Happy Holidays, readers! Until December 15, all of our books are 40% off in our annual Holiday Sale. That’s hundreds of titles across dozens of our series. For those less sure of what they’re looking for, we can offer some suitable gifting advice for the season.

The Decoration of Houses

Edith Wharton’s The Decoration of Houses, co-written with the architect Ogden Codman Jr., brought transatlantic fame to a writer best known as a chronicler of Gilded Age New York. In their decorating guidebook, Wharton and Codman, who collaborated on the design of the author’s Massachusetts home, The Mount, advocated for simple but classically informed choices that resonate profoundly today. This annotated edition includes a comprehensive introduction that provides relevant biographical information on Wharton, as well as her literary work and how her perspectives on homeownership and décor informed her writing. The reproduction of the book’s original illustrations alongside new annotations allows readers to visualize how Wharton’s aesthetic preferences informed her writing, life, and charitable works.

Adirondack Photographers, 1850–1950

Cover of "Adirondack Photographers, 1850-1890" by Sally E. Svenson.

Adirondack Photographers, 1850–1950 is a comprehensive look at the first one hundred years of photography through the lives of those who captured this unique rural region of New York State. Author Sally Svenson includes fascinating biographical details of more than 200 of the photographers who came to fame in the Adirondacks, including more than 70 of their illustrations. A compilation of captivating stories, Adirondack Photographers provides a vivid, intimate account of the evolution of photography, as well as an unusual perspective on Adirondack history.

Forever Orange: The Story of Syracuse University

Cover of "Forever Orange: The Story of Syracuse University" by Scott Pitoniak and Rick Burton with a Foreword by Eileen M. Collins and an Afterword by Floyd Little

A survey of the university’s history over the last 150 years, Forever Orange goes beyond the traditional institutional history, paying special attention to how the university has led in matters such as gender, race military veterans and science in academia. Forever Orange traces the university’s story from its founding in 1870 to today through exhaustive research and interviews to produce something that is both distinct, and lively, informative and approachable.

Fanny Palmer: The Life and Works of a Currier & Ives Artist

Cover of "Fanny Palmer: The Life and Works of a Currier & Ives Artist" by Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein, Edited by Diann Benti.

As one of Currier & Ives’s leading artists, Frances (“Fanny”) Bond Palmer (1812–1876) was a major lithographer whose prints found their way into homes, schools, barns, taverns, business offices, yacht clubs, and elsewhere, reaching a mass audience during her day. In Fanny Palmer: The Life and Works of a Currier & Ives Artist, Rubinstein chronicles the details of Palmer’s life, situating her work as the product of her own merit rather than as an achievement of Currier & Ives, and portraying the artist as an enterprising professional and one of the most versatile and prolific lithographers of her day. Both a biography as well as the first illustrated, annotated catalog of her drawings and prints, the book shines a spotlight on an accomplished artists and argues for her long overdue recognition.

Dolph Schayes and the Rise of Professional Basketball

Cover of "Dolph Schayes and the Rise of Professional Basketball" by Dolph Grundman

A first of its kind biography of Dolph Schayes, the star of the Syracuse Nationals during the team’s heydays during the 1950s and ‘60s. The book traces Schayes life from his early days as a child of Jewish Romanian immigrants through his decorated basketball career, both at New York University during the so-called “golden age of basketball,” and with the Nationals, where he was named one of the 50 greatest NBA players of all time and held six league records at the time of his retirement. In writing about Schayes’ career, author Dolph Grundman also reflects on many of the revolutionary changes that were happening in the professional basketball world at the same time; changes that affected not only Schayes and his contemporaries, but also the entire essence of the sport.