Bookmarks: Our Isles

One of life’s simple pleasures is taking a bit of quiet time with a cup of coffee, a few biscuits and a good book… and we’ve been enjoying this wonderful little tome over the last few days.

A few weeks ago, we featured printmaker, Lilly Hedley in our Designer Desire series. While researching her and her work, we discovered that she and her partner, Angus D. Birditt, recently collaborated on, amongst many other things, a book. Our Isles is a lovely project which interweaves Angus’ poetry with Lilly’s illustrations.

The heart of home is where they flee
Amongst their thoughts to unwind and see,
At one with self, content to be
In space to find and wander free.

Having both spent their entire lives in the countryside, the pair direct their attentions towards many of Britain’s rural occupations, pastimes and craftspeople.

There’s the butcher, the baker… alas, no candlestick-maker! I think ‘The Printmaker’ may be an autobiographical addition!

Our Isles is divided into sections according to types of occupations; for instance, ‘With Tool in Hand’ encompasses tradespeople such as the potter, the thatcher and the farrier.

‘Amid Tides & Water’ includes professions such sailor, fisherman and salt harvester.

All of Angus’ poems take the form of double couplet AABB rhyming quatrains. They’re absolutely charming – and very accessible to those not overly accustomed to reading poetry. They perfectly capture the traditions, inspirations, routines and skills of the people intrinsic to countryside life.

Lilly’s monochrome linocut prints are absolutely beautiful. Some have a very contemporary look, others, an almost medieval feel.

At the rear of the book is a short glossary; it explains terms particular to the different trades. For instance, a ‘yealm’ is a bundle of organised straw in the thatching industry. And, ‘Goddes Good’ or ‘God is Good’, is an archaic term for yeast that is added during the brewing process.

[ Many thanks to Pavilion Books for the review copy of Our Isles ]

Bookmarks: This is M. Sasek

The last book review we wrote was for an illustrated children’s book; this one’s not a children’s book, per se, but about a children’s author – our all time favourite – Miroslav Sasek. We were really anticipating this review copy’s arrival – we couldn’t wait to delve into more depth about the man whose books we avidly collect.

It was originally published in the Czech language in 2014. This imprint – This is M. Sasek – has been published in 2018 by Universe Publishing, a division of Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.

There’s a foreword by Martin Salisbury, an illustrator, author and Professor of Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. The rest of the text is written by Salisbury; Olga Černá, author and librarian and Pavel Ryska, artist, performer and historian of animation.

We’re given a short account of the Sasek family and the artist’s childhood before embarking on his professional & personal history. The reader gains extraordinary insight through the inclusion of snippets from actual transcripts.

Letters from young fans obviously meant a great deal to Sasek. He kept many of them in his possession for the rest of his life and they form part of the rich family archive and artist’s estate which have been incorporated throughout this book.

Many previously unseen sketches, letters, postcards, photographs and press cuttings have been reproduced within the pages giving us insight into the man as well as the artist.

We’re highlighting, below, his books in the chronological order in which he wrote and published them. Benjamin and the Thousand Sea Creatures of Captain Barnabas was the first, published in the Czech language in 1947.

Sasek has been quoted as saying in an interview:

I originally wanted to do a series of three books – Paris, Rome, and London. I never thought it would go on and on.

However, the series did indeed go on, eventually totalling eighteen books! In addition, there’s a more recently published compilation edition entitled This is the World.

As well as writing and illustrating books, Sasek was an extremely accomplished fine art painter.

His style – and in some cases, even subject matter – are very reminiscent of one of our other favourite artists, Bernard Buffet. Compare, for example, their depictions of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris; Sasek’s below and Buffet’s here.

This book is a must for any Sasek fan, aficionado or collector.

**Many thanks to Rizzoli International for the review copy**

Bookmarks: Home Sweet Home

We’ve not written a book review in AGES and this one’s just a little bit different to our usual fare.

Home Sweet Home is a children’s book – recommended for ages 5+. However, even as adults, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading it… and, as regular readers will know, we appreciate and collect iconic children’s books!

Published earlier this month (October 2017), it was written by Mia Cassany and beautifully illustrated by Paula Blumen.

Throughout the 40 pages, you’re shown around various interiors & exteriors from around the world – guided by the pets-in-residence.

There’s Eva the St Bernard in Iceland, Coco the cat in Brooklyn… there’s even a tortoise named Taiki who lives in Kyoto, Japan!

This book is a really fun way for kids (and grown-ups!) to find out about other parts of the world. It teaches facts such as San Francisco is very hilly, Giethoorn in the Netherlands is car-free and that houses in Ibiza are painted white to reflect the light and keep them cool.

It’s a book that warrants plenty of return visits.

It’s such a charming read…

…and the illustrations are full of lovely detail that reveal something new every time you flick through the pages.

This book is a fantastic Christmas or birthday present for any pet-loving, budding interior decorator!

Home Sweet Home is available from the publishers in UK/Europe & US/Canada and from Amazon, The Book Depository and Waterstones.

[Many thanks to Ellen at Frances Lincoln Children’s Books for the review copy]

Bookmarks: 100 Midcentury Chairs

We’ve had a few cold, wet and windy days here in Todmorden recently – perhaps even some snow tonight. So it’s wood-burner lit, BBC 6 Music on – and time to catch up with some recently arrived magazines and books.

This edition of Bookmarks comes courtesy of a lady we first featured on our blog five years ago.

Lucy Ryder Richardson is the co-founder of Modern Shows and is the author of this newly published book, 100 Midcentury Chairs.

As the title says, the author has chosen 100 chairs (and stools) from the era to highlight; some that are very famous – like Arne Jacobsen’s Ant and Egg chairs – and others that are less well known.

She interviewed the children and relatives of the designers to create unique portraits of each chair…

…the designers’ personal profiles and back stories, their influences, any specific sites that chairs were intended for or functions of the furniture, production techniques & processes and so on.

We love snippets of information such as Alvar Aalto designing the Paimio Armchair specifically for the tuberculosis hospital in Paiomo, south west Finland. It’s form is designed to position the tuberculosis patient at just the right angle to help them breath as they rested & recuperated. He was actually commissioned to design the whole hospital, so it’s full of his genius work.

And how about, Bruno Mattheson, designer of the Eva Chair, “perfecting the art of sitting by studying the shape his body made when he fell back into a snowdrift at different angles”.

The pages are dotted with quotes from the designers themselves, including Hans J. Wegner, Xavier Pauchard, Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames.

Pieces are featured in chronological order, spanning 40 years from the early 1930s to the early 1970s.

Interesting and informative, you’ll expand your knowledge of furniture design no end, and with almost 200 pages of full colour photographs, you’ll be able to swoon at chair heaven all along the journey.

And it’s not just furniture we learned about – the book is full of little anecdotes such as the fact that Ettore Sottsass’ red Valentine typewriter was launched on Valentines Day, 1970. Who knew?!

The directory at the back of the book contains an extensive list of international midcentury modern furniture dealers, auctions, fairs and events.

It’s a new, must read resource for all modernist furniture fans and collectors.

It’s one of those great books to dip in and out of – a few pages at a time with a cup of tea!

We do love a nice chair – in fact we’ve probably got about 10 more chairs than we actually need in our house. We’ve got another hundred now – but these can all fit neatly on a bookshelf!

This wonderful book comes highly recommended indeed and will provide us with an invaluable reference in future.

Buy yourself a copy of 100 Midcentury Chairs by Saturday 19th November 2016 here, and get FREE entry to the following day’s Midcentury Modern Show at Dulwich College, London. You’ll even be able to get it signed by the author. Alternatively, you can find it available on AbeBooks, Amazon or Hive.

[Many thanks to Pavilion Books for the review copy]

H is for Home Harbinger

Category: bookmarks

Bookmarks: Our Isles

Bookmarks: This is M. Sasek

Bookmarks: Home Sweet Home

Bookmarks: 100 Midcentury Chairs