Langston Hughes, 1942These portraits are just a few of the 140 never-before-exhibited color photographs taken by Carl Van Vechten.Living Portraits: Carl Van Vechten’s Color Photographs of African Americans, 1939-1964 features some 140 never-before-exhibited color photographs by Carl Van Vechten. Van Vechten (1880-1964) had an artistic vision rooted in the centrality of the talented person. He cherished accomplishment, whether in music, dance, theater, fine art, literature, sport, or advocacy.
Book Patrol Digest
C. Max Magee of the Millions is building some Literary Soundtracks at Pandora. So far he has 3 stations in the bag.George Packer on George Orwell's “Down and Out in Paris and London” via The Book Club at The New Yorker. "Excellent Book Covers and Paperbacks" at Smashing Magazine. A visual feast featuring 61 of their favorite cover designs."The Lost Books of The Stone Reader" via Omnivoracious. A look at this 2002 documentary that is a must see for us bookish types. I just watched it and loved it.Do you suffer from Library Anxiety? New book out “Library Rx: Measuring...
Public Collectors : Share Your Collection with the World
Public Collectors is the brainchild of Marc Fisher. Its goal is to allow "large collections of materials to become accessible so that knowledge, ideas and expertise can be freely shared and exchanged," and is "founded upon the concern that there are many types of cultural artifacts that public libraries, museums and other institutions and archives either do not collect or do not make freely accessible."Tremendous potential here for the book world. Creates an opportunity for collectors to add their wares to the public domain allowing the gems of their collections to be accessed by scholars, researchers and other interested parties.Now...
The WisdomTree Bookshelf by Jordi Milà
click to enlarge"The WisdomTree is for people who see books as a source of knowledge and emotions and not simply as decorative objects. Its fluid and organic shape is inspired by growth of a plant. The books that represent the fruit of knowledge are supported by pieces covered in leather." - Jordi MilàMore images at Contemporist
Rebound Designs by Caitlin Phillips
Earth Day, 2009.Nell Greenfieldboyce's feature Judging a Book (Bag) By Its Cover on NPR's All Things Considered gives us a glimpse into the world of Caitlin Phillips.For five years now Phillips has been transforming discarded books into functional purses.Why purses?"The book kind of pretty much decided what form it was going to be," she says. "The spine becomes the bottom of the purse, because I keep the cover completely intact." She adds handles and a vintage button to match."Highlights:Book most often requested - Pride and PrejudiceBooks out of bounds-Phillips "won't cut up the Quran, although she will sometimes cut up...