The William Appleton Coolidge Collection

The collection formed by William Appleton Coolidge speaks of a remarkable breadth of taste, of a spirit responsive to works of art of all periods, and of visual discrimination of a high order. Many of the works are intimate in scale, appropriate for domestic contemplation, and it is no surprise that this most unselfish of collectors delighted in sharing his prized possessions with his friends. But he was also keen to benefit a wider audience: for years the finest of them were on loan to the Museum of Fine Arts, and before his death Mr. Coolidge had begun to donate masterpieces, including the paintings by Rubens and Signac. There have been collectors who formed larger and greater collections; however, there were very few who cast their net as broadly as William Coolidge while sustaining such a consistently high level of quality. His catholicity of taste is a characteristic virtue of the Boston past, namely its intellectual curiosity about different times and peoples and its receptivity to good ideas regardless of point or period of origin. There is still much to be learned and enjoyed in such an attitude.

Porcelain imported from China was the most highly coveted new medium in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-­century Europe. Its pure white color, translucency, and durability, as well as the delicacy of decoration, were impossible to achieve in European earthenware and stoneware. In response, European ceramic factories set out to discover the process of producing porcelain in the Chinese manner, with significant artistic, technical, and commercial ramifications for Britain and the Continent. Indeed, not only artisans, but kings, noble patrons, and entrepreneurs all joined in the quest, hoping to gain both prestige and profit from the enterprises they established. This beautifully illustrated volume showcases ninety works that span the late sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century and reflect the major currents of European porcelain production. Each work is illustrated with glorious new photography, accompanied by analysis and interpretation by one of the leading experts in European decorative arts. Among the wide range of porcelains selected are rare blue-and-white wares and figures from Italy, superb examples from the Meissen factory in Germany and the Sèvres factory in France, and ceramics produced by leading British eighteenth-century artisans. Taken together, they reveal why the Metropolitan Museum’s holdings in this field are among the finest in the world. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Verdana}

Published to accompany a major exhibition of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's paintings held in Paris and Ottawa during 1996, and forthcoming to New York. From nearly 3,000 paintings by this poetic 19th-century artist, the curators chose 163 works, which are reproduced here along with full art-historical discussions of each. Three major essays chronicle Corot's life and the development of his art; additional essays elucidate the subject of forgeries and describe the collecting of his works. Much original new scholarship is included along with a review of the scholarly literature, a concordance, and a chronology. 9.5x12.5"Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

"Christopher Hitchens is the greatest essayist in the English language." —Christopher Buckley Christopher Hitchens has long been considered on of the most compelling and intelligent writers and orators on our time. In this four-volume eBook bundle, no subject is left unconsidered in Hitchens's hands: from the case against god and religion in God Is Not Great; to various "Amusements, Annoyances, and Disappointments" in Arguably -- the Ten Commandments, the concept of "funny"; from a memoir tracing his storied life in Hitch-22 to a raw and honest meditation on life and death in Mortality, his last book before his death in 2011. Provocative and perceptive, unabashed and polemical, The Christopher Hitchens 4-Book Ebook Collection is the essential reader for any Hitchens fan. GOD IS NOT GREAT: HOW RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING HITCH-22: A MEMOIR ARGUABLY: ESSAYS MORTALITY

A "highly entertaining history [of] global hustling, cola wars and the marketing savvy that carved a niche for Coke in the American social psyche” (Publishers Weekly). Secret Formula follows the colorful characters who turned a relic from the patent medicine era into a company worth $80 billion. Award-winning reporter Frederick Allen’s engaging account begins with Asa Candler, a nineteenth-century pharmacist in Atlanta who secured the rights to the original Coca-Cola formula and then struggled to get the cocaine out of the recipe. After many tweaks, he finally succeeded in turning a backroom belly-wash into a thriving enterprise. In 1919, an aggressive banker named Ernest Woodruff leveraged a high-risk buyout of the Candlers and installed his son at the helm of the company. Robert Woodruff spent the next six decades guiding Coca-Cola with a single-minded determination that turned the soft drink into a part of the landscape and social fabric of America. Written with unprecedented access to Coca-Cola’s archives, as well as the inner circle and private papers of Woodruff, Allen’s captivating business biography stands as the definitive account of what it took to build America’s most iconic company and one of the world’s greatest business success stories.

The late Albert Elsen was the first American scholar to study seriously the work of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, and the person most responsible for a revival of interest in the artist as a modern innovator--after years during which the sculpture had been dismissed as so much Victorian bathos. After a fortuitous meeting with the financier, philanthropist, and art collector B. Gerald Cantor, Elsen helped Cantor to build up a major collection of Rodin's work. A large part of this collection, consisting of more than 200 pieces, was donated to the Stanford Museum by Mr. Cantor, who died recently. In size it is surpassed only the by the Mus?e Rodin in Paris and rivaled only by the collection in Philadelphia. In scope the collection is unique in having been carefully selected to present a balanced view of Rodin's work throughout his life. Rodin's Art encompasses a lifetime's thoughts on Rodin's career, surveying the artist's accomplishments through the detailed discussion of each object in the collection. It will begin with essays on the formation of the collection, the reception of Rodin's work, and his casting techniques. The entries that follow are arranged topically and include extensive discussions of Rodin's major projects.