Category: Art in Books

This beautiful book contains surprises. Many of them. I bought the book “de Gournay, Hand-Painted Interiors” mainly because the beauty of frescos, mosaics, and all other form of artfully hand-painted walls or wallpapers in houses are so rarely seen today. In old castles and medieval palaces often thick tapestries are hung from the walls, but… Continue reading “de Gournay, Hand-Painted Interiors” by Claud Cecil Gurney

This lovely illustrated book is an homage from the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Group to their best hotels, called “The Luxury Collection”. At the time of publishing, in 2013, one could take it as an expensive coffee-table travel catalogue to decide upon one’s next holiday or simply as a beautiful guide to daydream about hotels.… Continue reading The Luxury Collection “Hotel Stories”

Lauren Greenfield’s book is amazing. I saw the documentary on amazon fist, but the book in comparison seems even better, containing 1000s of pictures. The 2 hours of the documentary cannot fully mirror the depth of the texts accompanying the many pictures in the book. On the other hand, the documentary concentrated on a few… Continue reading “Generation Wealth” by Lauren Greenfield

Alexandra Carl’s book is a rare sign of independence in today’s fashion world. It is not superficial and fast-paced, but a book that takes its time. It took Alexandra Carl, according to interviews available when you google her name, almost 3,5 years to finish it. The result is not one of those typical home-stories of… Continue reading A Different Breed – “Collecting Fashion” by Alexandra Carl

The house of Cartier’s homage to their most famous jewellery collection, those of the panther jewels, is a gloriously illustrated book with well-coordinated texts on the theme. There is no explanation why the jewellery collection is referred to as “Panthere” and not leopard. From a zoological point of view panthers are leopards or jaguars without… Continue reading Cartier “Panthere” – Time is not the Enemy

There are not many books about Kea parrots. Anybody who saw one of the documentaries in TV about the parrots dismantling tourist’s cars in New Zealand and playing passionately with each other wonders why there are not more books or more information in general about those birds. There is no doubt that Keas are extremely… Continue reading Kea Parrots – Playful Role Models

Vincent Meylan’s book “Queens Jewels” has been, according to his introduction, more difficult to research than his books on famous jewellery houses and their masterpieces. Whilst those houses let him check their archives and gave him their confidence, the royal houses were not interested in giving a statement. But being an accomplished French journalist on… Continue reading “Queens’ Jewels” by Vincent Meylan

Arriving in Johannesburg can mean many things. Most people arrive at the airport and are whisked away immediately. Their travel agency arranged for transport, hotel and three carefree weeks of short city visits and beautiful longer stays in nature to see the wildlife. Some people arrive to get their car or meet their driver at… Continue reading “The Joburg Book” by Nechama Brodie

Alain Blottiere wrote a wonderful book about tourism in Egypt in the years between 1870 and 1935. It is fittingly called “Vintage Egypt, Cruising the Nile in the Golden Age of Travel”. Buying it, the thought of the Agatha Christy thriller “Death on the Nile” came to my mind almost immediately. Not in the sense… Continue reading Egypt, the Nile and Tourism – Timeless Fascination

All books by Vincent Meylan about famous jewellers are a feast for the eyes. I have not encountered one mediocre book, and I have them all, checking online regularly in the hope he might have published something new. Some of his books I even bought in French because I could not wait for it being… Continue reading “FRED – the sunlight jeweller” by Vincent Meylan