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Updated 5/25/2007
Mendocino In The Seventies
(and early Eighties)In stock and available for direct orders.
"New Pioneer Family" - Tony and Ella Russell with son Jesse near their home in Elk / Greenwood, California, 1972 - © 2006 Nicholas Wilson
Above is the front cover of a new photo history book by Nicholas Wilson titled Mendocino In The Seventies released December 9, 2006. The hard cover book includes 160 pages with over 180 color and black and white photos of people, places and events of the Mendocino Coast during the 1970s (and a few of the best photos from the early '80s).
The books sell for $59.95 plus postage, plus tax for California residents.
The 200 book limited first edition sold out barely a week after the books were delivered, making it an instant rare book. Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino sold all of their initial 50 book allotment in four days.
The First Revised Edition has gone into its fourth printing due to continuing strong demand. The revised edition is virtually the same as the first edition with a few errors and omissions corrected.
The books are now in stock for direct orders from this website as well as on the shelves of Mendocino's Gallery Bookshop and Cheshire Bookshop on Franklin St. in Fort Bragg.
Paperback binding is available at a modest savings, but only for books ordered directly from Blurb.com, which ships internationally. Order direct from Blurb.com online bookstore.
You can order signed books direct from the author by mail or email (with payment by check) or online by secure credit or debit card payment. See below for details on ordering.
NEW 5/25/07 -- A radio interview about the book on the National Public Radio Tech Nation show is available for online listening or as a podcast download. It runs a tad over 8 min., and can be found HERE. There's also a new plug for the book on the Blurberati Blog
See an online preview of the first 15 pages of the book.
(2.5 MB PDF file opens in a new window, requires the free Adobe Reader to view.)
Archival Framing Prints Available
You can order exhibition quality archival framing prints of nearly any photo in the book, and many more that were not in the book. Send an email to mail@nwilsonphoto.com to inquire about availability and pricing.
Excerpts from
Tony Miksak's Words On Books review of Dec. 17, 2006
A new book by long time local Nicholas Wilson brings the (seventies) era to blazing life once more. It's time travel at its funniest and most poignant, especially for those of us who were there.
...
Reading Mendocino In the Seventies is a bittersweet visit to a time we imagined could last forever, but was gone in the space of a decade or so.
...
Only recently has it been practical to produce high quality, short-run print-on-demand books that rival the productions of major publishers. Nick worked closely with the people at Blurb, Inc. to produce this excellent book. ... Nick's book is the first I've seen that is indistinguishable from any other art book.
...
Thanks to Nicholas Wilson for setting out to document our times, and for doing it so gracefully. If you can find a copy of Mendocino in the Seventies by all means grab it.
Read the full review in a new window
Note: According to Blurb, Inc., this is the first published review of a Blurb-produced book.
Reader Comments
- Great job on your book. ... Sat down and read it cover to cover. I believe this book is going to have legs. It will have much wider interest than just those who experienced it. -- L.S. (consultant)
- Congratulations on the publication and for having sold so many copies so quickly. It's just beautiful! -- J.F.
- The book is just great. Lots and lots of memories.... cheers! -- J.L.
- Spectacular job my friend ... So many faces and friends from so long ago, lovingly done and beautifully assembled. What a great tribute you have set down for future folks and past folks in your personal chronicle of a truly magical time. -- W.S. (guitar genius)
- The book is great! I'm really enjoying it. Looking forward to seeing more from your archives. -- W.M. (music archivist)
- I just LOVE my book. It arrived in perfect condition and your photos are beautiful. ... It was a magical time and how smart of you to capture it all and present it in such a classy way. -- E.H. (kindergarten teacher and Mendocino Whale War veteran)
- Thank you, Nicholas, well done. ... Over all, this is a work to be proud of. -- M.P. (book designer)
- It looks very slick and yet homegrown ... congratulations! -- J.H. (designer and editor)
Book details
The times: Nick moved to the Mendocino Coast in 1970, and soon became a professional photographer who documented the people, the places, and the interesting events going on around him. It was a time of major culture change, the beginning of a wave of migration from the cities to the country. The Mendocino Coast was a magnet for artists, writers, musicians, craftspeople, do-it-yourself homebuilders, poets, beatniks, hippies, bohemians, free spirits and others who were drawn by the stunning natural beauty, by the old redwood sawmill towns dating from the mid 1800s, and by the availability of cheap land and low rents, among other attractions. The book includes some photos from the early 1980s as well.
The places in the book include the beautifully funky (pre-gentrification) old towns and gorgeous scenery of the central Mendocino Coast along Highway 1. There's a special effort to include notable businesses of the time that are now history, like the Pyewacket, the Uncommon Good, the Sea Gull, Alphonso's, Accelerated Research and more ... even Dostal's Clock Shop and Laundromat.
The people in the book include many who were part of the counterculture "scene," including musical groups like Cat Mother, The Mendocino All-Stars, Dirty Legs, Colors, the New Albion String Band, Mooncoin and other musical groups, and individual musicians like Judy Mayhan, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Billy Shay, Peter Oliva, Jerry "Coco" Cofrancesco — too many to list. Of course it's not only musicians who are pictured, but many others including Bill Zacha, Dave Sverko, Joe Ponts, Sam Costa, Raymond Hee, Peter Lit, Jim Bertram, Jane Brandon, John Griffith, Byrd Baker, J.D. Mayhew, Kathy O'Grady, Victor Biondo, Richard Mabbatt, Billy Ray Fitzhugh, and many, many more, all too many of whom have departed this mortal sphere.
The events include legendary outdoor rock 'n roll boogies (picnic/dance/concert) at Bo's Land on Albion Ridge, the Grossman Ranch on Navarro Ridge, Toad Hall Meadow and the Mendocino Woodlands. The Mendocino Whale War of 1976 and the first Mendocino Whale Festival are also included.
The book is a hard cover coffee table book measuring 10 in. wide by 8 in. tall, with 160 pages and a full color dust jacket. It's printed on heavy 80 lb. semi-matte coated paper on a modern four-color digital printing press using real ink, with full color available on every page. Of course, some of the best photos of the era were done in black and white, but many of those are color toned in a variety of shades appropriate to the subject matter. Photo reproduction quality in the book is excellent, and the printing and cloth cover binding are of "bookstore quality."
See sample photos from the book
New photos added 11/28/06
A signed copy of Mendocino In The Seventies may be ordered directly from the author for $59.95 each. You can place an order online from this page (below), by mail, or in person. You can also order by email and mail a check or money order.
All orders are for the revised edition, which is now in stock and available for prompt shipping.
If you want the new paperback binding or if you are outside the U.S., please order from the online bookstore at Blurb.com, the manufacturer of the book. (Books ordered from Blurb will not be signed.)
To order by mail and pay by check or money order: please specify how many books you're ordering and enclose payment for the appropriate total. Please refer to the table below for prices based on number of books, delivery location and sales tax, if any. Don't forget to include your mailing address.
Table of prices with sales tax and postage for mail and email orders only.
(Online orders will be computed automatically)
Your Location \ Number of books 1 book 2 books 3 books 4 books 1. Book price $59.95 2 x 59.95 = $119.90 3 x 59.95 = $179.85 4 x 59.95 = $239.80 2. California local pick up, with tax 59.95+4.35 = $64.30 119.90+8.69 = $128.60 179.85+13.04 = $192.89 239.80+17.39 = $257.19 3. California with tax & postage 64.30+7.50 = $71.80 128.60+14.00 = $142.60 192.89+14.00 = $206.89 257.19+14.00 = $271.19 4. Other states with postage 59.95+7.50 = $67.45 119.90+14.00 = $133.90 179.85+14.00 = $193.85 239.80+14.00 = $253.80 5. Outside the U.S.A. Please purchase online from Blurb.com
Prices and shipping charges are subject to change.
For five or six books the postage and handling charge is $20. For more than six books, please email for the postage and handling rate.
Orders for delivery in California are subject to 7.25% sales tax (included in rows 2 and 3 of the above table).
Please make your check payable to and mail with your order details to:
Nicholas Wilson
PO Box 943
Mendocino CA 95460-0943To order by email you can send email to book@nwilsonphoto.com and mail a check for the amount indicated in the table above for mail orders. We will assign you a book number immediately, conditional on prompt receipt of your payment.
To order online choose delivery and location options and then click the Add to Cart button just below, and pay securely by credit card, debit card, eCheck or bank transfer.
All of the tax and shipping calculations are done automatically — prompt full or partial postage refunds will be given manually in case of orders for local pickup or mail delivery to California and bordering states of orders for a single book.
Please choose each of two options below and then click the Add to Cart button below once. A Paypal shopping cart window should pop up showing what you are ordering, the price, and the quantity. Be sure you check to see the number of books you want is correctly shown. If not, you can change the number in the quantity box and then click on the update button before proceeding to the next step.
The online shopping cart is handled by Paypal, but you don't have to create a Paypal account in order to pay by credit card or debit card with Visa or MasterCard logo. (If you don't see how to complete your order without a Paypal account and password, scroll down your screen and look below the place where you would enter a password.)
If you prefer to pick up your book locally you still have to enter a shipping address and pay the shipping charge when you check out online, but the shipping charge will be refunded promptly. (Sorry the shopping cart is so clunky that the shipping has to be charged and then refunded for local pickups.) Please be sure to include your phone number to ease in making arrangements to get your book(s) to you. Contact Nick to make arrangements to claim your book(s).
If nothing happens when you click on the Add to Cart button, you probably have a pop-up window blocker, and you will need to allow pop-ups for the buttons above to work. (Holding down your Control Key while you click the button will work on some Windows machines. If you have Google Toolbar installed, it includes a pop-up blocker which you can turn off by clicking the toolbar graphic that displays the number of pop-ups blocked.)
If you have any trouble with the online order process, please email book@nwilsonphoto.com and ask for help. We can also email you a customized Paypal invoice if you want to pay by credit card, or you can simply mail a check to the address above.
Footnotes:
The book includes a few of the best photos from the early eighties because it's unlikely that a separate book will ever be done for that decade, but it's too clumsy to include eighties in the book title.
The limited first edition was produced in a small printing of 200 books, with every copy numbered and signed by the author. The book is published using a high-tech print-on-demand process which allows additional books to be printed to meet future demand. The first revised edition is now available in both hard cover and paperback.
Further details or changes will be posted on this page when available. Please bookmark this page, add it to your favorites, or remember to just Google Mendocino Seventies, and check back for updates from time to time.
As of this update you can go to www.Google.com , type in only the two words Mendocino seventies and hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button. You will find yourself at the top of this page, because Google lists it first out of about 15000 web pages found that include the two words. Cool, huh?
Please email any questions to book@nwilsonphoto.com (or nwilson@mcn.org if the other address doesn't work for some reason.)
Cat Mother band publicity shot, 1971. Charlie Prichard, Roy Michaels, Bob Smith,
Steve Davidson, Michael Equine, with little Jennifer Smith in front.
Click here for a page of sample photos from the book
New photos added 11/28/06You can see an online preview of the first 15 pages of the book.
(2.5 MB PDF file opens in a new window, requires the free Adobe Reader to view.)
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