Sorry it’s been awhile since my last library post – I’ll try to finish up the not-yet-covered cubbies in the next month to six weeks (I believe there are still three or four to go).
This week, I had to get out the stepladder and stand on my tippy toes to reach the top left collection, which contains architecture books, part of the David Macaulay collection (I think between us, we have all of his books, though they’re not all on this shelf) and a few outliers.
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At far left is “From the Ground Up,” by John N. Cole and Charles Wing (Little, Brown & Co., 1976). Years ago, Chris asked his father, Paul, what had inspired him to buy a piece of land and become a “hippie builder.” His dad told him it was a book, “From the Ground Up,” and that he no longer had a copy, so Chris found one for him as a birthday present…but this was the wrong book. So it made its way back to our library.
Next is “The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture,” by George Hersey (M.I.T. Press, 1988), which explores enduring tropes that have been around since the Greek and Roman golden ages. Then, there’s a trio of titles on the architecture of three cities: “Unexpected Chicagoland” by Camilo José Vergara and Timothy J. Samuelson (New Press, 2001); the 9th edition of “A Look at Architecture: Columbus Indiana,” by and published by the Columbus Area Vistors Center (2019); and “This is Charleston: An Architectural Survey of a Unique American City,” by and published by the Carolina Art Association. If you’ve never been to Columbus, Indiana (it’s more likely you at least know of the architecture of Chicago and Charleston), you simply must go if ever you’re in the area. It is a truly astounding modern architectural wonderland. (And save time to visit Madison, Indiana, too, which isn’t far; there, you’ll find one of the country’s largest National Historic Landmark districts.)
Then, it’s a handful of the Macaulay books that fascinated both Chris and me (and likely many of you reading this) when we were kids – and we both still love to page through these today: “City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction” (Houghton Mifflin, 1974); possibly my favorite, “Castle” (Houghton Mifflin, 1977); possibly also my favorite…I’m mercurial, “Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction” (Houghton Mifflin, 1973); “Pyramid” (Houghton Mifflin, 1975); and “Underground” (Houghton Mifflin, 1976). (Another favorite is “Motel of the Mysteries” (Houghton Mifflin, 1979) – it’s around here somewhere!)
Next up are two books that speak to (some of) Chris’s obsessions. First is “Viewpoints on Folklife: Looking at the Overlooked,” by Warren E. Roberts (UMI Research Press, 1988). Among the topics Roberts covers is the Turpin family of Southern Indiana, a 19th-century family that produced generations of makers of post-and-rung chairs. Second is “The Timeless Way of Building,” by Christopher Alexander (Oxford UP, 1979). If you’re at all into architecture, you likely know this one that speaks to architectural pattern language – it’s kind of like “Make a Chair from a Tree” in that it inspired a new generation in its field.
That’s it for the left-leaning books (directionally speaking). After the empty space, and leaning right, we pick up with more architecture titles: “The Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture,” edited by Cyril M. Harris (Dover, 1977); “The Ten Books of Architecture: The 1755 Leoni Edition” by Leon Battista Alberti (Dover, 1986 – obviously a modern reprint of this historic title); and the venerable “A Field Guide to American Houses,” by Virginia and Lee McAlester (Knopf, 1995, originally published in 1984).
From here we move toward miscellanea with “Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy,” by Michael Baxandall (Oxford UP, 1972) (I suspect this one dates in our library to research for “Ingenious Mechanicks“) and volume two of the Dover reprint (1987) of “A Diderot Pictorial Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry: 485 Plates Selected from ‘L’Encyclopédie’ of Denis Diderot,” edited by Charles C. Gillispie.
(Chris here: The Baxandall book is actually one I have had since college, and remains one of my favorites. This was the book that pointed out how the connections between mathematics, music, painting and the way we see the world. Few books are as important to me as this one.)
Next is “The Antique Story Book” – a gift from the incredibly kind Richard Arnold – a delightful collection of stories from English furniture maker/dealer/restorer Bernard Jack on how he acquired some of his pieces (Cooper Combine Printers, 1978). “Cotehele,” published in 2013 by the National Trust, a souvenir guide to an area of Cornwall is next, followed by “Lewis Miller, Sketches and Chronicles,” edited by Robert P. Turner (Historical Society of York County, 1966); Miller was a 19th-century Pennsylvania German folk artist. Joshua Minnich‘s “Ephemera” (self published in 2018) follows – and it’s of great importance to us – Joshua designed the Lost Art Press logo!
(Chris here, again: Joshua’s book is where I encountered the “Nothing Without Labour” billhead. And then I sought out an original for us.)
“Ways of Seeing,” by John Berger (Penguin, 1972) is next – another venerable title; it’s based on a BBC series of the same name, and examines how we view art. (Chris: This Berger book remains mind-blowing to me.) Alongside it is Bruno Munari’s “Drawing a Tree” (Mauruzio Corraini, 1978) – a mostly pictorial how-to of just what the title says. That’s followed by a few on decorative arts and proportion: “Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Art: Geometric Aspects,” by Derek Hull (Liverpool UP 2003) (if I ever take up decorative carving, this one will be among my teachers); “The Sense of Order: A Study in the Psychology of Decorative Art,” by E.H. Gombrich (Cornell UP, 1979); and “The Power of Limits: Proportional Harmonies in Nature, Art & Architecture,” by György Doczi (Shambala, 1981).
Tucked in out of sight are two seminal Arts & Crafts movement texts (both Penguin “Great Ideas” reprints): William Morris’s “Useful Work v. Useless Toil” and John Ruskin’s “On Art And Life.” (Chris: David Savage gave me these as a thank-you for a visit.)
The last book in this cubby is one Chris has had since college; he warns against the instructions for making psychedelics from bananas: worst headache he’s ever had – and that was the only result. It’s “The Anarchist’s Cookbook,” by William Powell (Lyle Stuart, 1971).
– Fitz
p.s. This is the 12th (and long overdue) post in the Covington Mechanical Library tour. To see the earlier ones, click on “Categories” on the right rail, and drop down to “Mechanical Library.” Or click here. NB: I have used the same picture at the top of every post, simply circling the cubby I’m covering in a given post. For the close-ups, I’ve taken new pictures each time. The odds on that cubby still containing all the same books in the same order as the main image are slim indeed (in case you zoom in and see discrepancies).
Source: lostartpress.com