| SECONDHAND BOOKS |
We
now have a selection of secondhand books for sale. Condition varies greatly so please
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Art books for sale |
Norman Lindsay: Pencil Drawings
1969
Angus & Robertson, Sydney
Hardcover, dustjacket (gold back cover), black and white
Forty-six of Norman Lindsay's most graceful pencil drawings have been included in this book. None of them have previously been reproduced.
Chiefly drawings of the nude from the model, they also include portrait studies of some of Norman Lindsay's most famous models, preliminary drawings which were made for his compositions in oils and watercolour, and some brilliant drawings of animals.
Simply because the drawings were made for his own use or pleasure and few examples have been exhibited, Norman Lindsay's pencil drawings are not so well known as his work in other media; but anyone who looks through this book will instantly recognize his mastery of the pencil and also the exceptional charm and ease with which he has expressed himself.
Here, says A.D. Hope in his foreword, ... is the armature of the human body through the superb drawings of the women who sat for him, in which the pride of the flesh is matched by the pride of the spirit, in which breasts and thighs are as individual and eloquent as the faces, and every part of the body thinks, feels, and speaks ...
Inevitably illuminated by his vision of them as creatures of the imagination, they are glowing with the joy of a natural form to be recognized for what it is. |
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Norman Lindsay: Impulse to Draw
1984
Lin Bloomfield
Bay Books, Sydney
Hardcover, black and white
During
his long creative life Norman Lindsay produced works in many media,
but pencil was the only one he used continuously from childhood to
old age. If, as is often said, it is drawing which best demonstrates
the strength of any artist, then the collection of 280 pencil drawing
sin this book provides a unique opportunity to assess the man and his
methods.
The earliest drawing reproduced in this book was done in 1889, when he
was ten years old; the latest, in 1968, the year before he died at the
age of ninety. Thus these drawings, spanning nearly eighty years of creative
development, enable the reader to trace the evolution of Lindsay's style
throughout his life. The drawings, only ten of which have previously been
published, have been carefully selected to demonstrate both Lindsay's draughtsmanship
and the range of his subject matter. There are pages from his voluminous
sketchbooks in which he recorded details of subjects from animals to armour;
preliminary sketches for what later became major works in oils, watercolour
and pen; minutely detailed drawings for etchings; rough sketches showing
his notes for colour plans; and pencil portraits which are works of art
in their own right. Most of the drawings, however, are from the model,
both male and female. His drawings of figures convey the spirit as well
as the likeness of the model and have in common with his other pencil works
great vitality and spontaneity.
The text complements the drawings, weaving into the book excerpts from
Norman Lindsay's life and providing insights into his relationships with
his family, friends and models. There are, as well many comments from Lindsay's
own writings and from his artistically-gifted family and contemporaries — on
his techniques, his artistic philosophy and the imagery used in many of
his drawings — which help to illuminate the work of this extraordinary
Australian artist.
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The Pen Drawings of Norman Lindsay
1918
Angus & Robertson, Sydney
Hardcover, slipcase, edition of 200 (150 for sale), black and white
The selection from the pen drawings of Norman Lindsay here reproduced is the best of his work in the medium which he has made pre-eminently his own. With one or two exceptions these drawings have not been reproduced before; none of the very numerous cartoons and illustrations contributed to the Bulletin having been drawn upon for this book. The plates have not been arranged exactly in chronological order, but every phase of the artist's development is represented, and the date of each drawing is given in the index.
About four years ago the present editors, in conjunction with the artist, arranged to publish a volume containing the best of Norman Lindsay's work in black and white. Some blocks were engraved for the book, which it was intended to issue in a very limited edition at a high price. The war broke out soon afterwards, and the matter wad dropped. It has now been revived, because if delayed much longer it might soon be impossible to include some of the best drawings, as the originals are being scattered abroad in private collections.
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Norman Lindsay: Selected Pen Drawings
1968
Angus & Robertson, Sydney
Hardcover, dustjacket (gold back cover), black and white
Sixty reproductions of Norman Lindsay's most brilliant pen drawings are presented in this book. Fifty of these have never been published before.
The unpublished work comprises fourteen drawings made in 1967–8, with other major works done between 1930 and the 1960s. Also previously unpublished are thirteen gay and witty drawings based on the Heptameron of Marguerite of Navarre. Selections from previously published drawings are added to make the book representative of all phases of the artist's work in this medium.
Norman Lindsay also contributes an illuminating preface on the art of pen and ink.
The book will be an essential and a cherished possession for every collector, every student of pen and ink, and every lover of the fine arts at their finest. |
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Norman Lindsay: War Cartoons 1914-1918
1983
Peter Fullerton (editor)
Melbourne University Press, Melbourne
Hardcover, dustjacket, black and white
There
is excitement in discovering that a significant body of work by an
artist of the standing of Norman Lindsay has thus far eluded the critical
gaze of the art historian.
Lindsay was resident cartoonist at the Bulletin during the Great
War. His large output included more than 150 full-page cartoons which appeared
on the journal's title page. Together with four recruiting posters, these
cartoons are here handsomely reproduced.
Today these strident, often virulent, expressions of 'anti-Hun' nationalism
may shock, even offend. They stand as formidable social documents reflecting
dominant values and beliefs of the time. Their propaganda element is strong — any
dissent from the prevailing responses to the Great War were characterised
by Lindsay as being cowardly and dishonourable. However, in his perceptive
commentary, Peter Fullerton points to the gulf between Lindsay's public
enthusiasm and a developing private disquiet. A most interesting foreword
by the artist's son Jack Lindsay deepens our understanding of Lindsay's
personal responses to his society.
The visual quality of the cartoons is such that they may stand independently
of their social context. The rendering of tone with a pen had along fascinated
Lindsay. Peter Fullerton — a graduate in Fine Arts from Melbourne
and London Universities — details the technical characteristics of
Lindsay's work and finds his achievement to be masterly.
Long overlooked,
and now finely reproduced and elucidated by a scholarly commentary, this
collection of cartoons is of wide appeal and value, both visually and socially.
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Norman Lindsay: Favourite Etchings
1977
Angus & Robertson, Sydney
Hardcover, dustjacket, black and white |
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BOOKS WITH ORIGINAL ETCHINGS for sale |
Creative Effort: An Essay in Affirmation
1920
Norman Lindsay
Art in Australia, Sydney
Hardcover (de luxe), edition of 120 (100 for sale)
This edition includes one original etching titled Creative Effort.
To whom does one offer the gift of a thought?
To him who already thinks it.
The mission of the thinker is not to enlighten, but to confirm. The material for enlightenment is already there, like a piled-up beacon; the new thought is but a spark that sets it alight.
Anger at the stupidity of common minds is foolish, save in youth, when it is a stimulus.
Yet all high minds wish to offer the gift of thought to mankind, and because it is rejected they become bitter.
But gold is no use to a savage. He prefers iron, which is useful to him. And here the savage is wise. One cannot blame the common mind, because it seeks common thoughts — vulgar utilities — for these things help it.
If the common man is also able to catch a little at highter thoughts, so much the better; but he has caught something in passing not addressed to him.
The message of the Creatifive Effort is to him whose mission is to carry on the Creative Effort.
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Idyllia
1922
Hugh McCrae
Norman Lindsay Press, Sydney
Hardcover, edtion of 133 (100 for sale), black and white
The edition includes five original etchings: What the Deer Said, Robin Hood, Pantera (right), The Yellow Lady and The Talking Breasts.
Idyllia is a particularly fine example ofr small press publishing. One of the msot dignified editions de luxe ever published in Australia, it contains fifteen poems and a verse dedication ot Norman who illustrated, designed and published the volume with the help of Rose and Jack, Norman's son.
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| Novels for sale |
The Cousin from Fiji
1965
Ure Smith Pty Ltd, Sydney
Humorbooks Edition
Softcover, black and white
Through him Australian boyhood and adolescence have manifested themselves yet more strongly and vividly than through any other writer. At his simplest, and that is his best, he is as refreshing as a midsummer dive into a torrent ...
H M Green |
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The Cousin from Fiji
1974
&Robertson Publishers, Sydney
Arkon Paperback
Softcover, black and white
High life in Ballarat and low life in Melbourne as Hilary Shadlet pursues the charming Cecelia or falls into the company of the terrible Conkey Tonks, while Uncle George cherishes both his beard and Gussie Maguire, and Grandma Domkin indomitable hoses the neighbours — that is The Cousin from Fiji; one of the funniest, yet one of the most substantial, of Norman Lindsay's novels.
I made the mistake of beginning this manuscript on a train bound for Washington, wrote Bennett Cerf in a report to the US publishers of The Cousin from Fiji. Inside of twenty minutes I was laughing so hard that fellow occupants of the car (I think one was a Senator) dropped their stockmarket reports and regarded me with obvious indignation. Embarrassed, I put the book aside until I could enjoy it to my heart's content in seclusion ... I only know that I laughed myself sick over it. |
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The Cousin from Fiji
1979
Angus & Robertson Publishers, Sydney
Softcover, black and white
High life in Ballarat and low life in Melbourne as Hilary Shadlet pursues the charming Cecelia or falls into the company of the terrible Conkey Tonks, while Uncle George cherishes both his beard and Gussie Maguire, and Grandma Domkin indomitable hoses the neighbours — that is The Cousin from Fiji, one of the funniest, yet one of the most substantial, of Norman Lindsay's novels.
I made the mistake of beginning this manuscript on a train bound for Washington, wrote Bennett Cerf in a report to the US publishers of The Cousin from Fiji. Inside of twenty minutes I was laughing so hard that fellow occupants of the car (I think one was a Senator) dropped their stockmarket reports and regarded me with obvious indignation. Embarrassed, I put the book aside until I could enjoy it to my heart's content in seclusion ... I only know that I laughed myself sick over it. |
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Micomicana
1979
Melbourne University Press, Melbourne
Hardcover, boxed, (de luxe), edition of 527, black and white
Micomicana
... a series of cheerful, bawdy short stories, placed in a fantasy
country called Pattipanonia, the dukedom of the Duke of Fanfrolico,
the capital of which is the town of Catchcrumpet.
Micomicana was published on 22 February 1979 to celebrate the
centenary of the birth of Norman Lindsay. This superb edition presents
a hitherto unpublished series of Lindsay's most robust and delightful stories,
together with over two hundred of the finest pen drawings that this remarkable
artist ever made. Every copy has been signed personally by Norman Lindsay's
daughter Jane, who is the author of the engaging and informative Introduction.
The Story of Micomicana from the Introduction by Jane Lindsay.
The first publication of Micomicana, ten years after my father's
death, seems a fitting way to celebrate his centenary. This book with its
exuberance, humour and spirit of eternal youth seems to me the quintessence
of Norman Lindsay. It is certainly as I remember him.
He began writing the stories in the 1920s, and in 1952 he wrote:
I've
finally managed to complete a work which I started about thirty years ago.
As a child I became acquainted with the Dukedom of Pattipanonia through
an etching Norman did of a map of all the places in the stories. (This
map now forms the endpapers of the book.) The pen drawings I can remember
well from my childhood ...
As he was rewriting and retyping the stories, he read them to me with great
gusto and enjoyment, particularly relishing his own inventiveness in the
absurd-sounding names of his characters.
When each story was typed and complete it was set into a large scrap book
... It was fascinating to watch the illustrations grow under his sure,
precise and seemingly effortless pen. Sometimes he talked as he worked,
and I listened and watched with admiration. My interest in the project
was intensified by his promise to give me the finished 'scrap book', and
mounting the typescript and drawings became a joint and absorbing project
... Some of the typed sheets had blank spaces carefully ruled into them
for the later addition of small drawings, and Norman did a neat job typing
around them. The resulting tome he bound in leather and carefully inscribed
its name on the cover — a complete and satisfying job. All this was
a night-time pursuit in the studio, belonging as it did to the category
of 'larks' ... Watching the book grow was an unforgettable experience,
apart from being a lark for both of us.
Published posthumously. |
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