n/a:
PATTERN BOOK 1935. ARMSTRONG'S LINOLEUM
Armstrong Cork Co., Lancaster, PA, 1934.

If you know of anything sexier than a 340-page full-colour catalogue of Depression-era linoleum patterns, please contact us immediately.

<-- pp. 138-139

Monahan, Barbara:
A DICTIONARY OF RUSSIAN GESTURE
Hermitage, Tenafly, NJ, 1983.

The Slavic soul expressing itself in non-verbal gestures: dissatisfaction, resignation, caution, approbation, sexual innuendo, satiety, disgust, etc. Illustrated with photos.

<-- front cover

Cravat, Harland R., and Raymond Glaser:
COLOR AERIAL STEREOGRAMS OF SELECTED COASTAL AREAS OF THE UNITED STATES
U.S. Department of Commerce, Rockville, MD, 1971.

Could be useful if you're planning an amphibious invasion. Includes folding stereo viewer in pocket at rear.

<-- front cover

Burns, Aaron:
TYPOGRAPHY
Reinhold Publishing Corp., [New York], 1961.

Here's a sure-fire bait for trapping graphic designers: take a large-format typography book from the high modernist era, and display it spread open to a dynamic Paul Rand design. Mortally effective!

<-- pp. 14-15

Logan, Herschel C.:
HAND CANNON TO AUTOMATIC: A PICTORIAL PARADE OF HAND ARMS
Standard Publications, Inc., Huntington, WV, 1944.

Lovingly rendered pen-and-ink illustrations of firearms both ancient and modern: basically it's pinup art for pistol fetishists.

<-- front cover

Groneman, Chris:
GENERAL BOOKBINDING
McKnight & Knight, Bloomington, IL, 1946.

Six decades ago, students at vocational high schools were actually taught bookbinding as part of their industrial arts education. Here's the proof.

<-- front cover

Lang, Robert (ed.):
LA COLLECTION DES "DOCUMENTS MÉDICAUX"
[16 issues bound in one volume]
Documents Médicaux, Paris, [ca. 1933].

In a perfectly aesthetic world, even a journal of gruesome medical photography would aspire to the highest standards of production and design… wouldn't it?

<-- "La Sympathologie"

[de Postels & Klinkel]:
TWINKLE TUNES PIANO BOOK
No publisher, no place; [ca. 1939].

The plinking of a 70-year-old toy piano makes a suitably eerie soundtrack, drifting from the back of a haunted bookshop.

<-- front cover, with toy piano keyboard

Haney, Robert, and David Ballantine; Jonathan Elliott (phot.):
WOODSTOCK HANDMADE HOUSES
Random House, New York, 1975.

The vernacular architecture of hippies in upstate New York: utopian dwellings for hermits and hobbits.

<-- front cover

[n/a]:
[BOUND ARTIFACT] (paper, leather, fur, plant material, etc.)
[no publisher, place, or date]

Bookseller's dilemma: in what section do you shelve a cryptic leatherbound book-object, apparently handmade as an art stunt by a mad occultist?

<-- (fur, vellum, Satan)

[Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory]:
THE EFFECTS OF ATOMIC WEAPONS
U.S. Department of Defense, Washington, 1950.

Disclaimer: "Atomic explosion phenomena are so complex as to make precise quantitative evaluation of their results almost impossible."

<-- front cover

Owens, Joseph:
DREAD: THE RASTAFARIANS OF JAMAICA
Sangster's Book Stores, Kingston, Jamaica, 1976.

Apparently it's more than just ganja smoke. "Dread is an experience: it is the awesome, fearful confrontation of a people with a primordial but historically denied racial selfhood."

<-- front cover

Schroeder, Francis de Neufville; Alvin Lustig (dustjacket):

ANATOMY FOR INTERIOR DESIGNERS; AND HOW TO TALK TO A CLIENT

Whitney Publications, New York, 1951.

What, bibliographically speaking, makes a book "sexy"? It's the combination of intriguing subject matter; smart design; and an ineffable, but bewitching, physical allure. Like this.

<-- front cover

Djebar, Assia; Magnum (phot.)

WOMEN OF ISLAM

Bruna Book/Andre Deutsch, London, 1961.

This daring photographic survey includes dozens of provocative full-face shots. 

<-- front cover

Little, W.B.:

SCIENCE IN THE HOME

Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, London, 1932. 

"Once, people feared the scientist and looked upon his work as 'Black Magic.' To-day we recognize him as our friend."

<-- front cover

n/a:

DOWN BUT NOT OUT [CFP 217]

Minister of Supply and Services Canada, Hull, 1978.

RCAF survival guide for downed aircrews, addressing the basic conditions of existence: "Pain, cold, thirst, hunger, fatigue, boredom, and loneliness..."

<-- front cover

Sumner, Lloyd:

COMPUTER ART AND HUMAN RESPONSE

[Self-published], Charlottesville, VA, 1968.

Geek creativity of the early digital era: the true avant-garde.

<-- p. 71, "The Noble Alternative"

Arnim, Faye:

FUR CRAFT: HOW TO GLAMORIZE YOUR WARDROBE WITH FUR

Key Publishing Co., New York, 1964.

Includes instructions on how to make a fur coat for your poodle.

<-- front cover

Alexander, John L. (ed.):

BOY TRAINING

Association Press, New York, 1912.

"Thousands of conscientious fathers and mothers realize the seriousness of their boy problem and are doing their utmost to save their boys, against great odds."

<-- front cover

Schmidt-Brümmer, Horst:

VENICE, CALIFORNIA: AN URBAN FANTASY

Grossman Publishers, New York, 1973.

"Today I'm in the mood for a photo-based cultural commentary on California's seediest beach community, undertaken by a German academic in the early '70s. Any recommendations?"

<-- front cover

Woodforde, John:

THE STRANGE STORY OF FALSE HAIR

Drake Publishers Inc., New York, 1972.

Newest fashion among old booksellers: a "Cloudsley Shovel" full-bottom periwig with eight clusters of low-hanging curls, liberally powdered.

<-- front cover

[Cadogan, Adelaide]:

LADY CADOGAN'S ILLUSTRATED GAMES OF SOLITAIRE OR PATIENCE

David McKay Company, Philadelphia, 1914. 

Looking forward to some long, cold, and very lonely winter nights.

<-- front cover

Bishop, George: 

THE WORLD OF CLOWNS

Brooke House Publishers, Los Angeles, 1976.

Get your Gacy on!

<-- front cover

Nichols, Herbert L.:

MOVING THE EARTH: THE WORKBOOK OF EXCAVATION

North Castle Books, Greenwich, CT, 1976.

Pencil-necked intellectuals will need a front end loader just to hoist this monster into reading position.

<-- whole book, looming

Monkey's Paw Christmas Catalogue 2011:
A Miscellany in Four Parts

Part 1: Cultural Detritus
Could a bookseller actually build a reputation on salvaged material like this?

Peacock, F.W.:
CONVERSATIONAL ESKIMO
Breakwater Books Ltd., Portugal Cove, NL, 1977.
Countless useful phrases for yesterday's visitors to the Arctic, including the sadly resigned observation "ImaKa ablatsângortitaujungnangilaK Inuktôrtanut" ("I suppose that it cannot be translated into Eskimo").

Christopher, John and Rosemary:
DESIGN FOR MODERN MARRIAGE
Hurst & Blackett, London, 1958.
For sensible and industrious people, domestic bliss can indeed be achieved: apparently it requires a combination of careful planning, thrifty consumer decisions, and tireless household maintenance. Lots of photos.

n/a:
SMITH-CORONA TEN-DAY TOUCH TYPING COURSE
[five 33-rpm records; spiral-bound booklet on cardboard stand; and six legal-sized sheets of blank typing paper]
Smith-Corona Marchant, New York, 1961.
Before you begin your lesson, you'll have to figure out how to position the booklet on its A-frame stand, and stack the LPs in the correct order on your phonograph's record-changer.

Zsilinszky, Victor G.:
PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION OF TREE SPECIES IN ONTARIO
Ontario Department of Lands and Forests, Toronto, 1963.
Looking down on the northern landscape from a bush plane, the untrained eye sees a vista of undifferentiated greenery; but with the help of black-and-white stereoscopic photography, it's possible to spot the stand of black spruce in the forest of balsam fir. Inscribed by author on title page.

 * 

Part 2: Confirmed Cool
Left casually in the bathroom, these make a powerful impression on even the most sophisticated guests.

[Brand, Stewart (ed.)]:
WHOLE EARTH CATALOG: ACCESS TO TOOLS. SPRING, 1969
Portola Institute, Menlo Park, CA, 1969.
The counterculture catalogue that allows historians to reconstruct the intellectual climate of the back-to-the-land hippie movement. In addition to the many intriguing books and DIY kits offered for sale, this exceedingly scarce early issue includes a gratuitous photo of "Plaster Caster" rock-star genitals.

Langdon, Philip:
ORANGE ROOFS, GOLDEN ARCHES: THE ARCHITECTURE OF AMERICAN CHAIN RESTAURANTS
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1986.
A fact-heavy resource for students of 20th-century efficiency food culture, and a cathartic tool for disaffected hipsters who spent their childhoods in corporate suburbia.

Schultes, Richard Evans; Elmer W. Smith (illus.):
HALLUCINOGENIC PLANTS [A GOLDEN GUIDE]
Golden Press, New York, 1976.
Alarmingly improbable: a field guide to psychedelic flora, written by an esteemed ethnobotanist, and aimed at juvenile readers. Like every title in the Golden Guide series, it's packed with charming colour illustrations.

Thygeson, Gordon:
APPLE T-SHIRTS: A YEARBOOK OF HISTORY AT APPLE COMPUTER
Pomo Publishing, Scotts Valley, CA, 1997.
Silicon Valley's golden age, revealed via the impossibly ugly commemorative t-shirts that were issued to various product teams at Apple. Indispensable for fashion pirates looking to knock off original geek office-culture styles.

 *

Part 3: High-Class Antiquarian
Items of objective bibliophilic worth; no sense of irony required.

Davillier, Ch[arles]; J. Thomson (trans.); Gustav Doré (illus.):
SPAIN
Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, London, 1876.
Wild rocky landscapes, ruins, beggars, dancing girls, bullfights, gypsies: clearly Doré felt right at home with the gothic theatricality of the subject matter. Contains over 200 engravings (including 112 full-page plates).

[Estienne, Robert, and Johannes Frisius]:
LEXICON TRILINGUE, EX THESAURO ROBERTI STEPHANI, ET DICTIONARIO IOANNIS FRISII SUMA FIDE AC DILIGENTIA COLLECTUM [etc.]
Theodosius Rihelius, Argentorati [Strasbourg], 1587.
No doubt this massive trilingual dictionary was a significant scholarly achievement in its day, but equally astonishing is the 16th-century typography: some 800 two-column pages in Latin, Greek, and German black letter. At five kilos, it'll make an impressive stocking-stuffer for your favorite Renaissance humanist.

Shaw, G. (ed.):
THE OFFICIAL TOURISTS' PICTURESQUE GUIDE TO THE LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY… EMBRACING INFORMATION RESPECTING TOURS IN ENGLAND, IRELAND, AND SCOTLAND
Norton and Shaw, London, 1876.
It's easy to picture the glamour days of Victorian rail travel. Just imagine a North American heiress reclining on the blue upholstery of a first-class banquette somewhere between Bletchley and Blisworth: this pretty little book is on her lap.

n/a:
ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE OF SOLID GOLD & ROLLED PLATE SOCIETY EMBLEMS, CHARMS, PINS, LAPEL BUTTONS, ETC.
Geo. Brunswick, New York, 1902.
The secret handshakes of these fraternal orders may be forgotten, but it's still possible to learn exactly what the Independent Order of Odd Fellows wore on their lapels and the Knights of Pythias hung on their watch-fobs. Catalogue includes well over a thousand monochrome designs.

*

Part 4: Proprietor's Reserve
The artifacts we covet most passionately, and will always regret parting with.

Saucier, Ted; Russell Patterson, Al Dorne, et al. (illus.):
BOTTOMS UP
First edition. Greystone Press, New York, 1951.
When a raging fire threatens the penthouse, there is one mixology manual that a swanky bachelor will go back inside for. Includes colour pinup plates by twelve different artists, and provocative decorations throughout (e.g., girls wrapped around martini glasses). Signed by author on half-title.

Tissandier, Gaston; Henry Frith (trans.):
SCIENTIFIC AMUSEMENTS
[comprising HALF-HOURS OF SCIENTIFIC AMUSEMENT; MARVELS OF THE ELEMENTS; MARVELS OF HEAT, LIGHT, AND SOUND; and MARVELS OF EARTH, AIR, AND WATER]
Ward Lock & Co., London, [ca. 1890].
A single Victorian engraving depicting a home science experiment has the power to charm; but more than 300 together in one place will cause heartache. The poignancy of all those lost geeky boyhoods is almost more than a fellow can bear.

Völgyesi, Ferenc András; M.W. Hamilton (trans.):
HYPNOSIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS
Wilshire Book Co., Hollywood, CA, 1968.
You want so badly to believe that it is possible to mesmerize lobsters, pheasants, alligators, and mandrills; and then, to your infinite joy, a Hungarian researcher confirms your hopes…

Müller-Wulckow, Walter:
DEUTSCHE BAUKUNST DER GEGENWORT: WOHNBAUTEN UND SIEDLUNGEN
[German Contemporary Architecture: Residential Buildings and Developments]
Karl Robert Langewiesche, Königstein im Taunus, 1929.
21st-century romantic fatalists are compulsively drawn to the coolness of Weimar-era "New Objectivity" apartment blocks: they look so doomed, remote, futuristic. 110 full-page photos; German text.

*

*

*

[** end Christmas Catalogue 2011 **]

(At the Monkey's Paw, we love the twilight season. We love dead leaves, dead poets, dead books; we love women in masks, men in dresses, children in black cat costumes; we love neglected graveyards and cheap candy. Yes: we love Halloween!)

*** MICROCATALOGUE #16: HALLOWEEN 2011 ***

Laughlin, Clarence John:
GHOSTS ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI
Bonanza Books, New York, 1961 (Revised Edition). 

Decades before Louisiana produced superstar bloodsuckers like the Vampire Lestat or Bill Compton, its macabre reputation as the home of "plantation gothic" was firmly established by an eccentric photographer from New Orleans. In his visual study of the region's rotting and moss-draped antebellum mansions, Laughlin produced 100 images of grandeur and decay, and (subtlety be damned!) added splendid theatrical titles: "The Shadowed Pillars," "The Spectral Fans," "Enigmatic Urn," "Mementoes of Unreturning Time," etc. As an approach to architectural history, Laughlin's explicitly "poetic" style might be disdained by dry academics; but romantic souls attuned to the mildewed moods of the Deep South will find themselves transported. Happy Halloween, y'all!

Price, Vincent and Mary:
A TREASURY OF GREAT RECIPES
Ampersand Press, [n.p.], 1965.

So what if your séance fails to raise the spirit of Vincent Price? You can still dine on his version of "Cornish Hens with Sauce Diable." In this enormous vanity-published compendium, the horror actor and his second wife gathered hundreds of recipes from their favorite swanky restaurants around the world, and dressed them up with facsimile menus and a glib text by Vincent himself. The whole production reeks of jet-set exotica and Hollywood connoisseurship, particularly the autobiographical photos: breakfast in the dark-panelled library; high tea beside the swimming pool; curry served before a Mayan idol; wine on board a Clark Cortez mobile home; etc. The master lives!

Browne, Thomas; W.A. Greenhill (ed.):
SIR THOMAS BROWNE'S HYDRIOTAPHIA ["URN-BURIAL"] AND THE GARDEN OF CYRUS 
Macmillan & Co., London, 1896.

Seemingly obscure, and decidedly difficult, this strange essay is actually a stealthy classic, savored for centuries by literary melancholics from Poe to Borges. Originally published in 1658 after the discovery of a Roman grave in Norfolk, "Urn Burial" is more than just a survey of ancient burial customs. Browne's meditation veers into the deepest shadows: he obsesses on the relentlessness of time, the inevitability of death, and the pitiful transience of all human accomplishment. Whether you actually grapple with the text, or just feel comforted by its mortal weight in your hand, this little book will make an elegant accessory to that goth librarian costume you're putting together. [Bound with "The Garden of Cyrus," Browne's truly cryptic essay on the mystical geometry of the number five.]

Habenstein, Robert W., and William W. Lamers:
THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN FUNERAL DIRECTING
First Edition. National Funeral Directors Assoc., Milwaukee, 1955. 

True or false: In 1882, Albert Fearnaught of Indianapolis patented a "Grave-Signal" device to summon help in the event of accidental burial alive; at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, a manufacturer exhibited a purple hearse, but the style never caught on; Dr. Thomas Holmes, "the father of modern embalming," also developed a formula for tasty root beer; a proper Victorian lady in her first year of widowhood was expected to write on stationery with a 1/4" black border… (These and thousands more sepulchral facts can be found in this illuminating book, along with over 100 solemn illustrations.)

Sante, Luc:
EVIDENCE
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 1992. 

It's standard practice at Halloween to treat the subject of death as spooky entertainment; but "Evidence" raises those stakes considerably. Here, the image of a blood-spattered corpse on the floor of a saloon qualifies as truly profound art. The 55 graphic crime-scene photos in the collection (murders, mostly) were shot by NYPD technicians in the nineteen-teens; Sante discovered the pictures in the archives, and recognized them as exquisite, if inadvertent, dramatic tableaux. The accompanying text -- Sante's search for answers both literal and aesthetic within the mute, dispassionate photos -- should be shown to every snide kid who thinks history is boring.

[** end Microcatalogue #16: Halloween 2011 **]

[Aikin, Lucy; adapted from original by Daniel Defoe]:
ROBINSON CRUSOE IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE
American News Company, New York, 1869.

An interesting technical achievement, and further evidence that monosyllabilism is a legitimate literary genre. But why didn't they call it "Rob Crue and His Man Fri"?

<-- front cover

Lundbäck, Maja, and Märta Rinde-Ramsbäck:
SMALL WEBS
ICA-Publishing Company, Västerås, Sweden, [ca. 1959].

The beauty of these Scandinavian weavings is calm, almost sedative; so it comes as no surprise that they were originally designed for use in occupational therapy. Text in English.

<-- pp. 60-61

Simics, Mihály:
A REVIEW OF BEE VENOM COLLECTING AND MORE
Apitronic Services, Calgary, 1994.

Basically, you electrocute the bees until they're angry enough to sting a glass plate; then you scrape off the poison, and sell it to a homeopath.

<-- front cover

[Dance Guild, Inc.]:
THE EASY WAY TO GOOD DANCING
Book Guild of America, New York, [ca. 1956].

The book alone might suffice; but if you're truly serious about learning, you can detach the perforated "dancing footprints" folded inside, and lay them out on the dancefloor as a guide. 

<-- front cover, with dancing footprints

Head, Gay:
HI THERE, HIGH SCHOOL!
Teen Age Books, Inc., New York, 1958.

Relentless gee-whiz idioms; campy illustrations; and a sophomoric double entendre in the author's name. Like high school itself, not suitable for subtle minds.

<-- front cover