Bourgeois, Jean-Louis et al. — Spectacular Vernacular: The Adobe Tradition

New York, NY, Aperture Foundation, Inc, 1996. Softcover. Orange and color illus. wraps, 196 pp. color illus. "Celebrates the beauty, variety, and efficiency of traditional adobe architecture in West Africa, Southwest Asia, and the American Southwest. In the severe desert climates of these areas, centuries of working with mud in the construction of homes, mosques, and whole villages have given rise to a remarkable range of styles and forms as visually stunning as any fabled city of myth and imagination -- or any postmodern metropolis.. Noted Africanist Basil Davidson contributes an introduction that surveys centuries of interplay between Islam, older cultures, and the deserts of Africa and Asia." (inside front cover) This copy is WARMLY INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR to American artist Will Barnet and his wife Elena on the first page. VG- (Page margins are tanning lightly; this copy is WARMLY INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR to American artist Will Barnet and his wife Elena on the first page.) .