Holiday Gift Guide
Holiday Gift Books: December 2008
ARCHITECTURE & PHOTOGRAPHY
Greg Miller, foreword by Bill McKibben, introduction by Ned Sullivan
Rizzoli, 2008, $50
Next year will mark the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s historic voyage up the river that bears his name. What better gift for a Hudson Valley resident or enthusiast than this magnificent tribute, filled with panoramic photos of the mighty river in its many moods? Proceeds benefit the invaluable nonprofit Scenic Hudson in its efforts to preserve and protect the river.
Steve Gross & Susan Daley, introduction by Jeffrey Lent
W. W. Norton & Company, 2008, $49.95
One hundred and eight beautifully composed black-and-white photographs bear witness to the faded beauty of a once-prosperous farming region. Architectural photographers Gross and Daley offer stark, majestic portraits of dilapidated barns, rusting pickup trucks, and Greek Revival grange halls; Lent’s eloquent introduction muses on the human stories that haunt them––and us.
Virginia Small, photographs by Rich Pomerantz
Down East Books, 2008, $35
When snowdrifts cover all but trellises and stonework, gardeners yearn for a whiff of spring. This lavishly photographed book showcases five public gardens, including Edith Wharton’s The Mount, Chesterwood, and Naumkeag, plus a dozen “Inspiring Private Gardens” in various styles. Indexes include visiting information, community resources, and regional nurseries for those inspired to plant.
photographs and introduction by Dan Burkholder, foreword by Andrei Codrescu
University of Texas Press, 2008, $50
Palenville photographer Burkholder uses high dynamic range (HDR) digital imaging techniques to provide a startling, highly aestheticized vision of post-Katrina interiors, detailing objects left in the wake of the flood and rendering the textures of mold and cracked mud in surreal pastels. New Orleans resident Codrescu likens the eerie results to Victorian funerary photography.
Samuel G. White & Elizabeth White,
photographs by Jonathan Wallen
Rizzoli, 2008, $75
Much of the Gilded Age’s gilt was provided by Stanford White, and this weighty book is every bit as opulent as the mansions he designed. Rhinebeck’s Ferncliff Casino, a “playhouse” for the Astors (including a marble swimming pool and vaulted indoor tennis court), is featured alongside White’s own homes in Box Hill and Gramercy Park, and commissions throughout the northeast.
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