Busy, Busy

Last week, as I mentioned, I had four buying appointments, this week I have another three. I'm sorry if you've felt neglected, but you'll thank me come the fall!

Probably the most fun was buying books from Abrams. As they are primarily dedicated to the arts and photography and, well, gifty-like things, you can imagine that their fall catalog is quite impressive. My biggest buy for the store was for a new Andy Goldsworthy book titled Enclosure, which will, I'm quite sure, live up to his other books.

I was quite pleased to find some good titles for those who don't want to spend more than a $20, my favorite being a collection of watercolors by Mark Chiarello titled Heroes of the Negro Leagues. The book originated with a series of baseball cards done by Chiarello; those are all included as well as a number of new images.

My favorite, no big surprise, is The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London, 1947-1957 by Claire Wilcox, the catalog accompanying an exhibition of the same name at the Victoria and Albert. The Golden Age of Couture is the cause for a number of books to be either published or reprinted, including a book on Balenciaga by Lesley Ellis Miller titled, well, Balenciaga, ABC of Men's Fashion by Sir Hardy Amies (originally published, I believe, in 1964, which falls somewhat out of the scope of the exhibition, but as it's related to men's fashion, which often gets shorted, we'll let it pass), and two books by Christian Dior-- his autobiography Dior by Dior, and The Little Dictionary of Fashion, fist published in 1954. As I work for Brookline Booksmith and not Lori's Passion for Fashion Books I wasn't able to order them all, but I did get copies of the exhibition catalog and The Little Dictionary of Fashion, which I think is another one of those little books that make an excellent gift for under $20.

A side note to anyone from Abrams or the V&A who might be out there: please, please, please get a new cover image for The Golden Age of Couture! Blech. So staid. The original was much better.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, I'm also super-duper eager for Just Can't Get Enough: Toys, Games, and Other Stuff from the '80s that Rocked by Matthew Robinson and Jensen Karp. Hungry Hippos! Strawberry Shortcake! Care Bears! Rainbow Bright! He-Man! My Little Pony! My Buddy! So many toys I wasn't allowed to own or was too cheap to buy with my allowance! Added coolness? It has a velcro closure a la Trapper Keepers.