Jon Henri McCracken is not your ordinary arctophile. He has been collecting bear memorabilia for most of his life and in his new book, The Bears in My Life, McCracken takes us on a captivating visual tour of his amazing collection.
From the dust jacket:
Bears have captured human imagination for tens of thousands of years, simply by being bears. Mysterious, powerful and nurturing of their young, the natural characteristics of bears — and the many, colorful, human beliefs associated with them — have inspired creation of bear images in wood, stone, ink, glass, bronze and more. ‘The Bears in My Life’ features captivating photographs of images across all media and provides a wealth of information about the significance of bears within diverse cultures, over time.
His collection features images of bears from around the world with chapters featuring the European Bear, the Russian Bear, the American Bear, the North American Indian Bear and the Japanese and Neighboring Bear. Though the gist of of McCracken’s collection consists of carved wooden bears there is a healthy dose of postcards, engravings and book illustrations. The final chapter, Bear Paper and Beyond, is an informative look at the history of ‘bearmobilia’ in print and as McCracken points out “following the Bear in paper, is to follow the evolution of printing.”
The 500 copies that make up the limited edition are signed and numbered by the author and contain a tipped-in photographic print. The first 220 copies of the limited edition also contain an original silk-screen image of a bear by Larry Cyr.
This limited edition is available exclusively at Wessel & Lieberman Booksellers and sells for $65.
Wholesale inquiries welcome
