Mercury House
Guided by a dedication to literary values and the free exchange of thought
Mercury House has published over 172 books to date.
Below are books recently out of print, available from other sources.
A full/searchable front and backlist is here.
Green Essentials: What You Need to Know About the Environment
Geoffrey Saign
OUT OF PRINT
"In this age of well-financed public relations efforts, sound-bites, and disinformation campaigns by those who would despoil the environment, Green Essentials provides a concise, informative voice of reason for the concerned layperson." — Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund
The Green Reader: Essays Toward a Sustainable Society
Andrew Dobson, Editor
OUT OF PRINT
This international anthology on Green thought provides a thorough introduction to the different approaches environmental visionaries cover in examining our lives as social beings in the natural world.
Earth Keepers: A Sourcebook for Environmental Issues and Action
Leslie Baer-Brown and Bob Rhein
OUT OF PRINT
The hosts of the nationally syndicated radio program "Earth Watch" have devised an invaluable guide to environmental theory and action — one that explains the root causes of the earth's problems at the same time that it illuminates the path toward solving them.
Pharmako/Gnosis, Pharmako/Dynamis, and Pharmako/Poeia
Dale Pendell
AVAILABLE FROM RANDOM HOUSE
An encyclopedic study of the history and uses of psychoactive plants and related synthetics, the trilogy forms an interrelated suite of works that provide a unique immersion in this medically, culturally, and spiritually fascinating subject.
Lao-tzu's Taoteching
Translated by Red Pine
AVAILABLE FROM COPPER CANYON
The Taoteching, written some 2,500 years ago by a man known only as Lao-tzu ("the Old Master"), encapsulates the wisdom of Taoism. This revered text, published bilingually, recreates the ancient poetry that has made the Taoteching the most quoted book in the Chinese language.
Guide to Capturing a Plum Blossom
Sung Po-jen, translated by Red Pine
AVAILABLE FROM COPPER CANYON
This ancient text aims not at technical artistic training but at the training of artistic perception: not how to hold a brush, but rather how to really see a plum blossom. First published in 1238 CE, this may be the world’s first printed book of art and literature.
Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits
Translated by Red Pine
AVAILABLE FROM COPPER CANYON
"This fascinating book combines first-person accounts of meetings with modern-day Chinese hermits with a wealth of historical information." — Yoga Journal
The Harp and the Shadow
Alejo Carpentier, translated by Tom and Carol Christensen
OUT OF PRINT
"An extraordinary display of historical inquisitiveness and stylistic maturity, a book that dares to awaken Columbus from his glorious eternal rest to denounce his foolishness, his mendacity, his insatiable greed for gold." — New York Times Book Review
The Origin of the World
Pierre Michon, translated by Wyatt Mason
AVAILABLE FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
"A slender book in length, but not in style and language.... Michon's short fable obliges us to recognize, within and beyond sexual fantasy, strains of cruelty directed toward beauty." — Harper's
Masters and Servants
Pierre Michon, translated by Wyatt Mason
AVAILABLE FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
"Michon offers a brilliant tour de force of five pieces about art and artists: an often indescribably eloquent modern taking up where Vasari, say, might have left off.... Stylistically demanding, but a book often as passionate, beautiful, and skilled as the paintings it springs from." — Kirkus Reviews
Camille Claudel: Une Femme
Anne Delbée, translated by Carol Cosman
OUT OF PRINT
A fictionalized biography of the great nineteenth-century sculptor. Anne Delbée’s sensitive and sympathetic portrayal of Camille Claudel spotlights the life of both an exceptional woman and an extraordinary artist.
Thirst: the Desert Trilogy
Shulamith Hareven
OUT OF PRINT
Esteemed Israeli writer Shulamith Hareven completes her greatest project with this trilogy, a collection of three linked novellas set in the biblical era. "First-rate fiction, beautifully translated, by one of the world's great contemporary women writers." — Publishers Weekly
The Temple of Iconolasts
J. Rodolfo Wilcock, translated by Lawrence Venuti
AVAILABLE FROM GODINE
"Compellingly whimsical, alienated, pseudo-scientific, bizarre: all these adjectives describe this fiction in the form of a short reference work, the first book by admired Argentinian-Italian novelist Wilcock to be published in English." — Publishers Weekly
Tantra: the Art of Conscious Loving
Charles and Caroline Muir
AVAILABLE FROM THE AUTHORS
"With easy-to-follow exercises, this provocative and timely book offers modern couples ancient Tantric secrets for deepening relationships, intimacy and passion." — Yoga Journal
Red Diaper Baby
Josh Kornbluth
AVAILABLE FROM THE AUTHOR
Three comic autobiographical monologues by performer Josh Kornbluth. Kornbluth shows a deep affection for the wild, eccentric characters who people his universe. With a few deft strokes he paints unforgettable portraits, as true as they are funny. Together the monologues achieve real literary form and depth, as we witness a young man coming of age in a world that is anything but conventional.
The Wig
Charles Wright, with an introduction by Ishmael Reed
OUT OF PRINT
"... explodes with the crazy laughter of a man past caring.... His style, as mean and vicious a weapon as a rusty hacksaw, is the perfect vehicle for his zany pessimism.... ‘The Wig' is a brutal, exciting, and necessary book."— The New York Times
A Girl with a Monkey
Leonard Michaels
Dangerous, compulsive, and deranged relationships define this celebrated compliation of Michaels' work. Perhaps best phrased in the New York Times, "For the characters in Leonard Michaels's short stories, marginality has its privileges."
Winter Diary
Károly Bari
Translated by Dezso Benedek, Endre Farkas, and Laura Schiff
OUT OF PRINT
This remarkable edition collects the best work of a leading contemporary Hungarian poet. Designed by the author, with full-color illustrations, French flaps, colored endpapers, and high-quality paper.
No Pictures in my Grave: A Spiritual Journey in Sicily
Susan Caperna Lloyd
OUT OF PRINT
The story of a woman’s journey to self-realization by means of the rituals and legends of Sicily. Lloyd travels to the spiritual landmarks of Sicily searching for the secrets of these powerful female symbols. As she journeys alone into the heart of Sicily, tensions between this quest for feminine strength and historical validation and the male-dominated society escalate.
Without Force or Lies: Voices from the Revolution of Central Europe in 1989-90
William M. Brinton and Alan Rinzler, editors
OUT OF PRINT
A collection of essays, speeches, and eyewitness accounts from those directly involved in the events of 1989 in Central Europe. Contributors include Andrei Sakharov, Václav Havel, Alfred Herrhausen, Reiner Kunze, Edith Anderson, Eric Gabriel, Günther Grass, Ewa Kuryluk, Leszek Balcerowicz, Josef Skvorecký, Tamas Aczel, George Paul Csicsery, Norman Manea, Thomas A. Oleszczuk, and Mikhail Gorbachev.