A camera makes enemies; a sketchbook, friends. Firm in this belief, Irwin Allan Sealy carried to China just his pen and a book of blank pages. When the literary conference that took him there ended and his fellow writers returned to India, Sealy stayed on to travel the railroads of the north in search of a town reminiscent of his Himalayan hometown and a man who might resemble himself. Sign language, good will, and plain luck see him through, but in a northern mining town known for its ancient Buddhist cave sculptures, Sealy finally comes to the conclusion that his other was unreachable, his hometown was one of a kind, and his only hope was a pen, allowing him to record his memories, sketches, and adventures along the way. Sealy is known for both his fiction and his travelogue From Yukon to Yukatan: A Western Journey. This facsimile edition of The China Sketchbook, however, adds a special dimension to a travel narrative--the sketches and scribbles give readers a more immediate and unrestrained insight into the mind of a very fine writer and chart an unusual and quirky travel diary.

This is a collection of occasional essays by Liang Shih-chiu (1903-1087), the first scholar to have trenaslated the complete works of Shakespeare into Chinese. The authors turns homely things into interesting subjects, produceing curious vignettes from the panorama of society and reflects on the deeper meanings of life. In Chinese and English.

In this unique travelogue, an artist depicts his experiences and observations while living in western China with colorful illustrations. The nation of China is a constant source of fascination, yet we rarely glimpse life beyond its urban centers. Far west of Beijing and Shanghai, in the remote Chinese province of Yunnan, pioneering artist Henrik Drescher settled over a decade ago. While residing in his adopted home, Drescher records his experiences and observations in his illustrated notebooks, capturing everyday life in settings ranging from street markets to mountainscapes. These richly illustrated pages are compiled here for the first time. Drescher’s loyal fans will appreciate this window onto the life of the artist at the height of his powers, while those with an interest in Chinese culture will marvel at this rarely seen view of a country in the global spotlight.

San Francisco based artist and illustrator Felicia Chiao's "Sketchbook 6" is a faithful 1:1 reproduction of her personal sketchbook. Featuring 63 beautifully detailed color illustrations complete with Post-it note sketches and a personal handwritten introduction on a bleed sheet, this publication is as close to owning the original as one can get.

Ever since the 18th century, Mauritius has been enriched by inflows of people from Europe, Africa, India and China. The result, on the island today, is a harmonious mix of cultural and religious traditions (Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism).

In Kuala Lumpur, one of the most modern cities in Asia with a hectic pace of life, it is easy to overlook the blend of Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures and the corresponding traditional and colonial architectural treasures.

Architectural Details Sketchbook is about hand-sketches of details ranging from the Mediterranean to the American styles. It was purposely created to promote accuracy in creating details and to discourage the use of guesswork. Its main intent is to share creative ideas as well to architects, designers, students, and individuals alike based on its cultural heritage of style.

The Chinese Art Book is a beautifully packaged, authoritative, and unprecedented overview of Chinese art from its earliest dynasties to the contemporary generation of artists enlivening today's art world. 300 works represent every form of Chinese visual art, including painting, calligraphy, sculpture, ceramics, figurines, jade, bronze, gold and silver, photography, video, installation, and performance art. Full of surprises for readers of all levels, The Chinese Art Book breaks new ground by pairing works that speak to one another in unexpected ways, enlightening historical, stylistic and cultural connections. Concise descriptive essays place each work in context, while cross-references lead the reader on a fascinating journey through Chinese art history. The Chinese Art Book features an introductory essay by Colin Mackenzie, Senior Curator of Chinese Art at the Nelson-Akins Museum of Art, along with an accessible summary of Chinese political and cultural history, a comprehensive glossary defining technical terms, and an illustrated timeline.

This richly illustrated book celebrates in words and pictures the beautiful work that award-winning artist Alan Lee produced for J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, and includes dozens of brand-new paintings and pencil drawings exploring the world of Bilbo Baggins. Since The Hobbit was first published in 1937, generations of readers have fallen under its spell. That magic was reignited sixty years later when Alan Lee was commissioned to produce a special illustrated edition, and his delicate pencil drawings and beautiful watercolor paintings have become for many the definitive vision of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. In this sumptuous, large-format hardback, Alan Lee reveals in pictures and in words how he created these images, which would prove so powerful, matching perfectly with Tolkien's own vision, that they would eventually define the look of Peter Jackson's film adaptations and earn Alan a coveted Academy Award. The Hobbit Sketchbook is filled with more than 100 of Lee's sketches and early conceptual pieces, which reveal how the project progressed from idea to finished art. It also contains a wealth of brand-new full-color paintings and sketches drawn specially for this book, which unlock the secrets of how Alan creates his own magic and provide a fascinating insight into the imagination of the man who breathed new life into Tolkien's vision.

Bringing together a broad range of contributors including art, architecture, and design academic theorists and historians, in addition to practicing artists, architects, and designers, this volume explores the place of the sketchbook in contemporary art and architecture. Drawing upon a diverse range of theories, practices, and reflections common to the contemporary conceptualisation of the sketchbook and its associated environments, it offers a dialogue in which the sketchbook can be understood as a pivotal working tool that contributes to the creative process and the formulation and production of visual ideas. Along with exploring the theoretical, philosophical, psychological, and curatorial implications of the sketchbook, the book addresses emergent digital practices by way of examining contemporary developments in sketchbook productions and pedagogical applications. Consequently, these more recent developments question the validity of the sketchbook as both an instrument of practice and creativity, and as an educational device. International in scope, it not only explores European intellectual and artistic traditions, but also intercultural and cross-cultural perspectives, including reviews of practices in Chinese artworks or Islamic calligraphy, and situational contexts that deal with historical examples, such as Roman art, or modern practices in geographical-cultural regions like Pakistan.