Outhouses

Contains the history of and musings about that most fundamental of structures.

Outhouses contains the history of and musings about that most fundamental of structures, the outhouse, as presented by Roger Welsh, the Will Rogers of tractors and other things farm-related. In Outhouses you will learn the best place to locate your outhouse, which will preferably be down hill and down wind from your house. As we all know, some things in life roll down hill. About the Author:Roger Welsch is a well-known humorist and columnist. For years he was a regular guest on CBS's Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt. He is the best-selling author of Old Tractors and The Men Who Love Them (0-7603-0129-8), Busted Tractors and Rusty Knuckles (0-7603-0301-0), Love, Sex and Tractors (0-7603-0868-3) and Everything I Know about Women I Learned from My Tractor (0-7603-1149-8). Welsch resides in Dennebrog, Nebraska, with his wife, Linda.

A full-colour photographic journey to some of Canada's highest and most remarkable outhouses by adventure photographer Gavin T Boutet. Poo With a View showcases these unique buildings and the breathtaking views that surround them.

Outhouses have been much ridiculed and maligned structures, thought worthy of only the lowliest of humor and virtually ignored by architectural critics as inconsequential blips in the development of building design. And yet--as architect Steve Schaecher so poignantly reveals in this collection of renderings--architects of genius from time immemorial have used their considerable talents to enhance the beauty and function of the outhouse. His extensive research has uncovered a wealth of stunning outdoor bathroom designs that say much about the history of architecture. Although Schaecher's friends and family have worried about his obsession with bathroom drawings, it is clear that with the publication of this tome, his seat in the annals of architectural history will never be put down.Here are reproductions of stylish (dare we say perfectionist?) renderings of Thronehenge, Wright's Flushing Water, the Odor Dame Cathedral, the Taj Ma-stall, Jefferson's Johnicello, Sullivan's Merchants First National Outhouse, Le Corbusier's Bidet Savoye, Fuller's Geodesic Throne, the Hancock's John Building, the Centre Pompidoodoo-the unmistakable outhouse for that weird-looking French museum-and many others. Each is accompanied by insightful historical and analytical text, depending on your definitions of insightful and analytical. The preface, by architectural critic I.P. Daley, will leave you in no doubt of the importance of this completely nonsensical book.

To muster the smart brigade of one hundred outhouses exhibited in this book, eight dedicated photographers headed by Londie Padelsky have fanned out over the boggy backways of our nation and rallied into service stalwart sentinels of every style and state of repair. Each redolent image in Outhouses: Images and Contemplations is ornamented by an aid to contemplation in words-whether seasoned aphorism (Cicero), subtle arriere-pensee (La Fontaine), inverted innuendo (Swift), cutting couplet (Pope), or purgative panegyric (Roethke)-all tastefully selected to gratify the large philosophico-poetic appetites that are awakened by the Littlest House on the Prairie.

Some ninety photographs depict the pioneer outhouse and the text provides scores of folk stories of a day gone by. This is a book for collectors of Texas and American folklore and anyone with an appreciation for modern indoor plumbing.