fuel publishing london (125 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket (As Issued). 1st Edition. The book is a bit warped.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Following the success of his first novel The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, artist Jake Chapman now focuses his malice on the calloused underbelly of literature itself. In Memoirs of MyWriter's Block, Chapman haunts the shady world of the professional ghostwriter, posing as fragile amateur scribbler Christabel Ludd whose broken attempts at completing her first novel are frustrated by an unshakable writer's block. In desperation she commissions a ragged collection of self-proclaimed professionals to transform the rudimentary tale into a compelling page-turner - with breathtaking results. The book follows the crushing and often bizarre process of having to get your novel written by someone else. The author, wracked with creative energy, resorts to poetry in a desperate attempt to relieve the tension built up over months of waiting for other - apparently more accomplished - writers to finish her story. Follows the crushing and often bizarre process of having to get your novel written by someone else. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hard Cover/Pictorial. Condition: Very Good+. British First. Minor wear; otherwise a solid, clean copy with no marking or underlining; collectible condition; well illustrated with over one hundred and fifty pages of images captured from the Internet - reproductions of paintings, drawings, woodcuts, cartoons, etc. Book.

First Edition. Hardcover, no jacket, very good with light wear.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. Soviets features unpublished drawings from the archive of Danzig Baldaev. They satirize the Communist Party system, exposing the absurdities of Soviet life from drinking (Alcoholics and Shirkers) to the Afghan war (The Shady Enterprise), via dissent (Censorship, Paranoia and Suspicion) and religion (Atheism as an Ideology). Baldaev reveals the cracks in the crumbling socialist structure, detailing the increasing hardships tolerated by a population whose leaders are in pursuit of an ideal that will never arrive. Dating from 1950s to the period immediately before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, his caricatures depict communism's winners and losers: the corruption of its politicians, the stagnation of the system, and the effect of this on the ordinary soviet citizen. Baldaev's drawings are contrasted with classic propaganda style photographs taken by Sergei Vasiliev for the newspaper Vercherny Chelyabinsk. These photographs portray a world the Party leaders dreamed of: where workers fulfilled their five-year plans as parades of soldiers and weapons rumbled through Red Square. This book examines - both broadly and in minute detail - the official fiction and the austere, bleak reality, of living under such a system. A must have for collectors of Baldaevs and Vaslievs work: anyone who has the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia I-III and Drawings from the Gulag, will need this to complete their collection Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. 'This is not solely an addendum to the previous volumes, but stands well on its own. The book's physical and emotional core lies in the Baldaev drawings, which are ethnographic, artistic, and surprisingly moving. His unflinching documentation reveals a world of systematic brutality and violence, where prisoners flaunted their savagery on their skin and punished their adversaries, poseurs, and the weak by etching humiliations into them.' - AlarmThis is the final volume of drawings and photographs from Danzig Baldaev and Sergei Vasiliev, which completes the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia trilogy.Danzig Baldaev documented over three thousand tattoos during a lifetime working as a prison guard. His recording of this esoteric world was reported to the KGB who unexpectedly supported him, realising the importance of being able to establish facts about convicts by reading the images on their bodies. The motifs depicted represent the uncensored lives of the criminal classes, ranging from violence and pornography to politics and alcohol. The illustrated criminals of Russia tell the tale of their closed society.With an introduction by historian Alexander Sidorov, exploring the origin of Russian criminal tattoos and their meaning today. Documenting over 3,000 tattoo drawings, this title describes the motifs that represent the uncensored lives of Russian criminal classes, ranging from violence and pornography to politics and alcohol. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. The book includes examples from the 1960s through to the 1980s, but focuses on posters produced during Mikhail Gorbachev's campaign initiated in 1985. These posters attempted to sober up Soviet citizens by forcing them to confront the issues associated with excessive alcohol consumption. This government-led urgency allowed the poster designers to present the anti-alcohol message in the most graphic terms: they depicted drunks literally trapped inside the bottle or being strangled by "the green snake." Their protagonists are paralytic freeloaders and shirkers who always neglect their families, drive under the influence, produce substandard work, are smashed when pregnant and present a constant danger to fellow citizens. A two-part essay by renowned cultural historian Alexei Plutser-Sarno attempts to explain, from a Russian perspective, the reasons behind this phenomenon. Parallel title in Russian on title page and cover. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. In the process of decommunisation, Ukraine has toppled all its Lenin monuments. The authors have hunted down and photographed these banned Soviet statues, revealing their inglorious fate.In the process of decommunisation, Ukraine has toppled all its Lenin monuments. Photographer Niels Ackermann and Journalist Sebastien Gobert have hunted down and photographed these banned Soviet statues, revealing their inglorious fate. As Russia celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, Ukraine struggles to achieve complete decommunization. Perhaps the most dramatic demonstration of this process is the phenomenon of Leninopad (Lenin-fall)-the toppling of Lenin statues. In 2015 the Ukrainian parliament passed legislation banning these monuments as symbols of the obsolete Soviet regime. From an original population of 5500 in 1991, today not a single Lenin statue remains standing in Ukraine. The authors, both based in Kyiv, have scoured the country in search of the remains of these toppled figures. They found them in the most unlikely of places: Lenin inhabits gardens, scrap yards and store rooms. He has fallen on hard times-cut into pieces; daubed with paint in the colors of the Ukrainian flag; transformed into a Cossack or Darth Vader-but despite these attempts to reduce their status, the statues retain a sinister quality, resisting all efforts to separate them from their history. These compelling images are combined with witness testimonies to form a unique insight, revealing how Ukrainians perceive their country, and how they are grappling with the legacy of their Soviet past to conceive a new vision of the future. The eerie beauty of Ukraine's Lenin statues, toppled in the name of decommunization. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. This book features over 180 photographs and accompanying texts of Russian criminal tattoos from the Arkady Bronnikov collection. From the mid-1960s to the late- 1980s Bronnikov worked as a senior expert in criminalistics at the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, part of his duties involved visiting correctional institutions of the Ural and Siberia regions. It was here that he interviewed, gathered information and took photographs of convicts and their tattoos, building one of the most comprehensive archives of this phenomenon. He regularly helped to solve criminal cases across Russia by using his collection of tattoos to identify culprits and corpses. The Bronnikov collection was made exclusively for police use, to further the understanding of the language of these tattoos and to act as an aid in the identification and apprehension of criminals in the field. Unimpeded by artistry, these vernacular photographs present a guileless representation of criminal society. Every image discloses evidence of an inmate's character: aggressive, vulnerable, melancholic, conceited. Their bodies display an unofficial history, told not just through tattoos, but also in scars and missing digits. Closer inspection only confirms our inability to comprehend the unimaginable lives of this previously unacknowledged caste. Features over 180 photographs and accompanying texts of Russian criminal tattoos. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. A collection of previously unpublished postcards from the former Eastern Bloc - sinister, funny, poignant and surreal, they depict the social and architectural values of the period.Brutal concrete hotels, futurist TV towers, heroic worker statues - this collection of Soviet era postcards documents the uncompromising landscape of the Eastern Bloc through its buildings and monuments. They are interspersed with quotes from prominent figures of the time, that both support and confound the ideologies presented in the images.In contrast to the photographs of a ruined and abandoned Soviet empire we are accustomed to seeing today, the scenes depicted here publicise the bright future of communism: social housing blocks, Palaces of Culture and monuments to Comradeship. Dating from the 1960s to the 1980s, they offer a nostalgic yet revealing insight into social and architectural values of the time, acting as a window through which we can examine cars, people, and of course, buildings. These postcards, sanctioned by the authorities, intended to show the world what living in communism looked like.Instead, this postcard propaganda inadvertently communicates other messages: outside the House of Political Enlightenment in Yerevan, the flowerbed reads 'Glory to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union'; in Novopolotsk, art school pupils paint plein air, their subject is a housing estate; at the Irkutsk Polytechnic Institute students stroll past a five metre tall concrete hammer and sickle. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. This vivid and fascinating collection of propaganda spans over a century - a visual feast illustrating how persuasion, manipulation and fear were used to influence populations around the world.Do you know what propaganda looks like?A mural showing Saddam Hussein on horseback.A colossal cut-out of Benito Mussolini mounted on Milan Cathedral.A film of North Korea's Kim Jong Un parading an intercontinental ballistic missile.A Pakistani newspaper advertisement calling for 'Jehad' (sic).A soldier firing condoms from his gun in a Ugandan AIDS awareness and prevention campaign.A traditional Azerbaijani rug celebrating the achievements of Soviet space travel, with portraits of Gagarin, Tereshkova (and of course Lenin).Juxtaposing material from conflicting ideologies, Propagadopolis presents the broadest range of shocking, unusual and visually arresting images, encompassing all regions and eras of the modern age to demonstrate how propaganda has been wielded to evoke emotions, rally support or instill fear - to leave an indelible mark on the collective consciousness.Extended captions explain the fascinating stories behind this material, contextualising the strategies used by governments, agencies and individuals seeking to influence, deceive and demoralise through the use of propaganda.Containing many previously unpublished examples and with an enlightening introduction from Robert Peckham, author of Fear: An Alternative History of the World (2023), Propagandopolis is an essential visual guide to the enduring potency of the most pervasive, manipulative and persuading images of our time. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. Small garages and service stations are a vital - but fast disappearing - part of Britain's automotive landscape. Often independently owned and sited in idiosyncratic buildings, they are rightfully celebrated and sensitively documented in this essential book.You might use a local garage to change a tyre or replace your exhaust, but when was the last time you pulled over and took a good look at the building itself? In the spirit of Ed Ruscha's Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963), photographer Philip Butler has done just that. Over six years, he's travelled the length and breadth of Britain photographing these diverse, eccentric and idiosyncratic buildings. As motoring became popular in the early 1900s, the need for mechanical expertise to service, repair, refuel, and sell vehicles soared - and the 'garage' was born. From the Mock-Tudor fad of the 1920s via the Streamline Moderne of the 1930s, to the simple Modernist rationalism of postwar Britain, each era has produced a distinct automotive architecture. With the introduction of the Ministry of Transport (MOT) vehicle test in the 1960s, demand accelerated still further. A diverse array of structures was utilised - churches, cinemas, railway arches, fire stations, shops, factories - all proved versatile enough to find second lives as garages. As the era of the combustion engine draws to a close, Butler's enchanting photographs of 226 Garages and Service Stations document the charm and personality of these survivors of the petrol age. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. A fascinating photographic study of the previously overlooked Soviet Sanatoriums and their treatments - stunning eastern bloc architecture meets crude-oil baths and radon water douches. Visiting a Soviet sanatorium is like stepping back in time. Originally conceived in the 1920s, they afforded workers a place to holiday, courtesy of a state-funded voucher system. At their peak they were visited by millions of citizens across the USSR every year. A combination of medical institution and spa, the era's sanatoriums are among the most innovative buildings of their time. Although aesthetically diverse, Soviet utopian values permeated every aspect: western holidays were perceived as decadent. By contrast, sanatorium breaks were intended to edify and strengthen visitors - health professionals carefully monitored guests throughout their stay, so they could return to work with renewed vigour. Certain sanatoriums became known for their specialist treatments, such as crude oil baths, radon water douches and stints in underground salt caves. While today some sanatoriums are in critical states of decline, many are still fully operational and continue to offer their Soviet-era treatments to visitors. Using specially commissioned photographs by leading photographers of the post-Soviet territories, and texts by sanatorium expert Maryam Omidi, this book documents over forty-five sanatoriums and their unconventional treatments. From Armenia to Uzbekistan, it represents the most comprehensive survey to date of this fascinating and previously overlooked Soviet institution. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Audio Erotica is a perfectly pitched visual anthem to home audio entertainment. Using sales brochures from the 1950-1980s, a symphony of graphic nostalgia tracks the technological progress of our listening pleasure.Remember roller-skating wearing your first Walkman? Or relaxing to easy-listening in your pure white Philips lounge? Or playing chess on your JVC tabletop radio? All these scenarios can be found in the geeky and rarefied world of the vintage hi-fi brochure, where graphic design and acoustic apparatus make magical music together.From austere post-war Britain to poppy pre-millennium Japan, Audio Erotica presents a nostalgic nirvana of the strangest and most significant period hi-fi brochures. Alphabetically listed, from Aiwa to Zenith, with Braun, JVC Nivico, Nakamichi, Sony and everything in between, this book will resonate with any music fan.Setting the tempo are the pipe-smoking, high-end separates (amplifiers, speakers, turntables) of the 1950s, followed by the swinging Dansette record players of the 1960s, the prog-brushed-metal music centres of the 1970s, and the sleek capitalist cabinet stack systems of the 1980s - not forgetting the aerobic stereo sound portability facilitated by the boom-box, and that final high-fidelity, hardware hurrah: the compact disc. All accompanied by questionable fashion decisions and acres of shag-pile carpet.The evocative brochures in Audio Erotica track the technological development of audio equipment before the digital download, while simultaneously revealing the way hi-fi was marketed to the listening public. With knobs on. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. A follow-up to the hugely successful Soviet Bus Stops, with new photographs of bus stops in Russia, Crimea, Georgia and Ukraine. Christopher Herwig has an insatiable appetite for 'Soviet Bus Stops'. After the popular and critical success of his first book, Herwig has returned to the former Soviet Union to hunt for more. In this second volume, as well as discovering new stops in the remotest areas of Georgia and Ukraine, Herwig turns his camera to Russia itself. Following exhaustive research, he drove 15,000 km from coast to coast across the largest country in the world, in pursuit of new examples of this singular architectural form. A foreword by renowned architecture and culture critic Owen Hatherley reveals new information on the origins of the Soviet bus stop. Examining the government policy that allowed these 'small architectural forms' to flourish, he explains how they reflected Soviet values, and how ultimately they remained - despite their incredible individuality - far-flung outposts of Soviet ideology. The diversity of architectural approaches is staggering: juxtaposed alongside a slew of audacious modern and brutal designs, there are bus stops shaped as trains, birds, light bulbs, rockets, castles, even a bus stop incorporating a statue of St George slaying the dragon. Essential companion to the first volume, this book provides a valuable document of these important and previously overlooked constructions. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. Drawings from the Gulag consists of 130 drawings by Danzig Baldaev describing the history, horror and peculiarities of the Gulag system from its inception in 1918. Baldaev's father, a respected ethnographer, taught him techniques to record the tattoos of criminals in St Petersburg's notorious Kresty prison, where he worked as a guard. He was reported to the KGB who unexpectedly supported his work, allowing him the opportunity to travel across the former USSR.Witnessing scenes of everyday life in the Gulag, he chronicled this previously closed world from both sides of the wire. With every vignette, Baldaev brings the characters he depicts to vivid life: from the lowest zek (inmate) to the most violent tattooed vor (thief), all the practices and inhabitants of the Gulag system are depicted here in incredible, and often shocking, detail. In documenting the attitude of the authorities to those imprisoned, and the transformation of those citizens into survivors or victims of the Gulag system, this 'graphic novel' vividly depicts methods of torture and mass murder undertaken by the administration, as well as the atrocities committed by criminals on their fellow inmates. Contains 130 drawings describing the history, horror and peculiarities of the Gulag system from its inception in 1918. This title depicts methods of torture and mass murder undertaken by the administration, as well as the atrocities committed by criminals on their fellow inmates. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. Photographer Christopher Herwig has covered more than 30,000km by car, bike, bus and taxi in 13 former Soviet countries discovering and documenting these unexpected treasures of modern art. From the shores of the Black Sea to the endless Kazakh steppe, these bus stops show the range of public art from the Soviet era and give a rare glimpse into the creative minds of the time. The book represents the most comprehensive and diverse collection of Soviet bus stop design ever assembled from: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Abkhazia, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. With a foreword by writer, critic and television presenter Jonathan Meades. Represents the collection of Soviet bus stop design assembled from: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Abkhazia, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hard Cover. Condition: Very Good +. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good +. First Edition. Bound in blue cloth, stamped in black. A 399 pp. book on Russian tattoo art with over a hundred pages of black and white photos of people with "Tats" and over two hundred pages of illustrations of tattoos from the criminal sect of Russia. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. A fantastic collection of Soviet Asian architecture, many photographed here for the first time Soviet Asia explores the Soviet modernist architecture of Central Asia. Italian photographers Roberto Conte and Stefano Perego crossed the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, documenting buildings constructed from the 1950s until the fall of the USSR. The resulting images showcase the majestic, largely unknown, modernist buildings of the region. Museums, housing complexes, universities, circuses, ritual palaces - all were constructed using a composite aesthetic. Influenced by Persian and Islamic architecture, pattern and mosaic motifs articulated a connection with Central Asia. Grey concrete slabs were juxtaposed with colourful tiling and rectilinear shapes broken by ornate curved forms: the brutal designs normally associated with Soviet-era architecture were reconstructed with Eastern characteristics. Many of the buildings shown in Soviet Asia are recorded here for the first time, making this book an important document, as despite the recent revival of interest in Brutalist and Modernist architecture, a number of them remain under threat of demolition. The publication includes two contextual essays, one by Alessandro De Magistris (architect and History of Architecture professor, University of Milan, contributor to the book Vertical Moscow) and the other by Marco Buttino (Modern and Urban History professor, University of Turin, specializing in the history of social change in the USSR). Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. This book is dedicated to the Soviet Space Dogs, who played a crucial part in the Soviet Space programme. These homeless dogs, plucked from the streets of Moscow, were selected because they fitted the programme's criteria: weighing no more than 7kg, measuring no more than 35cm in length, robust, photogenic and with a calm temperament. These characteristics enabled the dogs to withstand the extensive training that was needed to prepare them for suborbital, then for orbital space fights. On 3 November 1957, the dog Laika was the first Earth-born creature to enter space, making her instantly famous around the world. She did not return. Her death, a few hours after launching, transformed her into a legendary symbol of sacrifice. Two further strays, Belka and Strelka, were the first beings to make it back from space, and were swiftly immortalized in children's books and cartoons. Images of the Space Dogs proliferated, reproduced on everyday goods across the Soviet Union: cigarette packets, tins of sweets, badges, stamps and postcards all bore their likeness. This book uses these unique items to illustrate the story (in fact and fiction) of how they became fairy-tale idols. Monuments now commemorate their pioneering role in conquering the 'final frontier': their heroism will never be forgotten. On 3 November 1957, the dog Laika was the first Earth-born creature to enter space, making her instantly famous around the world. She did not return. Her death, a few hours after launching, transformed her into a legendary symbol of sacrifice. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. French photographer Jason Guilbeau has used Google Street View to virtually navigate Russia and the former USSR, searching for examples of a forgotten Soviet empire. The subjects of these unlikely photographs are incidental to the purpose of Google Street View - captured by serendipity, rather than design, they are accorded a common vernacular. Once found, he strips the images of their practical use by removing the navigational markers, transforming them to his own vision.From remote rural roadsides to densely populated cities, the photographs reveal traces of history in plain sight: a Brutalist hammer and sickle stands in a remote field; a jet fighter is anchored to the ground by its concrete exhaust plume; a skeletal tractor sits on a cast-iron platform; an village sign resembles a Constructivist sculpture. Passers by seem oblivious to these objects. Relinquished by the present they have become part of the composition of everyday life, too distant in time and too ubiquitous in nature to be recorded by anything other than an indiscriminate automaton.This collection of photographs portrays a surreal reality: it is a document of a vanishing era, captured by an omniscient technology that is continually deleting and replenishing itself - an inadvertent definition of Russia today. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. Containing over 140 exclusive photographs - ranging from private homes to football stadia - across every region of the country, Brutalist Italy is the first publication to focus entirely on this subject. Best books of 2023 (Architecture and Design) - Financial Times 'Brutalist Italian architecture enthusiasts and concrete completists will be spoilt for choice by Roberto Conte and Stefano Perego's pictorial tour.' - Wallpaper* What makes Italian Brutalist buildings different to their counterparts in other countries? Containing over 140 exclusive photographs - ranging from private homes to churches and cemeteries via football stadia - across every region of the country, Brutalist Italy is the first publication to focus entirely on this subject. Architectural photographers Roberto Conte and Stefano Perego (authors of Soviet Asia) have spent the past five years travelling over 20,000 kilometres documenting the monumental concrete structures of their native country. Brutalism - with its minimalist aesthetic, favouring raw materials and structural elements over decorative design - has a complex relationship with Italian history. After World War II, Italian architects were keen to distance themselves from fascism, without rejecting the architectural modernism that had flourished during that era. They developed a form of contemporary architecture that engaged with traditional methods and materials, drawing on uncontaminated historical references. This plurality of pasts assimilated into new constructions is a recurring feature of the country's Brutalist buildings, imparting to them a unique identity. From the imposing social housing of Le Vele di Scampia to the celestial Our Lady of Tears Sanctuary, Syracuse - Brutalist Italy collects the most compelling examples of this extraordinary architecture for the first time in a single volume. The book is dual language, with texts in both English and Italian. Containing over 140 exclusive photographs - ranging from private homes to football stadia - across every region of the country, Brutalist Italy is the first publication to focus entirely on this subject. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. 'Each of these objects is personal, and has a personality, a story. In an age of in-built obsolescence there's something very radical in that. - Owen Hatherley, Tribune magazineA reprinted edition of the highly popular book from 2006.Home Made Russia features over 220 artefacts of Soviet culture, each accompanied by a photograph of the creator, their story of how the object came about, its function and the materials used to create it.The Vladimir Arkhipov collection includes hundreds of objects created with often idiosyncratic functional qualities, made for use both inside and outside the home, such as a tiny bathtub plug carefully fashioned from a boot heel; a back massager made from an old wooden abacus; a road sign used as a street cleaner's shovel; and a doormat made from beer bottle tops.Home Made Russia presents a unique picture of a critical period of transition, as the Soviet regime crumbled, but was yet to be replaced with a new system. Each of these objects is a window, not only into the life of its creator, but also the situation of the country at this time. Shortages in stores were commonplace, while wages might be paid in goods, or simply not paid at all. These exceptional circumstances lent themselves to a singular type of ingenuity, respectfully documented in intimate detail by Vladimir Arkhipov. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. Despite the borders of the USSR being closed to majority of its population, Soviet citizens were among the world's most frequent flyers.Following the 1917 Revolution, Vladimir Lenin made the development of aviation a priority. Assisted by advertising campaigns by artists such as Alexander Rodchenko, Soviet society was mobilised to establish an air fleet - from the very beginning of the USSR through to its demise in 1991, Soviet aviation flew its own unique path.This book unfolds the story of Soviet air travel, from early carriers like Deruluft and Dobrolet, to the enigmatic Aeroflot. Organised like an Air Force, with a vast fleet of aircraft and helicopters, Aeroflot was the world's biggest air carrier of passengers and cargo, responsible for a wider range of duties than any other airline.In an era when it was still common to smoke on board, the Aeroflot emblem appeared on cigarette packets, matchboxes and many other everyday goods. Aeroflot publicity alerted domestic passengers to new destinations or proudly presented the introduction of faster, more comfortable aircraft, while colourful advertising enticed Western travellers to use Aeroflot's international services.Aeroflot - Fly Soviet uses this ephemera to illustrate a parallel aviation universe that existed for 70 years. It pays tribute to generations of aircraft engineers, designers, pilots, ticket sellers, flight dispatchers, air traffic controllers, ground handlers and flight attendants, who jointly created this remarkable chapter of Soviet civil aviation history. The first book to tell the story of the Soviet airline Aeroflot using never before seen ephemera advertising, brochures, tickets and promotional items Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. The first ever spomenik guidebook, with over 75 examples alongside map references and information on why they exist and who built them. Spomenik' the Serbo-Croat/Slovenian word for 'monument' - refers to a series of memorials built in Tito's Republic of Yugoslavia from the 1960s-1990s, marking the horror of the occupation and the defeat of Axis forces during World War II. Hundreds were built across the country, from coastal resorts to remote mountains. Through these imaginative forms of concrete and steel, a classless, forward-looking, socialist society, free of ethnic tensions, was envisaged. Instead of looking to the ideologically aligned Soviet Union for artistic inspiration, Tito turned to the west and works of abstract expressionism and minimalism. As a result, Yugoslavia was able to develop its own distinct identity through these brutal monuments, which were used as political tools to articulate Tito's personal vision of a new tomorrow. Today, following the breakup of the country and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, some have been destroyed or abandoned. Many have suffered the consequences of ethnic tensions - once viewed as symbols of hope they are now the focus of resentment and anger. This book brings together the largest collection of spomeniks published to date. Each has been extensively photographed and researched by the author, to make this book the most comprehensive survey of this obscure and fascinating architectural phenomenon. A fold-out map on the reverse of the dust jacket shows the exact location of each spomenik using GPS coordinates. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. 'A rare and astonishing book, a glimpse of a deeply secretive world that has taken the author a lifetime to penetrate. It reveals more graphically than any Gulag history the unreformed horror of Russia: the lack of law, the rule of violence, the brutality, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. And yet it is filled with a poignance and a sense of personal tragedy that brought tears to my eyes.' - The TelegraphThe photographs, drawings and texts published in this book are part of a collection of more than 3,000 tattoos accumulated over a lifetime by prison attendant Danzig Baldaev. Tattoos were his gateway into a secret world in which he acted as ethnographer, recording the rituals of a closed society.The icons and tribal languages he documented are artful, distasteful, sexually explicit and sometimes just strange, reflecting as they do the lives and traditions of Russian convicts.Skulls, swastikas, harems of naked women, a smiling Al Capone, medieval knights in armour, daggers sheathed in blood, benign images of Christ, sweet-faced mothers and their babies, armies of tanks, and a horned Lenin - these are the signs by which the people of this hidden world mark and identify themselves. Features photographs, drawings and texts that are part of a collection of more than 3000 tattoos accumulated over a lifetime by a prison attendant. This title includes tattoos of skulls, swastikas, harems of naked women, a smiling Al Capone, medieval knights in armour, daggers sheathed in blood, and, benign images of Christ. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. 'A unique social document recording a now disappearing sub-culture. The criminals inhabit as desperate a nether world as you are likely to come across. A hipnotic aspect of art and words. ' - IndexThis second volume of the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia is an essential companion to the critically acclaimed first volume. It features previously unpublished drawings and photographs from the extraordinary archives of Danzig Baldaev and Sergei Vasiliev.During his lifetime as a guard in St Petersburg's notorious Kresty Prison, Baldaev diligently recorded over 3,000 criminals' tattoos and their coded meanings. His drawings form a unique gallery; a passport into a hidden world of shovel-faced politicians, fornicating devils, messages tangled in barbed wire. Tattoos on hands, feet, legs, torsos, foreheads, eyelids, buttocks and genitals all take their place in this fascinating document of a rapidly disappearing criminal society, where history, status and even sexual preference are indelibly etched on the body.Introduction by Anne Applebaum, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize. Working as a prison guard in St Petersburgs notorious Kresty Prison, the author diligently recorded over 3,000 criminal tattoos, documenting their meanings within this closed society. This title explores the extremes of this collection. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. A colourful photography book on this visually stunning vernacular artform, the images painted onto these trucks and tuks are a phenomenon, giving a unique insight into the rich cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. White stallions and exotic birds frolic around a waterfall, glamorous Bollywood stars sing, a sunset-silhouetted couple bathe in the ocean such are the images that adorn the trucks and tuks of the Indian subcontinent. These utilitarian vehicles provide a fertile canvas for the vernacular artists whose colour-saturated creativity covers every spare surface. Over four years, photographer Christopher Herwig (author of the Soviet Bus Stops series and Soviet Metro Stations) travelled 10,000 kilometres in his quest to record this overlooked artform. He has documented the characteristics of each region from Pakistan in the north, where intricately painted trucks often have a curved wooden peak at the front, symbolizing a princess tiara; to Sri Lanka in the south, where tuk tuks might equally be painted with holy deities or the Joker from Batman. The designs reflect a drivers identity, faith and aspirations and span a bewildering range of themes: ideals of masculinity might be intertwined with expressions of love and longing, while bold typography urges drivers to blow their horns or promotes a campaign for the education of girls. Sadly, as a result of government directives, alongside the proliferation of cheap, mass-produced decorations, this vibrant cultural expression is in decline, making this project all the more vital. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. Ukraine's overlooked modernist buildings are under threat from development, decommunization and war. Photographer Dmytro Soloviov has crossed Ukraine documenting them to form the most comprehensive publication available on the subject.What does Ukrainian Modernist architecture look like and why isn't it better-known in the west?Photographer and architectural tour guide Dmytro Soloviov is fighting to preserve the disappearing modernist heritage of his native Ukraine.These innovative buildings are an extraordinary blend of function, avant-garde aesthetics and ingenious design, but despite these qualities, they remain largely unrecognised. This is a result of several factors, including the stigma of belonging to the Soviet era, corruption, neglect, as well as the ongoing threat of destruction from both unscrupulous developers and war.From masterpieces such as the Kyiv Crematorium and Salut Hotel, to previously undocumented examples like the Uzhhorod Airport Terminal and the Novoarkhanhelsk Police Station, Soloviov has traversed Ukraine photographing the exteriors and interiors of these important buildings and their monumental art (mosaics, stained glass and sculptures). While the nation's attention is consumed by more existential matters, he has documented the unique identity of one of the least catalogued periods of Soviet architecture, his images forming a singular record of an unexpected and rapidly disappearing legacy.An introduction by renowned architecture critic Owen Hatherley, complete with historical images, cements these buildings in a cultural and political context. With over 120 examples across 240 pages, this publication is the most comprehensive available on the subject. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. The first book of its kind - a car book like no other - offering a deeply nostalgic look at beautiful vintage cars through the superb literature, leaflets and pamphlets that sold them to us. Auto Erotica covers the gamut of motoring in Britain during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.These rare ephemeral booklets are full of unusual graphic ideas and concepts. Their fabulous photography, dazzling colour charts, daring typography, strange fold outs and inspiring styles symbolise the automobile aspirations of generations of Britons.The book is also packed full of era-defining classic cars, from those we love to those you can't remember. Expect fast Fords, the XJS, the TR8, MGs, minis, Maxis, Renaults, Beemers, VWs, Vivas, Citroens, DeLoreans and a whole lot more - amazing motors from the past and even some from the future - as you've never seen them before. Whether its the poster for the three-wheeler Bond Bug or the rare and racy flick book for the Ford Cortina Mark III, Auto Erotica will delight and possibly drive you wild! Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.