National Network for Equitable Library Service

With over 200 photos this Asian design book showcases the feng shui techniques instrumental in some of the world's most spectacular structures. Feng Shui Style demonstrates clearly that ancient Chinese principles of feng shui are not just compatible with good architectural and interior design-but that the two may be carefully engineered to be mutually supportive on many different levels.

Collecting Japanese Antiques is an excellent overview of the uniquely Japanese aesthetic and how it relates to Japanese culture. From the time Japan started trading with the West in the sixteenth century, Japanese arts and crafts have intrigued and delighted Westerners, especially lacquer, screens, swords and porcelain. Antique hunters will benefit from the practical and cautionary advice in this book; newcomers will appreciate information on the basics of collecting Japanese antiques; while other sections might reawaken interest in experienced collectors.

Bridges, the least known and understood of China's many wonders, are one of its most striking and resilient feats of architectural prowess. Chinese Bridges brings together a thorough look at the marvels of Chinese bridge design from one of the world's leading experts on Chinese culture and historical geography, Ronald G. Knapp. While many consider bridges to be merely utilitarian civil engineering, the bridges of China move beyond that stereotype, as many are undeniably dramatic, even majestic and daring.

In this accessible, easy-to-read, detailed guide for artists, students, and aspiring art professionals, gallery owner Molly Barnes takes the mystique out of selling art. With the art market generating over a billion dollars in sales annually, and enrollment in art schools continuing to rise, more and more graduates are joining the art scene and actively participating in the "business" of art. With How to get Hung readers learn how to present their work and themselves to the professional art world.

The attire of the feudal lords and ladies of old Japan, warriors, priest, courtesans, Edo-period dandies geisha, footmen, farmers-in fact, the whole array of Kabuki's colorful characters-is discussed in fascinating detail in this Japanese Kabuki book. From kimono and armor to undergarments, from wigs to foot gear, from swords to hair garments-no aspect of costume accessories is overlooked. Textiles and textile designs, in all their profusion of weaves, colors, and patterns, are carefully taken note of, and a number of important traditional designs are illustrate.

This book of Geisha culture and history features beautiful antique photographs and a wealth of information. Geisha have the odd distinction of being both legendary and real, and this book helps clarify those differences. Myth by nature is monolithic, transcending history and individuals, whereas the reality is a variety of geisha communities in different areas of Japan, Status hierarchies among communities in the same city, and of course differences among individual geisha.

Immoral Views is a collection of titillating tales of voyeuristic sex, written by five of erotica's sultriest mistresses. A deliciously dissolute anthology of sex in public, and the illustrated versions are illustrated by John LaChatte!

In Japanese gardens, composition follows from placement of the first stone; all elements and plantings become interconnected. These eight essays on Kyoto gardens similarly begin with keen description and build into richly meditative excursions into art, Buddhism, nature, and science. Landscape architect Marc Keane shows how Japanese gardens are both a microcosm of the natural universe and a clear expression of our humanity, mirroring how we think, worship, and organize our lives and communities.

This provocative book is a tractate-a treatise-on beauty in Japanese art, written in the manner of a zuihitsu, a free-ranging assortment of ideas that "follow the brush" wherever it leads. Donald Richie looks at how perceptual values in Japan were drawn from raw nature and then modified by elegant expressions of class and taste. He explains aesthetic concepts like wabi, sabi, aware, and yugen, and ponders their relevance in art and cinema today.

At the end of the Great War, to protect his village from the Spanish flu epidemic, a priest commissions an Italian painter to decorate the local church with a fresco dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The painter is to choose, among four local women all named Mary, a model for his work. Superstition collides with desire, and lies are unmasked.