Search Results: Titles starting with M from Books to Give ~ Books to Love

New York: Nan A. Talese Doubleday, 2001. First American Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Very Good. This bestselling biography of Marie Antoinette has been praised for its thoughtful and compassionate approach to its subject. The New York Times describes it as a "remarkable book" while Publisher's Weekly writes that "Fraser's approach is controlled and thoughtful." This book was the basis for the 2006 film Marie Antoinette. This 1st American Edition copy features pretty deckle edges, decorative endpapers, and 32 pages of color and black-and-white illustrations.

New York: Book of the Month Club, 2000. Hardcover. New/New. Mary Shephard. A nice set of the first four "Mary Poppins" books P.L. Travers wrote, between 1934 and 1952. These were re-published by the Book of the Month Club in 2000 as reproductions of the original editions, complete with the illustrations by Mary Shepherd, who did the pen-and-ink illustrations for all eight of the original books. (And when we say these are "reproductions," that means the first book includes the "Bad Tuesday" chapter as it was originally published. In that chapter, Mary Poppins produces a magical compass that takes the children to the four corners of the earth, where they meet people from representative cultures. But for Travers, "representative" meant stereotypes that produced controversy even when the book was published in 1934! She rewrote the chapter twice over the years to respond to criticism, and Shepherd changed her pictures, but be aware that this edition contains the original versions of both words and… Read More

Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1882. Hardcover. Very good. Despite its title, the Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott is not a "memoir" as we think of the term today. Instead, it is a biography of the great writer written by his son-in-law, John Gibson Lockhart, himself a respected man of letters in his own right. It was first published in seven volumes between 1837 and 1838 and then in a second ten-volume edition in 1839. It is notable for including many of Scott's own letters, and created something of a scandal when it was first published by detailing Scott's business transactions with his two publishers, both of which went bankrupt. Still, the Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott is considered by many to be one of the great works of biography written in English, comparable to Boswell's Life of Johnson. Our copy was published in 1882, in ten volumes like Lockhart's second edition. The volumes are half-bound in dark green leather with marbled paper boards; the same marbling extends to the end papers and to the… Read More

New York: Viking Press, 2005. First Edition. Hardcover. New/New. Meet Smithson "Smithy" Ide, an overweight, friendless, chain-smoking, forty-three-year-old drunk who works as a quality control inspector at an action-figure factory in Rhode Island. By all accounts, especially Smithy's own, he's a loser. Then, within one week, Smithy's beloved parents are killed in a car crash, and Smithy learns that his emotionally troubled, long-lost sister, Bethany, has turned up in a morgue in Los Angeles. Unmoored by the loss of his entire family-Smithy had always hoped Bethany might return-he rolls down the driveway of his parents' house on his old Raleigh bicycle into an epic journey that will take him clear across the country.  As Smithy pedals across America-to New York City, St. Louis, Denver, and Phoenix, to name a few stops along the way-he encounters humanity at its best and worst and begins to remember an early life that too many beers have blotted out. The baseball games, the home-cooked meals, the… Read More

Emeryville: Menus and Music Productions, Inc, 1998. Hardcover. New, CD is intact. Recipes from the most famous spas across North America, including Canyon Ranch, the Golden Door, and Rancho LaPuerta. Each section includes a description of the particular spa, accompanied by its menu selections which are light, healthful recipes with accompanying nutritional information. A history of each spa, details and ingredients for home treatments, and a CD of piano classics rounds out the experience!

Collector's Library. A delightful pocket edition of this well-loved work. Gilt paper edges, red ribbon marker, handsome deep red covers with embossed ship image beneath the dust jacket. Illustrations in black and white. Measures 4" by 6 1/4" - perfect for tucking into a Christmas stocking! New.

Monteriggioni, 1998. Softcover. New. Anna Ballero. A beautiful book. Ostensibly a recipe collection, the work actually details the story of the gorgeous Monteriggioni region of Tuscany. The authors write, "This collection does not aim to be just a cookery book but more a message, a memory, a journey in time," and indeed the stories in its pages transport the reader back to old Tuscany. The recipes and stories are accompanied by lovely watercolor illustrations evoking the beauty of the historic Tuscan region. This book, with its charming illustrations and evocations of the past, is an excellent example of what we hope for in a gift book.

New York: Little, Brown Spark, 2020. First. Hardcover. New/New. Roy Peter Clark, internationally renowned writing coach, compiles the best writing tips from a multitude of sources, quoting George Orwell, Natalie Goldberg, and Dorothea Brande, in addition to about 50 other books on writing. Thirty-two chapters of instruction and tips, with each chapter concluding with a piece of wisdom from Clark, adapted from the experts, such as "Prefer the complex human narrator," and "Write to delight and instruct." Kirkus Reviews writes, "Written in his usual easygoing, conversational, and encouraging style...Clark deftly mixes writing advice with personal memoir." Includes many exercises.

New York: Avenel Books, 1989. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/Very Good. Agatha Christie's work needs no introduction among mystery lovers: she is the best-selling fiction author of all time, beloved for her tales of mystery and detection. This volume features five of those stories, reset and published together, each taking place in a different faraway location: They Came to Baghdad, Murder in Mesopotamia, The Mystery of the Blue Train, Passenger to Frankfurt, and So Many Steps to Death. From secret meanings with anarchists and Nazis to a mysterious scientific compound in the Atlas Mountains, this volume will keep Christie fans thoroughly engaged and up at night. Gilt lettering on the spine and the un-clipped dust jacket is adorned with a fitting illustration of a dark and mysterious train.

New York: Pam Krause Books, 2015. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good; small flaw on back cover. Fanny Singer. This small volume is the perfect accompaniment to Alice Waters' other, more comprehensive cookbooks, especially since so many of the recipes are for...accompaniments. Some of the recipes, like the one for lentil soup, are for dishes that can stand on their own, but most are for items that work as ingredients, or condiments, or seasonings, for other recipes Waters has developed, or that you might want to use with your own favorites. Waters wrote My Pantry with her daughter, Fanny Singer, who also served as the illustrator. Waters, of course, is the famous food activist and owner of the California restaurant Chez Panisse; Singer is a writer, editor, and co-founder of the design brand Permanent Collection. Our copy is in near-fine condition, the only problem being a small flaw on the back cover. Both authors have signed our copy, with an attribution "To the Girls."