Acquisitions, July 11-17

This will be the last "big" acquisitions week for a while, since I'm starting a new job in a new state on August 15, and won't see a paycheck till September 15. This cross-country move process is wickedly expensive, so I've got to watch my pennies here.

• William Wycherley, The Country Wife and Other Plays (Oxford pb) (Book Store)
• Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters (Penguin pb) -- I got the trivia question right again at Half Price Books ("What famous writer has several butterflies named after him?" = Vladimir Nabokov). So I used my 15% off to buy a few more books than usual, mainly from the clearance shelves.
• Bram Stoker, Dracula's Guest & Other Stories (Wordsworth pb) (HPB, clearance)
• Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast (Narrative Press pb) (HPB, clearance)
• J. Frank Dobie, Cow People (University of Texas pb) (HPB, clearance)
• Erwin Panofsky, Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (Icon Editions pb) (HPB, clearance)
• Colin Jones, Paris: The Biography of a City (Viking hc) -- I've noticed that in recent years, the "city biography" -- Robert Hughes on Barcelona, say -- has become an increasingly popular form. I'm strongly drawn to these books. (HPB, clearance)
  
• Josh Pahigian, The Ultimate Minor League Baseball Round Trip (Lyons Press pb) -- I can't resist books about baseball stadiums, either. (HPB)
  
• Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (Phaidon Press hc) -- Lovely edition from 1951. (HPB)
  
• Tadao Ando/Richard Pare, The Colours of Light (Phaidon Press hc) -- Gorgeous little volume of photographs of the work of a truly great modern architect. The Ando Gallery at the Art Institute of Chicago is one of the most magical rooms in the world. (HPB, clearance)
• Les Zazous (EMI/Pathe Marconi, 2 LPs) -- Back in the early Eighties when I worked at the late lamented Doubleday Book Shop at 53rd Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan -- it is prominently featured in the 1970 George Segal/Barbra Streisand film The Owl and the Pussycat -- this was one of my favorite albums to spin in the record department (which I shared with the late Doug Root, Matt Callaway, and Victor Gomez; theater music historian Ethan Mordden frequently hung out with us). The Zazous were a French youth culture of the World War II era (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zazou); their swing-based music is sprightly and fun. I was so happy to nab a copy of this hard-to-find album on Ebay!