Morgantina Studies

Book Description

Excavations on the slopes of the Cittadella settlement at Morgantina in eastern Sicily have revealed nearly seventy tombs dating from the late eighth to the mid-fifth century B.C. In this volume, Claire Lyons presents a full publication of these Archaic cemeteries, examining the structure of the tombs, their rich range of grave furnishings, and the evidence for funerary ritual that they preserve. Often reused for multiple inhumation and cremation burials, these tombs provide significant documentation of the critical period when immigrant Greeks interacted with the substantial indigenous community, introducing foreign objects and practices that modified the local Iron Age funerary rite.

Detailed reconstructions of all of the burial contexts are presented in an illustrated catalog of the more than 1,350 artifacts found in the tombs. The author's close typological analysis of these grave goods--Attic, Corinthian, Lakonian, East Greek, colonial, and local pottery, as well as terracottas, jewelry, and metal objects--brings new evidence to bear on questions of chronology, production, trade, and function. A particularly intriguing chapter focuses on the meaning of the objects deposited with the dead in Archaic Morgantina, extracting from them information on class, social identity, gender, age, and ethnicity, as well as evidence for the process of transculturation that gradually transformed both the native and the colonial populations. The volume also contains an appendix on the human skeletal material, prepared by Marshall J. Becker.

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A masterpiece in every respect
Beautiful and informative......

Gardens of the Roman World
Patrick Bowe
Manufacturer: Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0892367407

Customer Reviews:

A masterpiece in every respect.......2005-09-23

Like many works published by the Getty, this book, simply put, is stunning. An absolute must own for fans of roman history, landscape history, or those seeking an informative, well illustrated, well produced book.

You needn't be an historian to appreciate this work.

Beautiful and informative.............2005-06-30

Over the centuries during and since Rome ruled the Western world, Roman gardens and villas were copied - while they were extant, and then again when they were rediscovered in ruins. Designs from the grounds at Hadrian's villa in Tivoli, frescos depicting the gardens of the House of the Golden Bracelet unearthed in Pompeii, and the excavated grounds of Tiberius' villa at Sperlonga all indicate the Romans garnered ideas from ancient Persia, Greece, Egypt and elsewhere and in turn provided the inspiration for designs executed in later centuries by other artists.

Under the tutelage of Rome, structures and grounds such as those at the Villa Brioni in Croatia, Sabratha, Leptis Magna in Libya, and outposts in Morocco, Tunisia, England were developed as part of the Roman experience. This book suggests these structures and others are related to the "Great Houses"of 18th Century England, the Alhambra in Spain, and the J.Paul Getty Museum in Malibu.

This beautiful book, containing hundreds of color photos, captures the essence of THE GARDENS OF THE ROMAN WORLD -- Another fine art book for your collection.

Roman Gardens: Villas of the Countryside

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Roman Gardens: Villas of the Countryside
Marcello Fagiolo
Manufacturer: Monacelli
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1885254571

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Roman Gardens: Villas of the City
Roberto Schezen
Manufacturer: Monacelli
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1580930379
Release Date: 2001-05-17

Book Description

A companion to Roman Gardens: Villas of the Countryside, this extraordinary volume documents the traditions of gardens and villas within the city of Rome. Roberto Schezen's exquisite photographs capture the atmosphere and lush surroundings of the villas, many of which are closed to the public and seen here for the first time.

The richest and most cultured cardinals and princes of the 16th and 17th centuries built urban retreats with elaborate gardens throughout the city. The area, featured in the texts of many ancient writers, has remained legendary. The luscious photographs highlight both the architecture and landscape; great artistic treasures as well as wonderful gardens with fountains and monumental sculpture are featured.

Book Description

Statues of the god Priapus stood in Roman gardens to warn potential thieves that the god would rape them if they attempted to steal from him. In this book, Richlin argues that the attitude of sexual aggressiveness in defense of a bounded area serves as a model for Roman satire from Lucilius to Juvenal. Using literary, anthropological, psychological, and feminist methodologies, she suggests that aggressive sexual humor reinforces aggressive behavior on both the individual and societal levels, and that Roman satire provides an insight into Roman culture. Including a substantial and provocative new introduction, this revised edition is important not only as an in-depth study of Roman sexual satire, but also as a commentary on the effects of all humor on society and its victims.

Customer Reviews:

Scholarly and thought provoking........2001-06-11

Excellent book which manages to chart the ... and (related) invectives, poetry and jokes of the late-republic/early Roman Empire. In contrast to the arid writing style of the New Historians on the classics, this is a breath of fresh air. She also provides good counter arguments to the ideas of Foucault and neo-Foucaultians, although not without problems; for example, she thinks the 'cinaedi', a term of insult roughly translated to today's 'queer', denoted a group of 'passive homosexuals', which she thinks was a (sub)cultural group in the Roman empire (there may well have been ... sub-cultures, but her idea is too reductive). Still, highly enjoyable, scholarly and recommended.

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Ancient Roman Gardens

Ancient Roman Gardens
Linda Farrar
Manufacturer: Sutton Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0750924608

Book Description

The first comprehensive account of gardens and gardening in the Roman period, creating a fascinating new dimension to our understanding and appreciation of life and society in ancient Rome.

Customer Reviews:

Ancient Roman Gardens.......2006-04-09

Linda Farrar has produced a gem. This book shows with care, sensitivity and scholarly love what made a Roman garden. She discusses the plants found in the garden but also writes with great skill how the Romans situated statues in the garden. Cicero, a famous Roman politician and writer, mentions in one of his letters how beautifully vines draped over the arms of statues in his brother's garden. Statues were not just placed in the garden but immersed in it; these lived in it. Often pools were designed to reflect the image of a nearby statue and its attendant plants. She also discusses other art work found in Roman gardens. In her efforts to give a feel for the garden she discusses its use: for discussion, parties, meals, play, family work. She discusses what these plants and statues meant to Romans. It was in this book that I learned how much Romans loved nature and how religious they were and how much they were devoted to the beauty of nature around them. Plants provided food, interest and drew in large numbers of birds, bees and butterflies. Roman gardens truly hummed. Linda Farrar's love of the Romans and their gardens flourishes on every page. Any one intending to visit Italy or Pompeii would profit from reading this book. At the end of her book she has excellent suggestions for creating one's own Roman garden.

The Garden of the Soul; A Manual of Spiritual Exercises and Instructions for Christians, Who, Living in the World, Aspire to Devotion: With, An Explanation of the Mass, by the Late Bishop of England -- Enlarged Edition with the Epistles and Gospels

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The Garden of the Soul; A Manual of Spiritual Exercises and Instructions for Christians, Who, Living in the World, Aspire to Devotion: With, An Explanation of the Mass, by the Late Bishop of England -- Enlarged Edition with the Epistles and Gospels
[Roman Missal -- prayer book -- Latin-English]
Manufacturer: D. & J. Sadlier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000NKNQY4

Average customer rating:

A great book to read

The Gardens of Adonis
Marcel Detienne
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691001049

Book Description

Rich with implications for the history of sexuality, gender issues, and patterns of Hellenic literary imagining, Marcel Detienne's landmark book recasts long-standing ideas about the fertility myth of Adonis. The author challenges Sir James Frazer's thesis that the vegetation god Adonis-- whose premature death was mourned by women and whose resurrection marked a joyous occasion--represented the annual cycle of growth and decay in agriculture. Using the analytic tools of structuralism, Detienne shows instead that the festivals of Adonis depict a seductive but impotent and fruitless deity--whose physical ineptitude led to his death in a boar hunt, after which his body was found in a lettuce patch. Contrasting the festivals of Adonis with the solemn ones dedicated to Demeter, the goddess of grain, he reveals the former as a parody and negation of the institution of marriage.

Detienne considers the short-lived gardens that Athenian women planted in mockery for Adonis's festival, and explores the function of such vegetal matter as spices, mint, myrrh, cereal, and wet plants in religious practice and in a wide selection of myths. His inquiry exposes, among many things, attitudes toward sexual activities ranging from "perverse" acts to marital relations.

Customer Reviews:

A great book to read.......2003-06-29

Detienne's book is a wonderfull and thought provoking book.
he presents a structuralist analysis of the myth of Adonis.
It is very hard to provide convincing structuralist interpretations to myths and it seems that in structuralism
the journey is at least as important as the end result
(see most of the work of Levi Strauss). However, in this case Detienne's analysis is rather compeling and provides the reader with amazing insights into greek thought about food, perfumes,
sex and all the other good things in life. If you wish to read just one structuralist work to get a feeling for this
fascinating and highly non trivial mode of analysis of human thought, I would recommend this book

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Roman Gardens (Historic Gardens)
Anne Jennings
Manufacturer: English Heritage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Medieval Gardens (Historic Gardens)

ASIN: 1850749353

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Roman Gardens: A Cultural History
von Stackelberg
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Rome | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0415438241

Amazon.com

Penzler Pick, October 2001: There may be some irony in the notion that a book devoted to paperbacks (the most inexpensive book format--small, easily transportable and disposable) is a huge, expensive, beautifully produced hardcover volume that is certain to be a gem in any collector's library.

For several centuries books in America customarily were pages bound between hardcovers and, in this century, had dust jackets wrapped around them, initially just to protect the cloth covers, but eventually as an attention-grabbing advertising poster.

In 1938, an experiment was launched. The cloth cover was exchanged for a paper one, and the colorful illustration and information that appeared on the dust jacket (author, title, publisher, a few lines about the book) was printed directly onto those paper covers. Cheaper paper was used, since these artifacts were no longer expected to form part of a permanent library, but were to be as disposable as a newspaper or magazine. And they were cheap: a 25-cent price made books affordable for a huge portion of the population. They became immeasurably successful almost overnight.

Today many of those books are highly sought-after collectors' items. In spite of the huge numbers printed, they are scarce now simply because almost no one ever thought to save them in colorful, pristine condition. The Great American Paperback illustrates in glorious full color more than 600 of the most interesting and collectable paperbacks, each with an informative caption that provides as much fascinating anecdotal information as the text, which is a masterly and scholarly history of the American paperback, tracing its roots to the early 19th century and concluding with a look at the future.

There are samples of the paperback originals of Ed McBain, Richard Stark, Jim Thompson, Harlan Ellison, and James M. Cain, as well as illustrations of such rarities as The Maltese Falcon, which was issued as a paperback with a dust jacket, and Ellery Queen's Halfway House, which was offered in two formats by the publisher, one bound the usual way, the other bound at the top edge.

If this massive work hadn't been produced in Hong Kong, it would have cost twice as much and is, believe it or not, a bargain, even at a price as hefty as the book itself. --Otto Penzler

Book Description

Few realized in 1938 that a revolution was about to take place. A little book appeared in drugstores and on newsstands that would fit into the jacket pocket of an ordinary person. There was no real binding, no dust jacket, just a colorful, laminated cover. It was an experiment, and the pocket book was born. Copies jumped off the shelves. The publisher was encouraged to bring out more, and by summer of 1939 people were reading them everywhere. Regarded by many as disposable distractions, a few people put them aside and started collections that we realize today are a precious archive of American culture. From the glittering images of square-jawed cowboys to the gritty slum-dwellers of social realism, The Great American Paperback is a bountiful museum of over 600 brilliant covers, each of them a miniature gem, evocative of the fashions and attitudes of its era. This book is destined to become a classic among librarians and graphic designers alike.

Customer Reviews:

Golden Age paperbacks.......2005-03-07

Yes,"PAPERBACKS,U.S.A.,A Graphic History,1939-1959"(Blue Dolphin Enterprises,Inc.San Diego,CA,1981)by Piet Schreuders(not Schruders),remains the best book on american paperbacks from the 'Golden Age'(published between 1939 and the early 1960's) .But,as a modest collector myself of these precious 'little books',I'm a fan of this work,penned by Richard A. Lupoff who is a comics connoisseur, a good short story writer,an interesting science fiction novelist and an outstanding non-fiction writer(author,for instance, of "EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS:MASTER OF ADVENTURE" an excellent biography of the creator of Tarzan).
"THE GREAT AMERICAN PAPERBACK" as all the other titles published by Collectors Press is a "coffee&table book",with the advantages and disadvantages of its kind.I'm really not interested to list its disavantages.For me,Lupoff wrote an useful book,one of the best works about paperbacks,second only to Schreuders' "PAPERBACKS U.S.A." The selection of titles reproduced is almost perfect.The history of the american paperback is written with clarity,the chapters(covering the publishing houses) include all genera of paperbacks,the images(covers)are selected with generosity and the captions are opportune.
Lupoff clearly knows the important paperback cover artists(almost all of them are represented).So,we have a large gallery of amazingly attractive cover paintings reproduced.Created by unique artists like LEO MANSO,STANLEY MELTZOFF,JAMES AVATI,ROBERT SCHULZ,STANLEY ZUCKERBERG,ROBERT JONAS,JAMES BAMA,ANN CANTOR,H.LAWRENCE HOFFMAN,EARLE K. BERGEY,RUDOLPH BELARSKI,GERALD GREGG,ROBERT STANLEY,RICHARD POWERS,NORMAN SAUNDERS,FRANK FRAZETTA,BARYE PHILLIPS,ED EMSH,ROBERT MAGUIRE and GEORGE SALTER.
I highly recommend this very good book.

Tough guys and fast women, the history of paperbacks.......2003-11-12

The task presented to Mr. Lupoff in making this book was formidable. He had to create a book that would appeal to paperback collectors, students of popular culture and the general public. I don't think he succeeded particularly well.
Collectors will already know the vast majority of what is in this book and might disagree quite heartily with the grades of collectibility assigned to some of the books (only ...?). The obscuring of many covers by parts of other covers will also frustrate folks. Nothing really vital is normally blocked but when looking at a piece of art, one would normally care to see it in its entirety. The text of the book, while well written and factually correct, failed to engage me entirely. It was almost completely familiar territory and rarely went into any depth. Students of popular culture and collectors of art books will find some of these same flaws. For this reviewer the best part was the miscellany found with the descriptions of the covers/books. Neat tidbits of info and enthusiastic appreciation of the art made known Mr. Lupoff's appreciation for the books.
The general public will either love or be indifferent to the book. The design is eye catching but the page coloring (an attempt to capture the sensationalism of paperback covers?) is often distracting and at times prohibitive to the enjoyment of the covers. The reading should be interesting to the uninitiated as Lupoff clearly enjoyed what he was writing about and the enthusiasm comes through.
A little more information about the major paperback authors would have been nice along with a detailed index of cover artists. Any book that tries to seriously tackle the history of paperbacks in the United States and lacks an index listing for Orrie Hitt is doomed to mediocrity.

JUST GREAT!.......2002-02-08

I received "The Great American Paperback" as a Christmas gift and hardly a week goes by that I don't dip into it. It's an overwhelmingly great book about a fascinating era of American publishing. Lupoff covers artists and writers well-known and unknown. There's a surprise on every page and visual treasure upon treasure. The text is equally interesting as Lupoff tells the stories behind the publishers, but it's clearly the book covers themselves that take center stage here. The layout (which sometimes presents covers slightly overlapping other covers) might have been improved, but overall the images are bright, sharp and big. Very few thumbnail views here. I for one hope we'll one day get to see a "Great American Paperback Volume 2" because as good as this one is, there's enough stuff out there to easily fill a second volume. Buy this book without reservation. If you have any love of Americana in general and pulp/paperbacks in particular, you'll fall in love with this book.

Covers the market badly........2002-01-16

Richard Lupoff's colorful book is rather stunning at first glance but the more I look at it the more I see serious flaws.

The presentation is too overwhelming. Several colors are used for the background of the pages and these mostly overpower the covers. These strong colors mean that some pages have white text which becomes tiring to read, especially tiny capital letter caption type.

The overlapping of nearly all the covers was really annoying, in some cases one cover obscures just too much of another cover. A similar book, 'Jackets Required' by Steven Heller and Seymour Chwast has 270 covers (thankfully printed on white paper) none of which overlap and it is lovely to look at.

As far as I can see there is no meaningful sequence to the covers, they are not shown by genre, year of publication, artist or publisher.

The index is weak. This is a book collectors will use and I would expect an index to the 600 covers shown, possibly even an artist index, too. I wonder if the lack of a proper index is because at least a third of the pages have no number! The longest run I found was seven pages (58-64) but mostly it is runs of three or four pages through the book. Should buyers really have to put up with this?

Another reviewer has noted how disappointing this book was, I agree, not because of what Lupoff has to say but because of the poor editorial production. The author probably had nothing to do with this. I still prefer 'Paperbacks USA' by Piet Schruders, a fascinating graphic history of the paperback, Lupoff says it 'is a landmark of paperback scholarship...'.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Elegant Garbage.......2002-01-06

One big, big book and as beautiful an edition as possible, here are covers from countless paperbacks: an illustrator's dream reference book and for collectors of old paperbacks, a goldmine of great junk. OK, so there ARE features by noted writers: I loved the detective covers and the trash!
These were the days of GREAT design, and you don't have to be a snooty art director to love this stuff.
Very, very cool!!!

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