Combining art forms

June 8, 2007 8:30 PM

Could anybody suggest titles of books that are collections of prose (fiction)/poetry and photographs/drawings? Books along the lines of, say, Eduardo Galeano's "The Book of Embraces" which has short compositions about various topics and simple, yet pleasing, drawings. Thanks!
posted by hellhammer to writing & language (8 comments total)

The Secret Books, which has an advantage over nearly all other books because it contains stories by Borges.
posted by milarepa at 8:52 PM on June 8, 2007

Almost everything by William Blake.
posted by hermitosis at 9:14 PM on June 8, 2007

A few of William Vollmann's books have drawings or photographs by him along with the prose. At least half do not, and those that do, have a handful, maybe a half dozen or so.
posted by BigSky at 9:35 PM on June 8, 2007

Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald. It's mostly prose, but scattered throughout are strange and lovely photos.
posted by ourobouros at 9:57 PM on June 8, 2007

You might like some Nick Bantock books such as Griffin and Sabine.
posted by iconomy at 10:12 PM on June 8, 2007

You might also check out some surrealists. Andre Breton's Nadja comes to mind.

The May issue of The Believer featured an awesome article about The Codex Seraphinianus, a sort of imaginary encyclopedia with very pleasing drawings and entries in a mysterious, as-yet-undeciphered script (full text online). The book is nearly impossible to find, but the article gives a very tantalizing taste.

And ... you might check out the Nuremburg Chronicle (also a sort of imaginary encyclopedia -- and one of Galeano's intellectual ancestors, I think). Several universities have online exhibits of the Chronicle.
posted by ourobouros at 10:16 PM on June 8, 2007

Another vote for Austerlitz, and for Blake, particularly Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

Mervyn Peake8217;s Letters from a Lost Uncle and The Three Golden Keys by Peter Sís are ostensibly children's books; but both combine prose & illustration in a way that I, for one, have very much enjoyed reading as an adult.

If you know Latin, you could read the text in the Mira Calligraphiæ Monumenta: (sample images here) but it's less meant to be read than admired as a virtuoso display of calligraphy and manuscript-illumination.
posted by misteraitch at 10:56 PM on June 8, 2007

"Don't Go Where I can't Follow" by Anders Nislen may be what you're looking for.

Or "The Pelt" by Dose One (Adam Drucker of Anticon) is a good read.
posted by OrangeDrink at 6:34 PM on June 10, 2007