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THE WORKING GIRL MUST EAT.
Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1938.
For the sensible but time-strapped stenographer, librarian, or nurse: a sympathetic and well-conceived collection of one hundred complete dinner menus, each with a strategic "work plan" for efficient preparation. From anchovy toast to Waldorf salad, here's proof that a modern gal can have her cake and eat it too.
-- $50
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Massin:
LETTER AND IMAGE.
Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1970.
At the blurry intersection of typography and representation, a French designer revels in multiple meanings. His observations are supported by playful examples of sign graphics, concrete poetry, and (most delightfully) complete pictorial alphabets composed of monkeys, acrobats, devils, etc.
-- $100
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Shaw, Bernard:
ANDROCLES AND THE LION [Shaw Alphabet edition]
Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1962.
The phonetic Shaw Alphabet was named posthumously for the playwright and orthographic reformer who offered a prize for its creation in his will. Naturally the first (and pretty much only) published translation into this baffling squiggly script was a play by Shaw himself. Includes key card for serious students.
-- $35
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Sagarin, Edward:
THE SCIENCE AND ART OF PERFUMERY.
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1945.
Any work on scent is inherently seductive, but scholars of olfaction must feel special warmth for one that includes an erudite 40-page bibliography covering the history, chemistry, aesthetics, and psychology of perfumes, as well as "Odor in the World of Literature."
-- $50
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Rossier, Henri (phot.); Pierre Berton (text):
THE NEW CITY: A PREJUDICED VIEW OF TORONTO.
Macmillan, Toronto, 1961.
This intimate street-level portrait by a forgotten Swiss photographer reveals Toronto as a proletarian city of bricks, bowling alleys, and used car lots. To your glossy neighbours in the glass condoplex, it will look incomprehensibly foreign and remote.
-- $125
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Jackson, George H.:
THE MEDICINAL VALUE OF FRENCH BRANDY.
Thérien Frères, Ltd., Montreal, 1928.
An actual MD in the service of the French booze industry penned this comprehensive study of Cognac: its viticulture, distillation, ageing, chemical composition, etc. So does it convincingly settle the question of the drink's "therapeutic value?" Probably depends on how many snifters you knock back while you're reading it.
-- $100
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Karg, Elissa Jane:
HOW TO BE A NON-CONFORMIST.
Scholastic, New York, 1968.
An adorable cautionary tale for would-be hippies, written and illustrated by a skeptical high school student. After accurately cataloguing a variety of anti-establishment postures, she exposes the irreconcilable contradiction of hipness: conforming to non-conformity doesn't make you cool.
-- $35
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[Design Centre Publications]
Ward, Mary and Neville: LIVING ROOMS
Phillips, Derek: LIGHTING
Meade, Dorothy: BEDROOMS
Salmon, Geoffrey: STORAGE
Macdonald & Co./Council of Industrial Design, London, 1966-67.
If you've devoted your life to decorating the smartest modern flat in London, you'll need something suitable to grace the coffee table. These manuals are immaculately tasteful midcentury design works in their own right, featuring plentiful photos and rigorous diagrams, as well as a subtle application of orange ink for emphasis.
-- $25 ea.
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Beirne, Bryan P. (comp.):
COLLECTING, PREPARING AND PRESERVING INSECTS.
Canada Department of Agriculture, [Ottawa], 1955.
More than just glamorous butterflies on pins, this is an unsentimental guide for cold-eyed practitioners. Whether it's preparing a cyanide killing jar, softening the corpses of long-dead beetles, or combing road-killed mammals in search of fleas, serious collectors of bugs (like collectors of books) must be prepared to get their hands dirty.
-- $25
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Steig, William:
THE LONELY ONES.
Duell Sloan and Pearce, New York, 1942.
Yes, this a collection of caricatures, each with its own woebegone caption; but Steig was no mere cartoonist. His relentless exploration of alienation, neurosis, and delusion proves that he was an anatomist of the soul's darkest chambers, and a 20th century artist to be reckoned with.
-- $35
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If you like this sort of thing, look for us on Instagram or Facebook -- we'll be posting new material almost every day between now and xmas!
Wishing you a lovely holiday season,
THE MONKEY'S PAW
1267 Bloor St. West
Toronto, ON M6H 1N7
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416.531.2123
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