Journal
Four months after shutting our doors we are really happy to see the Rizzoli Bookstore to be open to public beginning today. Your continued support of the store during lockdown has made this day possible.
- Large sneeze guards have been installed at all registers
- Hand sanitizers will be available throughout the store
- We require staff and shoppers to wear masks
- Social distancing will be maintained
- We will limit the number of shoppers in our 5,000 square feet store to 20 at time
- Large sneeze guards have been installed at all registers
- Hand sanitizers will be available throughout the store
- We require staff and shoppers to wear masks
- Social distancing will be maintained
- We will limit the number of shoppers in our 5,000 square feet store to 20 at time
The House on Henry Street: The Enduring Life of a Lower East Side Settlement
By Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier
Published by NYU Press
Today we are proud to partner with our friends at New York University Press to present to you a terrific and important story about our home, the Big Apple.
On a cold March day in 1893, 26-year-old nurse Lillian Wald rushed through the poverty-stricken streets of New York’s Lower East Side to a squalid bedroom where a young mother lay dying—abandoned by her doctor because she could not pay his fee. The misery in the room and the walk to reach it inspired Wald to establish Henry Street Settlement, which would become one of the most influential social welfare organizations in American history.
Through personal narratives, vivid images, and previously untold stories, Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier chronicles Henry Street’s sweeping history from 1893 to today. From the fights for public health and immigrants’ rights that fueled its founding, to advocating for relief during the Great Depression, all the way to tackling homelessness and AIDS in the 1980s, and into today—Henry Street has been a champion for social justice. Its powerful narrative illuminates larger stories about poverty, and who is “worthy” of help; immigration and migration, and who is welcomed; human rights, and whose voice is heard.
For over 125 years, Henry Street Settlement has survived in a changing city and nation because of its ability to change with the times; because of the ingenuity of its guiding principle—that by bridging divides of class, culture, and race we could create a more equitable world; and because of the persistence of poverty, racism, and income disparity that it has pledged to confront. This makes the story of Henry Street as relevant today as it was more than a century ago. The House on Henry Street is not just about the challenges of overcoming hardship, but about the best possibilities of urban life and the hope and ambition it takes to achieve them.
Purchase now through our website!
A Young Nurse Creates a Blueprint for Action
Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier
“We answer calls from the private doctor, the free doctor, hospitals, charity workers, neighbors, the families of the sick, the street sweeper, and the janitor.”
–Henry Street Settlement founder Lillian Wald, 1914
It was a crisis not unlike today: When Henry Street Settlement was founded by Lillian Wald in 1893, thousands on the Lower East Side struggled with incurable diseases, unemployment, and access to food. The Settlement was established to provide low or no-cost home medical care and a wide range of social services to the Lower East Side’s poverty-stricken immigrant community.
Wald, a 26-year-old nurse, was a visionary. At the turn of the 20th century, in the world’s most crowded neighborhood—a place where a breadwinner’s illness could plunge a family into destitution—Lower East Side residents faced harrowing conditions with few protections or safety nets. Seeking to serve the city’s most vulnerable, Wald made Henry Street a place where New Yorkers could turn for help.
Today, the work continues. Henry Street’s history provides a blueprint for making decisions in the present as it meets the challenges of the current pandemic. The story of the house on Henry Street—a story about taking action, on the ground, in the community, to care for one another in times of need, is now more than ever a story for our times.
Lillian Wald and the Lower East Side neighborhood she came to serve in 1893.
Courtesy of the Print Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations, and the Library of Congress
FUNNY WEATHER by Olivia Laing
Published by W.W. Norton
“ I was thinking about the theme of art in an emergency in the columns, and then it struck me that it ran through many of the essays I’d written in the last decade. It felt like it was a frightening time – though not as frightening as now – and I wanted to put together stories of art as a source of power, resistance, inspiration, waywardness, as a kind of antidote to anxiety and despair. I’d just published Crudo, which felt like a portrait of terror and instability, and I wanted to put together something that felt more sustaining, too...”- Olivia Laing
Examining the role of art and culture as it impacts our political landscape as well our daily lives, this new publication collects a career's worth of Olivia Laing's writing that"celebrates art as a force of resistance and repair, an antidote to a frightening political time." With profiles on Jean-Michel Basquiat, Georgia O’Keefe, David Wojnarowicz, Hilary Mantel,Ali Smith, David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, Laing explores "loneliness and technology, women and alcohol, sex and the body. With characteristic originality and compassion, she celebrates art as a force of resistance and repair, an antidote to a frightening political time."
Out now!
The Journey Home!
When a solitary Polar Bear realizes there is no food for him in the Arctic, and that all the ice is melting, he decides to go for a swim to find some. Along the way, he finds a boat and sails across the ocean to the city, where he meets other endangered animals who all climb into the boat with him!
A graphically stunning introduction to constellations for the youngest readers, following the meteoric rise of global bestseller Seeing StarsThis stylish, informative board book helps younger children identify six of the most recognizable animal constellations from The Great Bear to the The Southern Fish!
BIG IDEAS FOR YOUNG THINKERS!
This is a multi layered book to be explored again and again. Extra info in the book includes a manifesto for talking about difficult topics and managing disagreements, a glossary of terms, a timeline of key thinkers, and an index of themes.
Feliz Cinco De Mayo! Today we recommend a beautiful photography book.
Graciela Iturbide expresses intense and poetic, personal lyricism about her native country.
Through her images this influential photohgrapher gives us a glimpse of Mexican society through her own lense. She captures everyday life through these images, the culture, religion, and rituals of the regions in stunning black and white photographs. Raising questions on social justice and the paradoxes in Mexican society. Telling a story of Mexico since the late 1970's! In which the country has been in constant transitional phases, the history rich culture and the modern blend between pages.
These provactive and powerful images might be muted, almost antifolkloric, but they create deep connections with her subjects.
This book was published as a companion to Iturbide's first major museum photographic exhibition on the east coast! It contains more than 100 stunning black and white photographs from her personal artisitic journey throughout a country she knows so deeply.
BUY GRACIELA ITURBIDE'S MEXICO HERE!
The 2020 Children’s Book Week will take place May 4-10!
Join us in celebrating Children's Book Week!
We'll be posting recommendations for kids throughout all our social platforms!
Along with two virtual author events on instagram and facebook live stories!
Children's Book Week is not only a celebration of books, but of genuine connection. It is a vehicle to unite kids and adults with wonderful books, authors and illustrators in order to foster a love of reading.
As we all take the recommended measures to keep ourselves and loved ones safe, we are keeping our festivities virtual!
Celebrate with us at home and online using #BookWeek2020atHome
What is Children’s Book Week?
Children’s Book Week is the annual celebration of books for young people and the joy of reading. Children’s Book Week is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year, events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, homes — wherever young readers and books connect!
Children’s Book Week originated in the belief that children’s books and literacy are life-changers. In 1913, Franklin K. Matthiews, the librarian of the Boy Scouts of America, began touring the country to promote higher standards in children’s books. He proposed creating a Children’s Book Week!
Check out all the fun at @rizzolibookstore instagram,
on our Facebook, and here at the website Journal!
BETSEY: A MEMOIR
Designer Betsey Johnson's new book delves into the fashion empire she built from its 60's rock n' roll roots! She's been pushing through fashion boundaries for decades with her whacky and eccentric color choices, pink tutu prom gowns and vibrant prints. She's continued to pull through, difficult relationships, health matters, and business failures. This memoir delves deeper into her journey as an artist and designer, and we learn even more about the woman behind such an iconic brand.
Mention the name "Betsey Johnson" and almost every woman from the age of 15 to 75 can rapturously recall a favorite dress or outfit; whether worn for a prom, a wedding, or just to stand out from the crowd in a colorful way. They may also know her as a renegade single mom who palled around with Edie Sedgwick, Twiggy, and The Velvet Underground, or even as a celebrity contestant on Dancing with the Stars. Betsey is also famous for her iconic pink stores (she had 65 shops across the US) and for her habit of doing cartwheels and splits down the runway at the close of her fashion shows. Throughout her decades-long career, she's taken pride in producing fun but rule-breaking clothing at an accessible price point. What they might not know is that she built an empire from scratch, and brought stretch clothing to the masses in the 80s and 90s.
Betsey will take the reader behind the tutu and delve deeply into what it took to go from a white picket fence childhood in Connecticut to becoming an internationally known force in a tough, competitive business. The book will feature Betsey's candid memories of the fashion and downtown scene in the 60s and how she started her own business from the ground up after designing successfully for multiple other companies. She will discuss that business's ups and downs and reinventions (including bankruptcy), and her thoughts on body image, love, divorce, men, motherhood, and her bout with breast cancer. Betsey will be richly illustrated with many of her landmark clothes, fashion sketches, and personal photos--making the book the perfect memento and gift for every girl (of any age) for whom Betsey is, as a recent New York Times profile noted, "a role model still."
We thank you for all your support during these difficult days. As a sign of our apprecation we are offering you a special opportunity to purchase selected Rizzoli New York books at a 20% discount. Please click on this link to see the complete list of eligible titles. To take advantage of our offer plase be sure to use our promotional code RIZZOLIPROMO20 at checkout.
CLICK HERE TO SEE LIST OF ELIGIBLE BOOKS!
The Offer is good through May 4th.
Tim Walker: Shoot for The Moon
Issa's Staff Pick!
Wildly eccentric, dazzling and saturated in whimsy. Tim Walkers: Shoot For The Moon, is fashion photography's fever dream. Delving into this archival masterpiece is beyond falling into the rabbit hole. Within it are some of the most revered and culturally important artists, musicians, models and influentials in fashion, film and music. This book is highly stylized, each image is striking and alluring. Favorite shots are Solange, Bjork, and Timothee Chalamet! -Issa
Shoot for the Moon, Walker’s much-awaited follow-up, draws audiences close to tell the story of fantasy’s other, darker side.
Delving into the art and mind of one of the most exciting, original fashion photographers working today, Shoot for the Moon showcases the breadth of Walker’s weird, wild wonderlands, in his signature opulent style and decadent eccentricity, exploring questions of imagination and inspiration, and where they come from.
Dazzlingly designed and lavishly produced, Shoot for the Moon contains spectacular photographs of some of the biggest names in fashion and contemporary culture, images that demand to be read as art as much as fashion. Featuring a long list of contributors and texts from Walker himself illuminating the images, the majority of which are new or previously unpublished in book form, Shoot for the Moon is set to be an unmissable addition to the library of fashion photography.
BUY SHOOT FOR THE MOON HERE!
Need a special book on a beloved artist, for kids?
Yayoi Kusama Covered Everything In Dots And Wasn't Sorry.
Yayoi Kusama dreamed of becoming a famous artist. Day and night she painted hundreds of dots onto large canvases. The dots soon came off her pictures and ended up on her dresses, tables, and walls. But she wasn't sorry!
A clever, quirky book about one of the world's most beloved contemporary artists - aimed at young readers and written from Kusama's point of view!
Yayoi Kusama covers her paintings in hundreds and hundreds of dots. Her dots come off her canvases to cover dresses, tables, walls, and more!
She creates mirrored rooms and fills them with glittering balls and lights, until there is an infinity of dots - just like in her paintings. Fausto Gilberti brings movement, life, and whimsy to the true life story of one of the most important contemporary Japanese artists of our time - an artist who is still dazzling museum- and gallery-goers around the globe today.
BUY YAYOI KUSMA COVERED EVERYTHING IN DOTS HERE!
In We Are the Weather, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the central global dilemma of our time in a surprising, deeply personal, and urgent new way.
Some people reject the fact, overwhelmingly supported by scientists, that our planet is warming because of human activity. But do those of us who accept the reality of human-caused climate change truly believe it? If we did, surely we would be roused to act on what we know. Will future generations distinguish between those who didn’t believe in the science of global warming and those who said they accepted the science but failed to change their lives in response?
The task of saving the planet will involve a great reckoning with ourselves―with our all-too-human reluctance to sacrifice immediate comfort for the sake of the future. We have, he reveals, turned our planet into a farm for growing animal products, and the consequences are catastrophic. Only collective action will save our home and way of life. And it all starts with what we eat―and don’t eat―for breakfast.
"An ode to collective action, persuasively asking readers to take a hard look at our own role in the climate crisis and its solutions." ―Kate Wheeling, The New Republic
Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of the bestseller Everything Is Illuminated, named Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and the winner of numerous awards, including the Guardian First Book Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Prize. Foer lives in Brooklyn, New York.
FUTURE WE CHOOSE: SURVIVING THE CLIMATE CRISIS!
Climate change: it is arguably the most urgent and consequential issue humankind has ever faced. How we address it in the next thirty years will determine the kind of world we will live in and will bequeath to our children and to theirs.
In The Future We Choose, Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac--who led negotiations for the United Nations during the historic Paris Agreement of 2015--have written a cautionary but optimistic book about the world's changing climate and the fate of humanity.
The authors outline two possible scenarios for our planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris climate targets. In the other, they lay out what it will be like to live in a carbon neutral, regenerative world. They argue for confronting the climate crisis head-on, with determination and optimism. The Future We Choose presents our options and tells us what governments, corporations, and each of us can and must do to fend off disaster.
“This is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. The book takes a hard look at the frightening realities of climate change, but concludes that humanity can still deal with this threat. Moreover, the book presents the existential challenge of climate change as a unique opportunity to build a more just world and to make ourselves better people. Most importantly, the book adopts a very practical approach, and suggests 10 concrete actions that each of us can take in order to create a better future for all the residents of planet earth. I hope we all take this message to heart.”
—Yuval Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.
BUY FUTURE WE CHOOSE HERE!
Weeks spent indoors have made time spent outside rare and precious. Stuck inside, we're more aware than ever of the city that persists out there. Streets may be empty for now and storefronts shuttered, but we know New York will be back.
As Posted before, Independent Bookstore Day has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 29th, but we'll be celebrating virtually all week with online events and tons of books! This celebration is a reminder that your local independent bookshops are more than just stores--we are cultural hubs and community centers where you can meet friends, enjoy a live music performance or just spend a few quiet hours. We are proud to be at your service.
Due to our stores temporary closing all festivities will conitnue online!
There is a huge importance of celebrating Independent Bookstore Day! It not only keeps your favorite bookstores afloat in the digital age, but it builds community and enriches it! We celebrate on the last day of April each year to bring together all our communities passionate readers to celebrate. This year we'll have to join you in the digital realm, but that's okay, because right now more than ever, we are counting on our website sales and the support of our community online. we have a lot of stuff planned for you this year, from virtual story readings to lnstagram live performances.
Join us for Virutal Events on our Instagram and Facebook stories to celebrate!
You can find that list here.
Connect with us on our social platforms! We love to see you tag us on Instagram. Have a photo memory from a trip to our store? or a pile of books from your latest shopping haul? Tag us! Keep the conversation going.
Want to support us? SHOP ONLINE! TAG US ON INSTAGRAM! TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
Use Hashtags #Rizzoli #Rizzolibookstore #Independentbookstoreday #bookstoreday
DEAR GIRLS BY ALI WONG
Ali Wong's sharp insights and humor are even more personal in this completely original collection. She shares the wisdom she's learned from a life in comedy and reveals stories from her life off stage, including the brutal single life in New York, reconnecting with her roots in Vietnam, tales of being a wild child growing up in San Francisco, and parenting war stories. Though addressed to her daughters, Ali Wong's letters are absurdly funny, surprisingly moving, and enlightening (and gross) for all.
"The single life in New York was not just disappointing, it was lonely. Of course there’s a ton of cool stuff to do there, but I got sick of seeing the latest MoMA exhibit by myself, eating delicious thin crust pizza by myself, and watching a homeless man argue with pigeons by myself."
-Ali Wong explaining what all single New Yorkers must feel.
"Dear Girls is not so much a real-talk handbook as it is a myth-puncturing manifesto."-Vogue
Ali Wong is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actress. She has released two hit Netflix comedy specials—Baby Cobra and Hard Knock Wife—and will star in the Netflix original film Always Be My Maybe. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two daughters.
CLICK THIS LINK TO PURCHASE DEAR GIRLS
WARHOL BY BLAKE GOPNIK
The definitive biography of a fascinating and paradoxical figure, one of the most influential artists of his--or any--age To this day, mention the name "Andy Warhol" to almost anyone and you'll hear about his famous images of soup cans and Marilyn Monroe. But though Pop Art became synonymous with Warhol's name and dominated the public's image of him, his life and work are infinitely more complex and multi-faceted than that. In Warhol, esteemed art critic Blake Gopnik takes on Andy Warhol in all his depth and dimensions. "The meanings of his art depend on the way he lived and who he was, " as Gopnik writes. "That's why the details of his biography matter more than for almost any cultural figure, " from his working-class Pittsburgh upbringing as the child of immigrants to his early career in commercial art to his total immersion in the "performance" of being an artist, accompanied by global fame and stardom--and his attempted assassination.
The extent and range of Warhol's success, and his deliberate attempts to thwart his biographers, means that it hasn't been easy to put together an accurate or complete image of him. But in this biography, unprecedented in its scope and detail as well as in its access to Warhol's archives, Gopnik brings to life a figure who continues to fascinate because of his contradictions--he was known as sweet and caring to his loved ones but also a coldhearted manipulator, a deep-thinking avant-gardist but also a true lover of schlock and kitsch, a faithful churchgoer but also an eager sinner, skeptic, and cynic. Wide-ranging and immersive, Warhol gives us the most robust and intricate picture to date of a man and an artist who consistently defied easy categorization and whose life and work continue to profoundly affect our culture and society today.
"John Lennon and I once hid from Andy in a closet at the Sherry-Netherland hotel. I wish I'd known him better. This fantastic new biography makes me feel that I do. It really reveals the man - and the genius - under that silver wig. " -Elton John
PRE-ORDER WARHOL NOW!
SUPREME
Over the past 25 years, Supreme has transformed itself from a downtown New York skate shop into an iconic global brand. Supreme—the book—looks back on more than two decades of the creations, stories, and convention-defying attitude that are uniquely Supreme.
Featuring more than 800 stunning images, from photographers such as Larry Clark, Ari Marcopoulos, and David Sims, readers will have unparallled access to behind-the-scenes content, including the company’s highly limited products—everything from t-shirts to bicycles—and collaborations—Nan Goldin, Comme de Garçons, and Nike, to name a few. The book also features a curated section of lookbooks and an index of T-shirts released since Supreme's Spring/Summer 2010 collections. And, with written contributions by pop-culture critic Carlo McCormick and film director Harmony Korine, readers will get exclusive insight into
Supreme’s core ethos from two lifelong devotees.
"Across 800 images captured by cultural behemoths from Larry Clark to David Sims, this sprawling book traces Supreme's journey from New York skate shop to world-renowned brand. With a laser-focused look like never before..."—Dazed Digital
Known as much for its irreverent and iconoclastic spirit as it is for its commitment to design and quality, Supreme’s products have become as recognizable and coveted as those from the world’s top luxury brands—this book is no exception. Beautifully produced, the book is the epitome of Supreme’s dedication to quality and design, including a reversible jacket with the signature red Supreme logo.
Independent Bookstore Day has been postponed until Saturday, August 29, 2020
Virtual Bookstore Party Set for April 19-25.
WE CAN STILL CELEBRATE VIRTUALLY!
While Bookstore Day is now planned for August, We are still celebrating,
VIRTUALLY April 19–25
#VirtualBookstoreParty
What is Independent Bookstore Day?
Independent Bookstore Day is a one-day national party that takes place at indie bookstores across the country on the last Saturday in April. Every store is unique and independent, and every party is different. But in addition to authors, live music, cupcakes, scavenger hunts, kids events, art tables, readings, barbecues, contests, and other fun stuff, there are exclusive books and literary items that you can only get on that day.
Why are we celebrating independent bookstores?
Independent bookstores are not just stores, they’re community centers and local anchors run by passionate readers. They are entire universes of ideas that contain the possibility of real serendipity. They are lively performance spaces and quiet places where aimless perusal is a day well spent.
In a world of tweets and algorithms and pageless digital downloads, bookstores are not a dying anachronism. They are living, breathing organisms that continue to grow and expand. In fact, there are more of them this year than there were last year. And they are at your service.
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT RIZZOLI AT THIS TIME?
Place orders ONLINE here at Rizzolibookstore.com or over the phone (212) 759-2424
Sign up for our Newsletters! drop your email on our homepage!
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM! @rizzolibookstore
Spread the word! Tell your friends! Support Rizzoli Bookstore!
Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food For Having People Over by Alison Roman
Okay, so maybe unfortunately "Having People Over" for dinner during this important quarantine is NOT an option! Do not look away just because of the title.
We all know that pasta for the fifth time this week is maybe not the tastiest or healthiest option and it's probablly getting boring in the cooking department. Most of you might be cooking for one or even two, but are looking for recipes in larger batches to meal prep for the week. Some of you might even be quarantined with an entire family! Which makes this book perfect for easy family meals or to host your own quaratine dinner party to change things up indoors! Keep everyone entertained and fed with these fresh recipes.
Alison Roman has an avid fanbase and it's easy to understand why. This book is sectioned into categories like, salads, snacks, sides, main courses, and after dinner deserts. Roman takes you through each category with delectable recipes, that also showcase her personality. Lush photographs fill the pages of this book with clear concise instructions that keep you enticed and entertained!
Make a Citrus Chicken roasted in Herbs!
Or a Celery and Fennel Walnut Salad!
Alison Roman is a columnist for New York Times Cooking and a contributor to Bon Appetit Magazine.
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New Arrivals
