Gift Books
The symmetrical, exuberant heart is everywhere: it gives shape to candy, pendants, the frothy milk on top of a cappuccino, and much else. How can we explain the ubiquity of what might be the most recognizable symbol in the world?
In The Amorous Heart, Marilyn Yalom tracks the heart metaphor and heart iconography across two thousand years, through Christian theology, pagan love poetry, medieval painting, Shakespearean drama, Enlightenment science, and into the present. She argues that the symbol reveals a tension between love as romantic and sexual on the one hand, and as religious and spiritual on the other. Ultimately, the heart symbol is a guide to the astonishing variety of human aff
Decadent literature in Britain blossomed in the 1890s around such figures as Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, Max Beerbohm, Ernest Dowson and Arthur Symons. Under the maxim "Art for Art's Sake" they often defied moral convention and pursued the limits of sensation, wilfully transgressing Victorian respectability along the way. This illustrated anthology concentrates on the major preoccupations of Decadence: Artifice, Intoxication, Spirituality, and Death. The selections include not only the finest examples of Decadent prose and poetry, but also extracts from theoretical texts, criticism and parody.
Throughout the Middle Ages, medieval manuscripts often featured dogs, from beautiful and loving depictions of man's best friend, to bloodthirsty illustrations of savage beasts, to more whimsical and humorous interpretations. Featuring stunning illustrations from the British Library's rich medieval collection, Dogs in Medieval Manuscripts provides--through discussion of dogs both real and imaginary--an astonishing picture of the relationship of dogs to humans in the medieval world. Now in a gift book format.
Waste not, want not. This crafty guide perfect for anyone looking to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Nowadays, many of us "outsource" basic tasks. Food is instant, ready-made, and processed with unhealthy additives. Dry cleaners press shirts, delivery guys bring pizza, gardeners tend flowers, and, yes, tailors sew on those pesky buttons. But life can be much simpler, sweeter, and richer-and a lot more fun, too! As your grandmother might say, now is not the time to be careless with your money, and it actually pays to learn how to do things yourself! Practical and empowering, How to Sew a Button collects the treasured wisdom of nanas, bubbies, and grandmas from all across the country-as well as modern-day experts-and shares more than one hundred step-by-step essential tips for cooking, cleaning, gardening, and entertaining, including how to - polish your image by shining your own shoes
- grow your own vegetables (and stash your bounty for the winter)
- sweeten your day by making your own jam
- use baking soda and vinegar to clean your house without toxic chemicals
- feel beautiful by perfecting your posture
- roll your own piecrust and find a slice of heaven
- fold a fitted sheet to crisp perfection
- waltz without stepping on any toes Complete with helpful illustrations and brimming with nostalgic charm, How to Sew a Button provides calm and comfort in uncertain times. By doing things yourself, with care and attention, you and your loved ones will feel the pleasing rewards of a job well done.
- grow your own vegetables (and stash your bounty for the winter)
- sweeten your day by making your own jam
- use baking soda and vinegar to clean your house without toxic chemicals
- feel beautiful by perfecting your posture
- roll your own piecrust and find a slice of heaven
- fold a fitted sheet to crisp perfection
- waltz without stepping on any toes Complete with helpful illustrations and brimming with nostalgic charm, How to Sew a Button provides calm and comfort in uncertain times. By doing things yourself, with care and attention, you and your loved ones will feel the pleasing rewards of a job well done.
Open the box to go on an adventure into Fairyland and create a library of magical miniature books that you can really read! Cleverly disguised as a book on your shelf, My Fairy Library opens to reveal everything you need to create miniature volumes of your favorite fairy tales along with a charming reading room to keep them. The completed set makes an enchanting backdrop for play or display. Just cut, fold and stick to make 20 tiny fairy books, from guides to Fairyland and its inhabitants to illustrated stories and books to complete yourself. My Fairy Library also comes with tiny shelves to store your books and the box becomes a magical fairy playset. This is an enchanting follow-up to 2017's My Miniature Library, lauded by the LA Times as 'the most precious gift set of the year.' Perfect for birthday presents, rainy day activities, and holiday stocking stuffers, not to mention a lovely space for any fairies, gnomes, and other tiny critters that may reside in your home. Praise for My FairyLibrary: The most precious gift set of the year. - Los Angeles Times
Many beloved novels have place at their heart--and often even in their title. Novel Houses visits unforgettable dwellings in twenty legendary works of English and American fiction, exploring how Uncle Tom's Cabin came to start the American Civil War, why Bleak House is used as the name of a happy home, and what Jane Austen had in mind when she worked out the plot for Mansfield Park. Taking up the importance of 221B Baker Street to Sherlock Holmes, and of Bag-End to the hobbits who called it home, the book also sheds fresh light on Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, and the real-life settings of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and E. M. Forster's Howards End. Throughout, the book invites us to consider how houses, while so fundamental to these stories, also reveal much about their authors' passions and preoccupations. A winning combination of literary criticism, geography, and biography, this is an entertaining and insightful celebration of beloved novels and the extraordinary role that houses play--whether grand or small, unique or ordinary, real or imagined.