sow the thought seeds

£2.99 / £2.99 Michael Biddis THE AGE OF THE MASSES 1st Ed ACADEMIC Ex History Philosophy Michael Biddis, The Age of the Masses: Ideas and Society in Europe Since 1870, Harper & Row, New York, 1978. This item is first Harper Colophon edition as stated [published date1978]. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in Excellent condition, clean and attractive art/graphic design, with no defects, with a strong spine, unread tightness, a marginal crease on spine and nice bright pages (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). The item is difficult to find, let alone in such fine condition. See back of book image for outline. 362pp + index + index of names

£5.00 / £2.99 Norberto Bobbio OLD AGE & OTHER ESSAYS New ACADEMIC Mint Philosophy Norberto Bobbio, Old Age and other essays, Polity, 2001. This item is new. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in Mint condition with no defects and unread (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). This work by one of Italy’s oldest and wisest intellectuals is a philosophical and personal meditation on ageing. Bobbio"s conclusions are often sobering, yet his investigation into memory and mortality is written with both humour and emotion. 108pp inc notes + index

£2.99 / £1.99 Umberto Eco FIVE MORAL PIECES New ACADEMIC Mint Sociology  Umberto Eco, Five Moral Pieces, Vintage, 2002. This item is new and unread. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in mint condition with no defects and no previous reading (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). This slim book covers a lot of territory in a little over a hundred pages. Its five essays address everything from warfare to faith to the media, and Umberto Eco insists that they are all linked: ‘Despite the variety of their themes, they are all ethical in nature, that is to say, they treat of what we ought to do, what we ought not to do, and what we must not do at any cost.’ Several of his views are provocative. In listing the characteristics of what he calls ‘Ur-Fascism’, for instance, Eco describes many of the beliefs held by modern-day conservatives. 111pp

£6.00 / £2.99 Noam Chomsky NEW MILITARY HUMANISM ACADEMIC Politics / International Studies Noam Chomsky, The New Military Humanism – Lessons From Kosovo, Pluto Press, 1999. This item is first published in the UK by Pluto Press [published date 1999]. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in excellent condition with no creasing, a nice bright, tight copy that doesn’t feel as if it’s been read, and with slight tanning of the page edges (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). The item is highly regarded, sought after in this edition and can sell for high figures. Analyzing the 1999 Nato bombing campaign over Kosovo, Noam Chomsky poses questions about the New Humanism, and whether it is guided by power interests or by humanitarian concern. He sets out to reveal a world where victims of human rights violations are either ‘worthy or unworthy’. 199pp + notes + index

£1.99 / £1.99 Eric Fromm THE ART OF LOVING 1985 ACADEMIC Ex Psychology  Eric Fromm, The Art of Loving, Mandala, 1985. This item is first published by Mandala [published date 1985]. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in very good + / excellent condition, a nice tight and bright copy with no creasing to the spine or apparent reading, a small crease to the top right and slight tanning to page edges (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). Since it was first published " The Art of Loving" has become a classic, inspiring thousands of people with its clarity and power. Erich Fromm, the renowned psychoanalyst, sees love as the ultimate need and desire of all human beings. In this book, he discusses every aspect of the subject: romantic love, the love of parents for children, brotherly love, erotic love, self-love and the love of God or the divine. He looks at the theory of love as it appears throughout the cultures of the world and at the practice, how we show or fail to show love to one another. Love is an art, which we need to develop and practice in order to find true commitment. We need to find it, individually and as a society as a whole. Erich Fromm is one of the major figures in the field of psychoanalysis. He devoted himself to consultant psychology and theoretical investigation for many years. He was the author of numerous books, including " Fear of Freedom" and "Psychoanalysis and Zen", before his death in 1980 109pp

SOLD Natalie Angier WOMAN Intimate Geography ACADEMIC vg+ Women’s Studies Natalie Angier, Woman – An Intimate Geography, Virago Press, 1999. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in very good + condition, a nice tight and bright copy with a slight crease to the spine and a couple of dog-eared pages, otherwise excellent (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). This Book Is a Celebration Of The Female Body, - Its Anatomy, Its Chemistry, Its Evolution And Its Laughter. It Is A Book That We Traditionally Associate With The Image Of A Woman, The Egg, The Breast, The Blood, The Almighty Clitoris - And Things We Don"t - Movement, Strength, Aggression And Fury. It Is A Book About Rapture, A Rapture Grounded Firmly In The Flesh, The Beauties Of The Body, Because The Female Body Deserves Dionysian Respect. A Highly Recommended Book. The Author Is A Winner Of The Pulitzer Prize 398pp inc references + index

£5.00 / £2.99 Lawrence Davis THEORY OF ACTION 1979 ACADEMIC vg Philosophy  Lawrence H Davis, Theory of Action, Prentice-Hall, 1979. This item is first edition 1979, as per print run (see image) and is part of Prentice-Hall Foundations of Philosophy Series. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in very good condition with nice bright pages and tight spine. The book is ex-Libris of University of Durham, and there is a stamp on the title page but no other library marks or stickers. There is also some student annotation in pencil, as well as a shopkeeper’s pencilled price of £9.55. The cover is bright, and there is some wear to edges esp to bottom (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). Hard to find and can sell for £40.00 +. For outline, see back of book image. 152pp inc further reading + index

£6.00 / £3.99 Alain De Botton STATUS ANXIETY 1st Ed 2004 ACADEMIC Ex/Ex Philosophy HB Alain De Botton, Status Anxiety, Hamish Hamilton, 2004. This item is first edition, first published [published date 2004] with a run line of 1. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in excellent condition – with an excellent dust-jacket - a tight bright copy with no marks, and some bumping to corners (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). The item can reach high figures in this status and condition. We all worry about what others think of us. We all long to succeed and fear failure. We all suffer to a greater or lesser degree, usually privately and with embarrassment from status anxiety. For the first time, Alain de Botton gives a name to this universal condition and sets out to investigate both its origins and possible solutions. He looks at history, philosophy, economics, art and politics and reveals the many ingenious ways that great minds have overcome their worries. The result is a book that is not only entertaining and thought-provoking but genuinely wise and helpful as well. 314 pp inc index + illustrations throughout

£3.50 / £2.50 Tompkins / Bird SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS 1991ACADEMIC vg+ Philosophy Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, The Secret Life of Plants, Arkana, 1991. This item is the Arkana edition with the cover illustration by David Urmston. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in very good + condition with tight spine, bright pages with lightly tanned edges and some slight creasing to corners of cover but not to spine (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). The world of plants and its relation to mankind as revealed by the latest scientific discoveries. "Plenty of hard facts and astounding scientific and practical lore."-- "Newsweek" "Plenty of hard facts and astounding scientific and practical lore." "--Newsweek" "Once in a while you find a book that stuns you. Its scope leaves you breathless. This is such a book."--John White, "San Francisco Chronicle" "This fascinating book roams...over that marvelous no man's land of mystical glimmerings into the nature of science and life itself."--Henry Mitchell, "Washington Post Book World" 340pp inc bibliography + ads

£1.99 / £1.99 Otto Rank TRUTH AND REALITY Norton ACADEMIC Ex Psychology  Otto Rank, Truth and Reality, W.W. Norton, 1978. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in excellent condition -- a nice tight, bright copy which looks as new except for a small inscription on title page (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). Rank's development of will psychology led him to a philosophy of the psychological, outlined in Truth and Reality. Here he explores the psychological determinants of the relationship of inner world to outer reality. Anticipating one of the central findings of post-Freudian psychiatry, he argues that "truth" is irrelevant to the work of therapy. He contrasts the negative externalization of will, which leads to denial and guilt, with the creative power of will, tracing this conflict in both the individual and the history of human society. 97pp + list of published works

£1.99 / £1.99 Matthew Arnold CULTURE & ANARCHY ACADEMIC 1969 *vg* Sociology / literary crit Matthew Arnold, Culture & Anarchy, Cambridge University Press, 1969. This item is a Cambridge College ex-libris reprint, with all the library stamps, stickers still in place with the exception of the ones on the cover. The cover features the wonderful graphic design of Michael Harvey. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in very good condition with bright pages and reading creases to spine, lots of shelf rubbing, marks on the cover (as shown) (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). 'The men of culture are the true apostles of equality.' Matthew Arnold's famous series of essays, which were first published in book form under the title Culture and Anarchy in 1869, debate important questions about the nature of culture and society that are as relevant now as they have ever been. Arnold seeks to find out 'what culture really is, what good it can do, what is our own special need of it' in an age of rapid social change and increasing mechanization. He contrasts culture, 'the study of perfection', with anarchy, the mood of unrest and uncertainty that pervaded mid-Victorian England. How can individuals be educated, not indoctrinated, and what is the role of the state in disseminating 'sweetness and light'? 241pp + bibliography + notes

£2.50 / £1.99 Theodore Zeldin INTIMATE HISTORY HUMANITY ACADEMIC Ex Philosophy Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity, Minerva, 1995. This item is the paperback edition. From a private collection of academic books going to auction currently (for other academic titles, click on the window below), this book is in excelent condition with bright pages, tight, crease-free and unread spine (as new) with slight edge wear in places and tanning to page edges (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). The author of "The French", "Happiness" and "A History of French Passions" writes about the history of human feelings, habits, emotions and perceptions across time. From Vikings and Aztecs to contemporary hypochondriacs, from ancient Arab writings to American theories of business management, Zeldin looks at the dilemmas of ordinary life, exploring what makes us most human - the intimate experience of men and women through the ages. 488pp inc index RRP 9.99

Many more academic books available including social theory, sociology; gender studies; psychology and philosophy as well as visual culture and theory books in media studies; art; graphic design and fashion.

£2.99 / £1.99 Saul Bellow A THEFT Vintage Penguin 1989 Pb VG+ This item is an early Penguin [published date 1989, with a run 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3. This is a very good + copy, with bright cover artwork in an edition that features the cover design by Neil Stuart, illustration by Amy Hill. The pages have slightly tanned, but the text is large and bold on this collectable edition. There is very slight fade to spine, which is cease-free and tight. Very small crease to front (at bottom right, see image) and back (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). The item can be hard to find in early status and very good condition and is regarded highly. Many years ago, Ted gave Clara an emerald ring that she has cherished as a symbol of her passion for him. The ring is lost and after many years - eventually - discovered. A second time it disappears. As she attempts to recover the precious ring, Clara emerges as a genuine heroine, a woman of great depth and unsuspected capacities of wisdom and love. A Theft is witty and tender, and Bellow is as vivid and as sharp as ever. 

£2.99 / £1.99 Tracy Chevalier BURNING BRIGHT New Mint 2007 Ex This item is new, just published [published date 2007] with a run line 1. This is a mint copy, with one page slightly dog-eared at the top(accident in transport) and otherwise as new (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). The item is new and retails for £11.99. An historical novel set in London in 1792, where the Kellaways have moved from familiar rural Dorset to the tumult of a cramped, unforgiving city and against the backdrop of the increasingly bloody French Revolution. The youngest boy Jem and streetwise Londoner Maggie Butterfield form a surprising bond and their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life of their neighbour, the printer, poet and radical, William Blake. He is a guiding spirit as Jem and Maggie navigate the unpredictable, exhilarating passage from innocence to experience, and their journey influences one of Blake’s most entrancing works. 

£0.99 / £1.99 David Hughes THE PORK BUTCHER / SOUVENIR Vintage VG+ This item is published by Penguin books in [published date] 1985. This is a very good + copy, with bright art cover -- being the film tie-on edition, filmed as Souvenir starring Christopher Plummer -- with some slight tanning to page ends, a crease-free and tight spine with however a horizontal midway mark (see image) and small creases to corners for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). This item is out-of-print. Ernst Kestner, a pork butcher in Lubeck, has guarded a secret so terrible that for 40 years he has been reliving it. Now, under the threat of death, he closes his shop and drives to France for the first time since the war, to confront those memories and settle accounts. ‘An unforgettable experience, a fable which touches many unexpected nerves’ Anthony Thwaite, The Observer.

SOLD Chuck Palahniuk FUGITIVES AND REFUGEES Vintage 2004 Ex This is an excellent copy, a nice tight, bright one, with no creases anywhere including to spine and which gives the impression of no reading at all (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). The item is getting hard to find, as Palahniuk fans belatedly turn to it to find more on the author. In the closest thing he may ever write to an autobiography, Chuck Palahniuk provides answers to all these questions and more as he takes you through the streets, sewers and local haunts of Portland, Oregon. According to Katherine Dunn, author of the cult classic "Geek Love", Portland is the home of America's 'fugitives and refugees.' Get to know these folks, the "most cracked of the crackpots,' as Palahniuk calls them, and come along with him on an adventure through the parts of Portland you might not otherwise actually believe actually exist. No other travel guide will give you this kind of access to "a little history, a little legend, and a lot of friendly sincere, fascinating people who maybe should've kept their mouths shut." Here are strange personal museums, wierd annual events and ghost stories. Tour the tunnels under downtown Portland. Visit swingers' sex clubs, gay and straight. See Frances Gabe's famous 1940's Self-cleaning house. Look into strange local customs like the I-Tit-a-Rod Race and the Santa rampage. Learn how to talk like a local in a quick vocabulary lesson. Get to know, I mean really get to know, the animals at the Portland Zoo. Oh, the list goes on and on.

SOLD Chuck Palahniuk FIGHT CLUB Vintage 2003 VG+  This is the edition with raised (embossed) artwork on the cover. This is a very good + copy, a tight copy but with a very feint crease to spine (hard to detect and does not diminish the artwork), slight creasing / rubbing to bottom. Nice bright artwork (for an explanation on the grading of this book, see below). Really attractive edition which, er, beats the competition into a pulp (poly-humour anyone?). Every weekend, in basements and parking lots across the country, young men with good white-collar jobs and absent fathers take off their shoes and shirts and fight each other barehanded for as long as they have to. Then they go back to those jobs with blackened eyes and loosened teeth and the sense that they can handle anything. Fight Club is the invention of Tyler Durden, projectionist, waiter and dark, anarchic genius. And it's only the beginning of his plans for revenge on a world where cancer support groups have the corner on human warmth.

Other:

Peter Høeg BORDERLINES Large Format Harvill '95 **Ex**

Saul Bellow A THEFT Vintage Penguin 1989 Pb *VG++*

Jean Genet THE THIEF'S JOURNAL Vintage Penguin Ed 71 Ex

Abdulrazak Gurnah BY THE SEA 1st pb edition 2002 *Ex*

Peter Ustinov THE FRONTIERS OF THE SEA Pan 1st 1966 VG+

Kate Grenville THE IDEA OF PERFECTION Orange Prize *Ex*

Alexander Solzhenitsyn IVAN DENISOVICH Vintage Ed 71 Ex

Tim Winton SHALLOWS Picador pb edition 1991 VG+

Elisabeth Hyde THE ABORTIONIST'S DAUGHTER **Ex**

Irvine Welsh MARABOU STORK NIGHTMARES **Ex**

Hanif Kureishi INTIMACY Faber 1999 **Ex**

David Hughes THE PORK BUTCHER / SOUVENIR Vintage *VG+*

Roddy Doyle A STAR CALLED HENRY *near Mint* **Ex**

Marina Lewycka SHORT HISTORY TRACTORS UKRAINIAN Nr Mint

Bella Pollen DAYDREAM GIRL **Ex**

Spirals 2

Not more spirals, surely.

According to John Michell, there are certain recurring patterns in nature, which manifest basic designs that encode the secret of creation.   The spiral, he says, is not only one of the universal types, it combines 'both linear and centralizing tendencies ... travelling infinitely towards and away from a never attained, never evaded centre' (Michell, 1979: 35). 

First Junji Ito, now this.

Michell is trying to reassure those who see faces and figures, in natural objects, of their sanity, as well as their spectrality (is there such a word -- who cares?) I guess.  The reassurance I need is a pattern to help me stop dreaming these patterns.

If it doesn't sell first time around, I might just have to keep this book.  I might just offer it as a swap to my neighbour ... for that silver snail (see previous entry), with its linear and centralising swirl.

John Michell, Faces and Figures in Nature, 1979, New York: Dutton. 1st edition.

This photo -- taken in a restaurant rest room today -- speaks for itself.  I just wish they'd lower the sink -- it was quite painful to sit on.

Sign in restaurant toilet

There’s nothing new in adverts stressing the imperative of body management -- or those using body-as-machine clichés, of course. And I guess most blokes would envy the guy in this ad for his well-oiled body, all slick and modern. But what about that gaping hole? I know, I know … it’s only the logical extension of the car metaphor, simply a convenient nook for implying where he’s going to stick his imaginary petrol pump. But a hole is a hole, and even if it is the doorway to the restoration of health, it’s also a breach in masculine decorum.

I think the man on the platform agrees … and clearly the train is the way forward.

--see shop for Fashion & Body books

Vittel Water poster: Elephant & Castle, Platform 4

'Shops like this give some people the shakes. You could always hang around outside of course, ogling one of Jessica Ogden's destroyed jackets'.

Or so I wrote about The Pineal Eye of Broadwick Street, Soho, London, back in February 1999 for PiL magazine. But if the grand, vaccuous flight of stairs leading into the basement store put you off going in ... or was it the imperious sales staff, or the ultra-mega-hard European fashion(?) ... it just got a helluva lot harder. 

This photo should go some way to proving many of the 'end-of-an-era' speculations currently circulating on the web.  Then again, it could just be the best anti-fashion shop window ever.   Fashion is delusory, beauty is in the pineal eye of the beholder (I think that's what Georges Bataille meant). 

Winking, mooning ... or plain dead to the world? -  I'll let you interpret the image yourself.  And talking of fashion (weren't we?) .... a bumper fashion auction on its way this September including academic titles, photo-books and knitting patterns.  Knitting patterns ... yes, the hardest fashion of all (for only a true knit bothers to spend hours and a fortune creating socks they could have bought at a fraction of the price - like I said, mega-hard these knitters).

To Let sign, Broadwick Street / Jap Pack article / PiL Magazine cover, February 1999

This post has nothing to do with selling books (and isn’t likely to drive profit to my site).  The subject is just something I saw today and thought worth memorialising.  Not a fashion boutique window, this is/was a Chinese Restaurant, now closed due to ‘Refurbishment Thanks’ – as the faded sign declares.  I wish I could say I intended to gather so many reflections in the shot.  Then I could argue it’s after Eugene Atget – or something cute like that.  Atget, the French painter-turned-photographer, observed Paris as a project of modernity at the turn of the twentieth century.  This included documenting the spectacle of shop windows and the -- human-simulacrum -- mannequins within.  I guess my shot is a reverse theme: the disintegration of the modern city (but that’s easy for me to say from the luxury of my virtual ivory tower).  Come to think of it, Atget was also revolutionary in trusting he could make an income from his modern hobby … so maybe I really am taking after him.

Closed Chinese Restaurant, 2007 / Eugene Atget, Avenue des Gobelins, 1927

One of the items currently at auction is a box-set by Squeeze, Six of One.  I got this as a review copy back in 1997.  I haven't kept all the reviews I wrote - somewhere along the line, I misplaced my fees too -  but I did find this particularly embarrassing example of how to fudge a review without really thinking too much.

STARTS

Squeeze - Cool For Cats (A&M)

Tracklist: Slap And Tickle - Revue Touching Me Touching You - It's Not Cricket - It's So Dirty - The Knack - Hop Skip And Jump - Up The Junction -Hard To Find - Slightly Drunk - Goodbye Girls - Cool For Cats

Originally released: March 1979 Re-released: with bonus tracks (I Must Go and Ain't It Sad) as part of the box set Six Of One.

Top chart position: 45

Best track: Cool For Cats and Up The Junction - oddly, both singles spent one week at number two and 11 weeks total in the U K singles chart.

Vinyl Goldmine: The single Cool For Cats came in a variety of coloured editions, the red vinyl (a thousand pressings) being the rarest: expect to pay upwards of 15 pounds.

Best line: `Never chew a pickle with a little slap and tickle!'

Who are they? The band was formed in 1973 by Glen Tilbrook and Chris Difford. Joined later by Harry Kakoulli (bass), Gilson Lavis (drums) and Julian (Jools) Holland.

Flashback: The apparent chauvinism in their lyrics and the cartoon irony of the early muscle-man cover illustrations led to the charge of sexism.

Acclaimed for... kitchen sink songs: real life full of ordinary details.

Criticised for... being ‘awfully ordinary’.

Press cutting: ‘Sounds about as glamorous as a suburban estate agent.’ (Anne Nightingale, April 23rd 1982)

Most likely to say: ‘Our records are the kind you can eat your fish and chips to.’

Musical offspring: Britpop

ENDS ...

© Skirt magazine, 1997

Squeeze: Six of One (box set) ... A&M, 1997

Been dreaming a lot about these recently.  My own fault for reading cult manga artist, Junji Ito, Uzumaki, before bedtime.  Bedtime reading is wind down time - nothing heavy, no academic reading, and definately no fashion stuff (hem).  But these spirals have been winding me up.  Keep dreaming classic film-set spiral staircases (like the one in The Haunting).  And, yesterday, was around a friend's house, boring her with my fascination for the silver snail she had on her mantle ... with its strangely compelling spiral pattern.

Maybe it's the graphics ... I'm so used to the idea that 'real' books have pictures only on the cover (and if you're a true reader, you'll rip the cover off too, and beat yourself with it, reciting Hail Marys).  Maybe it's a midnight descent into madness (I'm so mad, me).  Or maybe Junji Ito isn't such light reading after all.

By the way, I'm looking out for more of the same (looking out = euphimism for spending money). Here's to spirals!

Junji Ito: Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror, Viz SF, 1st printing, 2001