Now I Lay Me Down to Eat: Notes and Footnotes on the Lost Art of Living (Paperback)

by Bernard Rudofsky (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Doubleday (November 1980)
• ISBN-10: 0385157169
• ISBN-13: 978-0385157162
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,090,375 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Treasure, September 1, 2007

By	Thomas Welbers "OLA Pastor" (Claremont, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is the catalogue for an art exhibit of the same name in 1980 at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York. It's relatively small and modest--9-1/2" x 8-1/4" x 1/2". Yet it is a treasure-trove of pictures and lore that I have never found anywhere else. The name derives from the ancient custom of reclining to dine, something very familiar to biblical scholars and ancient artists, but completely lost in Medieval and Renaissance depictions of the Last Supper. Another major section is devoted to the development (and artistic representation) of bathing as a communal activity over the centuries. As a lifelong student of the history and development of Roman Catholic liturgical practices, I found this book fascinating in revealing the interplay of culture and custom in the development of baptismal and eucharistic symbolism and practice.

Would I pay a premium "rare-book" price for a copy of this book? Knowing what a treasure it is, probably so. I certainly would not part with my well-worn copy for any price! A reprint of this marvelous little book is badly needed!