Mint

After seeing John James Audubon’s lithographs at the 1876 World’s Fair in Philadelphia, twenty-nine year old Genevieve Jones and a friend were inspired to illustrate the nests and eggs that were not included in Audubon’s The Birds of America. Although her family was reluctant to support such a large endeavor, Genevieve was distraught over a broken engagement, and her family saw the project as a necessary distraction. But shortly after beginning Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Genevieve died suddenly of typhoid fever. In her memory, Genevieve’s mother, brother and father spent seven years finishing the book—her mother painstakingly drew the lithographs on stone and hand-colored fifty copies of each illustration, her brother collected the eggs and nests, and her father spent his life savings on the project. Only ninety copies of the book were made. Joy Kiser has made the Jones’ work available today with America’s Other Audubon, a beautiful, over-sized book with all sixty-eight of the original lithographs, photos, field notes, and a key to the eggs and birds.

Thanks to Princeton Architectural Press for the review copy.

—Ellie

Bryan Nash Gill grew up on a farm in Connecticut, so it’s no surprise that his artwork explores the tree-filled environment in which he was raised. Each print in this beautiful book, Woodcut, is printed by hand, sometimes with the help of a spoon to press the ink into the paper.

Gill starts by cutting trees until he finds a cross-section that is of interest, then sands, burns, and seals the wood. Although he creates an edition of 10 or 15 prints from the block, each one is unique depending on the pressure applied during the printing process, and changes to the block of wood over time (Gill prints editions over months or years, rather than all at once). “To print a tree is another way of memorializing it. Perhaps I’m in the business of memorializing trees.”

Thanks to Princeton Architectural Press for providing a review copy.

—Ellie

We have a really fun giveaway this week — three journals from three talented designers! Stay Golden by The Great Lakes Goods is packed with positivity and eye catching art with metallic ink printed throughout. Carpe Diem by Mary Kate McDevitt is a hard-cover journal that is perfect for typography fans. Little Mountain Home is by Mike Lowery, with rustic art hearkening back to vintage book covers.

To enter, leave a comment telling us which journal you’d like to win. There are three ways to enter:
1. Leave a comment.
2. Tweet about the giveaway and leave a second comment with a link to your tweet.
3. Share the giveaway on Facebook and leave a third comment with a link to your facebook post.

The giveaway will end on Monday, March 19th and randomly-chosen winners (3 of them!) will be announced next week. Good luck!

Some of my favorite reads this year… would love to hear about yours in the comments!

The Name of the Wind / Zeitoun / Water for Elephants / Little Bee / The Hunger Games / The Help / The Forgotten Garden / The Tiger’s Wife / The Distant Hours / The House on Mango Street / The Glass Castle / A Reliable Wife / The Liar’s Club / The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo / What is the What / The Angel’s Game

We’re kicking off our 2011 gift guide series with design books. Why? Design books are the gift that keeps on giving! Above are some favorites from my own collection (which I refer to often), in addition to a few I wish would appear under my tree. Photographs and book descriptions provided by their respective publishers.

DIY Furniture: A Step-by-Step Guide
Featuring 30 designs by leading designer-makers from around the world DIY Furniture shows you how to use simple techniques to make stunning designer furniture from scratch. …Each project features hand-drawn diagrams with short, easy-to-follow instructions on how to build the piece.

Thinking With Type, Revised Edition
Thinking with Type is the definitive guide to using typography in visual communication, from the printed page to the computer screen. …Throughout the book, visual examples show how to be inventive within systems of typographic form—what the rules are and how to break them.

By Hand: The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art
…By Hand features the work of thirty-two artists whose innovative and unexpected uses of handicraft techniques such as embroidery, sewing, knitting, and crocheting are making the age-old craft versus art debate obsolete. From Kiki Smith’s lovingly etched birds, to Barb Hunt’s knitted land mines to dynamo-ville’s one-of-a-kind puppets, to Evil Twin’s handstitched publications, the artworks in By Hand revel in the care and consideration of craft.

Vera: The Art and Life of an Icon
…An innovator and one of the most successful female entrepreneurs of her time, Vera built her company on a radical philosophy: fine art should be accessible to everyone, not just a select few. Known for her iconic images of cheerful flowers, trendy geometrics, and vibrant ladybugs, she believed people should surround themselves with beauty. …In this volume, richly illustrated with Vera’s original sketches, paintings, and photographs of her worldwide travels, readers are introduced to the amazing woman behind the dynamic designs that continue to inspire and influence art, design, and fashion.

Pulled: A Catalog of Screen Printing
Popularized in the 1960s by Pop artists such as Andy Warhol, screen printing remains a favorite of artists due to its remarkable versatility and relatively low cost. In Pulled, best-selling author Mike Perry (Hand Job, Over and Over) collects the work of more than forty of today’s most talented designers who are, in their own way, pushing the boundaries of this dynamic medium.

Drawn In: A Peek into the Inspiring Sketchbooks of 44 Fine Artists, Illustrators, Graphic Designers, and Cartoonists
People are fascinated by artist’s sketchbooks. They offer a glimpse into private pages where artists brainstorm, doodle, develop and work on ideas, and keep track of their musings. Artists use these journals to document their daily lives, produce their initial ideas for bigger projects, and practice their skills. …See inside the sketchbooks of artists Jessica Hische, Mike Perry, Jen Corace, Matt Leines, Jill Bliss, Camilla Engman, Anders Nilsen and many more.

Design*Sponge at Home
The long-awaited home décor bible by design blogger Grace Bonney

To Each His Home: Inspired Interiors as Unique as Their Owners
…In To Each His Home: Inspired Interiors as Unique as Their Owners, photographer Bilyana Dimitrova takes readers on a tour of eight extraordinary homes that unabashedly express the personalities of their free-spirited owners. Dimitrova’s carefully crafted color photographs, accompanied by brief interviews with each homeowner, create vivid portraits of these one-of-a-kind American spaces.

The Printmaking Bible: The Complete Guide to Materials and Techniques
… The Printmaking Bible is the definitive resource to the ins-and-outs of every variety of serious printmaking technique practiced today. In-depth instructions are accompanied by profiles that show how working artists create their prints. Historical information, troubleshooting tips, and an extensive resource section provide more invaluable tools.

Stay tuned this week for our usual Mint gift guide round-ups… more books, DIY, and “gifts for good.”