By coincidence, in the last couple of weeks, I acquired two of the books published by the Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. The Press was active from 1972-1976, 1978-1987, and for several years in the 2000s. My interest in the two books was very different, the first for the topic, the second for the publisher – but I should have bought it because of the author.
Sometimes, I wonder why I pull a book off the shelves in a shop. Especially, a softcover book that looks a bit scuffed up. But when I pulled the first purchase off the shelf and looked at the cover, I knew it was a “good book” and one that I was going to buy. When you see the picture and the title of the book, you’ll understand why. Then I looked to see who published it.
The second book, also a softcover, attracted my attention because of the publisher. I figured that there would not be many copies and there should be enough local interest to cough up a buyer. When I saw the prices listed on the internet, I went into WHOA mode – what is going on here.
With no further ado: book number one.
PIT PONIES, standing in front of the mine where they toiled their lives away. The title of the
book promised many more great photos – and there are lots of them. There is a family story
about these pit ponies. My grandfather, on my mother’s side, was the Chief Steam Engineer at the steel mill back in the twenties and thirties. When the terrible strike happened and barricades went up and work stopped, the ponies had been left underground. Story has it that my grandfather crawled under the wire and down a shaft in order to lead the ponies to the surface and safety. Don’t know if its true but a nice family anecdote.
Mining Photographs and Other Pictures 1948-1968; a Selection from the Negative
Archives of Shedden Studio, Glace Bay, Cape Breton; Essays by Don MacGillivray and Allan Sekula with an Introduction by Robert Wilkie; edited by Benjamin H. D. Buchloh and Robert Wilkie; The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax and The University College of Cape Breton Press, Sydney, 1983.
I posted this book up for sale on the internet and here is my description of the book.
From the Editorial Note by Benjamin H. D. Buchloh - This documentation of the photographic
activities of a local commercial photographer from Cape Breton – beyond the inherent interest of the body of photographs itself – intends therefore to function as an attempt at or an example of a critical investigation of the conditions of cultural production at a very specific moment: the historical intersection between colonization and marginalization, its social and political implications, and its cultural consequences. The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design would like to thank first of all Leslie Shedden for his permission to publish this archive. Furthermore, we would like to thank Leslie Shedden and his wife Mary, who have been supportive of the project over an extended period of time. They have collaborated in the most generous manner with Robert Wilkie, the co-editor of this book, in retrieving and providing necessary information. Clearly our thanks should go also to Cyril MacDonald, owner of Shedden Studio, Glace Bay, Cape Breton, who brought the archive to out attention originally and provided access to the negatives for the reproduction of the photographs in this volume.
This large format book, 277 pages, plus an errata page, is in near-fine condition. The soft cover is in very-good condition and the contents including all the reproduction photographs are in fine condition. It was very difficult to choose the maximum of five photographs that accompany his listing from the wonderful multitude of photographs, more of the community and its people than of the mine and its workers. A very scarce book.
And now onto the second book. Certainly, a minimalist cover and title page. But, the press carried the day, and again with another university press co-publisher.
Simone Forti; Handbook in Motion: An account of an ongoing personal discourse and its
manifestations in dance; The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax; co-published by New York University Press, New York, 1974. Printed and bound in Canada.
From the description of the book from the internet posting, that follows you will understand why the market for the book has expanded from Nova Scotia to the United States and perhaps beyond and why the pricing is in triple digits.
Simone Forti (born March 25, 1935) is an American postmodern artist, dancer, choreographer, and writer. Since the 1950s, she has exhibited, performed, and taught workshops all over the world. Her innovations in Postmodern dance, including her seminal 1961 body of work, Dance Constructions, along with her contribution to the early Fluxus movement, have influenced many notable dancers and artists. In 1972, the Press of the NSCAD University invited Forti to Halifax, Nova Scotia to write a book, as part of their collection, The Nova Scotia Series - Source Materials of the Contemporary Arts. Forti lived in Halifax for two years, from 1972 to 1974, writing and editing Handbook in Motion (1974). In Handbook, Forti describes several pivotal moments in her career up to that point and several of her pieces, including Herding, Face Tunes, Cloths, Fallers, and several Dance Construction pieces. The book also contains photographs, poems, and drawings, as well as copied pages from Forti's journals and notebooks and has been translated into French and has been published in 2nd and 3rd editions in English.
This softcover book, 151 pages, is in near-fine condition.
