historical fiction such as Doc covered a variety of "Old West" and "Wild West" themes such as rugged individualism, manifest destiny, freedom, and justice.  In addition to fiction, members also shared nonfiction works from the American West with biographies and autobiographies of such legendary names as William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, James Beckwourth, and the Donner Party.

Fiction

My Antonia

Cather, Willa S.  My Antonia.  New York: First Editions Library / Collectors Reprints Inc., 1977.  Facsimile of the Houghton Mifflin Company's 1918 first edition, with slipcase.  Considered the author's finest work, My Antonia has been praised for bringing the American West to life and making it personally interesting.  The story was adapted into a made-for-television movie in 1995.

Little Big Man

Berger, Thomas.  Little Big Man.  New York: Dial Press, 1964.  This lengthy picaresque tale is considered a satire or parody of western novels.  The book was adapted into a successful film in 1970, starring Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway.  In 2014, the film was deemed "culturally and historically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Blood Meridian

McCarthy, Cormac.  Blood Meridian, Or the Evening Redness in the West.  New York: Random House Publishing, 2010.  25th anniversary edition.  First published in 1985, this unconventional western is considered by many critics to be one of the greatest American novels ever published in any genre.  The story is noted for its extreme violence and its deconstruction of America’s Manifest Destiny.

Lonesome Dove

McMurtry, Larry.  Lonesome Dove.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985.  Winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and considered one of the greatest westerns ever written.  The novel was adapted into an award-winning television miniseries in 1989, starring Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, and Diane Lane.

The Eagle Catcher

Coel, Margaret.  The Eagle Catcher.  Niwot, CO: The University Press of Colorado, 1995.  The Eagle Catcher is the first novel in a series of 20 books published from 1995 to 2016 featuring a crime-solving duo of a Jesuit priest and an Arapaho lawyer.  The stories are set in the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.

Doc

Russell, Mary Doria.  Doc.  New York: Random House, 2011.  This work of historical fiction combines a murder-mystery story with a realistic portrait of John Henry "Doc" Holliday, the Georgia dentist who became an infamous Western gambler and gunman.  Doc was the American Library Association's 2011 Top Pick in Historical Fiction.

Epitaph

Russell, Mary Doria.  Epitaph.  New York: HarperCollins/Ecco, 2015.  A sequel to Doc, Epitaph follows Holliday to Tombstone, Arizona, with the Earp brothers, and explores the mythology of the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.  Epitaph was recognized by True West Magazine as the Best Historical Western of 2015.

 

Nonfiction

The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth

Bonner, T. D.  The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer, Scout, and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians.  New York: Harper & Brothers, 1856.  Bonner's biography follows a biracial slave, freed by his master and father, who moves to the American West during the Gold Rush years.  Beckwourth became a fur trader and lived among the Crow Nation for many years.  He discovered a pass through the Sierra Nevada mountains now named after him.  Beckwourth narrated his stories to Thomas D. Bonner, an itinerant justice of the peace and newspaperman, who compiled them into this publication.

 

Across the Plains in Forty-nine

Shaw, Ruben Cole.  Across the Plains in Forty-nine.  Chicago: The Lakeside Press / R. Donnelley & Sons Co., 1948.  Originally published in 1896, Across the Plains in Forty-nine details the travels of the members of the Mt. Washington Mining Company from Boston to San Franciso in 1849.  Shaw, a member of the company, recounts the difficult journey, fraught with encounters with Native Americans, cholera, and their various modes of transportation, including rail, river, and pack mules.

 

Last of the Great Scouts

Wetmore, Helen Cody.  Last of the Great Scouts: The Life Story of Col. William F. Cody "Buffalo Bill" as Told by His Sister.  Chicago: The Duluth Press Publishing Company, 1899.  Wetmore recounts the legend of her brother, "Buffalo Bill" Cody, the Wild West showman.  As Cody's sister, she also offers affectionate anecdotes of her brother's more modest experiences, such as being a land speculator, hotel keeper, and justice of the peace.  This copy is inscribed by William F. Cody on the half title page.

The Expedition of the Donner Party and Its Tragic Fate

Houghton, Eliza P. Donner.  The Expedition of the Donner Party and Its Tragic Fate.  Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1911.  Nearly 65 years after the tragic attempted journey from Illinois to California in 1846, Houghton recounts her family's experience of becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range during the winter months.  Already short on provisions and draft animals, the group from the wagon train which were stranded resorted to cannibalism to survive the harsh winter, though Houghton does not mention cannibalism in her memoir.

The Worst Hard Time

Egan, Tim.  The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.  Egan's disaster tale focuses on the problems of the farmers and their families who lived through the 1930s Dust Bowl.  He dissects the tragedy and attributes it to the reckless agricultural misuse of the land.  The Worst Hard Time won the 2006 National Book Award for Nonfiction.