Virtual Visits #4: Some Very Special Books

Come browse at our coffee table! 

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  CLOTH and CULTURE, by RUTH FUNK

 

Quimper collector, world traveller, she used her time and talents brilliantly and left this gorgeous record for us all to enjoy. We first met her many years ago in upstate New York and were delighted to renew that connection in Florida, where she established the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts as part of Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.

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THE ART of the GAME, by TIM CHAMBERS

Missouri antiques dealer dealer with a discerning eye for country furniture and accessories and a passionate love of old paint. His booth at the Antiques Show in St. Louis, where we first met, was a joy for this folk art devotee to behold!

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LA TOUR EIFFEL,by CATHERINE ORSENNE

 Mme Orsenne is a dentist in Paris who has had a life-long love affair with the Eiffel tower. Since she is the sister of my beloved hôtelier, Victor, I knew her slightly and, purely by chance, was at the hotel the day the book was published. I had the pleasure of dining there with her and so was able to ask about the book. For years she had been sending some of her Eiffel Tower pictures as Christmas cards to her patients; one day a patient, M. Massin, who was a publisher, said to her, "Catherine, I think we should do a book"...and so she did!

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THE BAKELITE JEWELRY BOOK, 
 by CORINNE DAVIDOV &GINNY REDINGTON DAWES

 

 

 Corky Davidow's career as an artist and collector extraordinaire has led her to many fascinating byways: Bakelite and, happily for us, Quimper as well! We encountered her at an antiques show in Washington, years ago.

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We'd like to end this visit with a word in defense of "coffee table books". Wikipedia notes that the term is often used pejoratively, as being lightweight froth: lots of pictures, not much substance. Every one of these books represents enormous amounts of time, research and expertise...and we are thrilled all over again with reviewing their contents and our memories of the authors.