Angus Trumble's Books

The Finger

A Handbook

By: Angus Trumble

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FROM THE AUTHOR OF A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SMILE, A COMPLETE INDEX OF THE DIGIT In this collision between art and science, history and pop culture, the acclaimed art historian Angus Trumble examines the finger from every possible angle. His inquiries into its representation in art take us from Buddhist statues in Kyoto to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, from cave art to Picasso's Guernica, from Van Dyck's and Rubens's winning ways with gloves to the longstanding French taste for tapering digits. But Trumble also asks intriguing questions about the finger in general: How do fingers work, and why do most of us have five on each hand? Why do we bite our nails? This witty, odd, and fascinating book is filled with diverse anecdotes about the silent language of gesture, the game of love, the spinning of balls, superstitions relating to the severed fingers of thieves, and systems of computation that were used on wharves and in shops, markets, granaries, and warehouses throughout the ancient Roman world. Side by side with historical discussions of rings and gloves and nail polish are meditations on the finger's essential role in writing, speech, sports, crime, law, sex, worhsip, memory, scratching politely at eighteenth-century French doors (instead of crudely knocking), or merely satisfying an itch—and, of course, in the eponymous show of contempt.

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Page Count

321

Publisher

Macmillan + ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429945613

ISBN 13

9781429945615

The Finger

A Handbook

By: Angus Trumble

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Finger

A Handbook

By: Angus Trumble

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

321

Publisher

Macmillan + ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429945613

ISBN 13

9781429945615

Helena Rubinstein

The Australian Years

By: Angus Trumble

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Helena Rubinstein

The Australian Years

By: Angus Trumble

The captivating story of the first global cosmetics empire, the fascinating woman who built it, and the past she preferred to leave behind ‘Because of Trumble's surgical precision, his empathy and self-awareness, his humour, his grace, his exquisite visual sense ... in his hands the facts of Rubinstein's life take on new and startling significance.‘ —Sarah Krasnostein Helena Rubinstein (1872–1965) is best known for creating the world's first global cosmetics empire. At its height, her name was synonymous with glamour, with salons in Paris, London and New York, and beauty products sold at cosmetics counters around the world. Much less well known are the years Rubinstein spent in Australia before she was famous. Recently arrived from Poland, aged twenty-three and speaking little English, she worked as a governess and waitress before opening her first salon in Melbourne in 1902. In this captivating and wryly entertaining portrait, Angus Trumble retraces Rubinstein's forgotten Australian years. Later, Rubinstein worked hard to suppress key details of her early life, but they reveal the origins of her extraordinary rise. In the laneways of Melbourne and the dusty streets of Coleraine, we see her laying the foundations of a global empire. This is the fascinating story of an enigmatic woman, the myth she carefully curated, and the past she preferred to leave behind. With a foreword by Sarah Krasnostein ‘Angus Trumble, scoured records to chart Rubinstein's progress to Sydney, New Zealand and on to a global empire ... Rubinstein's motto, “Beauty is power”, proved a shrewd prediction.’ —Robyn Douglass, The Herald Sun

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