The Kisokaido route through Japan was ordained in the early 1600s by the country’s then-ruler Tokugawa Ieyasu, who decreed that staging posts be installed along the length of the arduous pass...
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) was one of the last great artists in the ukiyo-e tradition. Literally meaning "pictures of the floating world," ukiyo-e was a particular genre of art that fl...
The making of the Eiffel Tower“The Tower is also present to the entire world... a universal symbol of Paris... from the Midwest to Australia, there is no journey to France which isn&rsq...
A bewitching history of a magickal practiceInitiating readers in the fascinating and complex history of witchcraft, from the goddess mythologies of ancient cultures to the contemporary embrac...
The life’s work of an infographics pioneerFritz Kahn (1888–1968) was a German doctor, educator, popular science writer, and information graphics pioneer. Chased out of Germany by ...
Playthings From the Past For the PresentUp until the 20th century, children’s play was not a subject that demanded much attention. While objects that entertained children have been pres...
The world’s greatest magicians from the Middle Ages to the 1950sMagic has enchanted humankind for millennia, evoking terror, laughter, shock, and amazement. Once persecuted as heretics ...
Sebastião Salgado traveled the Brazilian Amazon and photographed the unparalleled beauty of this extraordinary region for six years: the forest, the rivers, the mountains, the people who liv...
A culinary and graphic travelogue through EuropeJim Heimann’s new book on Menu Design in Europe is a mouthwatering feast for the eyes, featuring hundreds of European menus from the earl...
The evolution of style from antiquity to 1888Originally published in France between 1876 and 1888, Auguste Racinet’s Le Costume historique was in its day the most wide-ranging and incis...
A personal portrait of Paul McCartney by Harry BensonHarry Benson began photographing Paul McCartney in 1964, when the Beatles took America by storm, toured the world, and made their movie de...
Albertus Seba’s unrivaled catalog of animals, insects, and “freaks of nature”The Cabinet of Natural Curiosities is one of the 18th century’s greatest natural history a...
A catalogue raisonné of “the painter’s painter”Manet called him “the greatest painter of all.” Picasso was so inspired by his masterpiece Las Meninas that...
What’s Wrong in Tinseltown?The dark side of Los Angeles, 1920–1950In the years following World War I, Los Angeles was a city awakening to its darker side, transforming...
“A woman once rang me up and said, ‘Mr. Escher, I am absolutely crazy about your work. In your print Reptiles, you have given such a striking illustration of reincarnation.’ I rep...
The definitive photographic history of how hip-hop blinged out and redefined the world of jewelry, luxury, and styleWhether it's diamond-encrusted grills, oversized “truck” ...
A tour of contemporary home decor around the worldWith an inspirational richness and diversity of styles, these homes, residences, hideaways, and studios will astound and astonish, no matter ...
A building by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is at once unmistakably individual, and evocative of an entire era. Notable for their exceptional understanding of an organic environment, as well as fo...
A decade marked by adventures in futurismPublished annually from 1906 until 1980, Decorative Art, The Studio Yearbook was dedicated to the latest currents in architecture, interiors, furnitur...
Modern by TraditionA survey of Japan’s contemporary architecture sceneThe contemporary architecture of Japan has long been among the most inventive in the world, recognized for su...