Bookloft Staff Picks

I’m psyched about local artist & friend-of-the-store Walton Ford’s new edition of his PANCHA TANTRA, which has just arrived at The Bookloft.  The publisher Taschen has done a beautiful job of replicating its awesomely huge limited-edition monograph of 2 years ago in a smaller but still breathtaking hardcover.  It’s as we say a coffee-table book (11 x 14.8 in.) of 320 pages & it’s spectacular.  Walton’s bestial tableaux practically leap off the pages & the level of detail we see in the reproductions is awe-inspiring.  I remember seeing his show a few years back at the Brooklyn Museum & being absolutely blown away by the scale & color & the sheer achievement of his watercolors. The big PANCHA TANTRA edition sits like a Buddha in my home library & I think this sibling (lighter & more affordable at $70) wears its lineage equally worthily.

Walton’s agreed to come by The Bookloft to sign some copies in 2 weeks, on Friday, Sept. 25th at 7 p.m.  If you’re in Great Barrington then, you should stop by to meet the artist & see the repros of his work in the book.  (Signed copies will be in limited supply, so if you really want one & you’re unable to get here then, I’d suggest you call us at The Bookloft–413-528-1521–to order one sent to you.)  Walton’s an affable & animated guy, so it’ll be fun to have him here doing his artist-signing-his-book thing.

[I should mention another recent Taschen book of great size & importance that also landed at The Bookloft last month, namely the Artist Edition of Norman Mailer's MOONFIRE. It's limited to 1,969 copies & sells for $1000 (the dozen copies that have an actual moonrock in them are priced astronomically higher, & of course we don't have those)--the  lunar-landing-module-sized copies we have contain a plexiglass-framed, ready-to-hang, archival-quality photographic print signed by Buzz Aldrin.  The photos are from NASA's archives & are just stunning, & Mailer's text comes from his Apollo 11 reportage Of a Fire on the Moon. This commemorates one of the more important & memorable events of 40 years ago...]