Blast Books is a New York-based book publisher whose catalog consists of

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

books which focus on cultural and historical subjects, often of an obscure or unusual nature. Many of their publications include archival illustrations and photography. Blast has published titles by

John Strausbaugh John Strausbaugh (born 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American author, cultural commentator, and host of ''The New York Times'' ''Weekend Explorer'' video podcast series on New York City. Among other topics, he is an authority on the history ...

, Drew Friedman, Suehiro Maruo, Hideshi Hino, James Edmonson, John Harley Warner, Ken Smith, Arne Svenson, Steve Young, Gretchen Worden,

Teller Teller or telling may refer to: People * Teller (surname) * Teller (magician), one half of the duo Penn & Teller Places * Teller, Alaska, United States ** Teller Airport * Teller County, Colorado, United States Other uses * 5006 Teller, a minor ...

, and others.

Selected publications

Blast has published two large-format photographic books about the

Mütter Museum The Mütter Museum is a medical museum located in the Center City area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It contains a collection of anatomical and pathological specimens, wax models, and antique medical equipment. The museum is part of The C ...

. The first, ''Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia'' (2002), contains images of the museum's exhibits shot by contemporary fine art photographers, including William Wegman, Joel-Peter Witkin,

Shelby Lee Adams Shelby Lee Adams (born October 24, 1950)Mark, Rebecca & Vaughan, Robert (2004) ''The South'', Greenwood Press, , p. 60-61 is an American environmental portrait photographer and artist best known for his images of Appalachian family life. Life a ...

, and Rosamond Purcell. The second, ''Mütter Museum Historic Medical Photographs'' (2007), focuses on the museum's archive of rare historic photographs, most of which were previously unpublished. ''Hidden Treasure'' (2012) was published in conjunction with the National Library of Medicine, the world's largest medical library. The book features artifacts from the library's private collection, dating from the 13th through the 20th century, including color-illustrated

medical book A medical encyclopaedia is a comprehensive written compendium that holds information about diseases, medical conditions, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries. It may contain an extensive gallery of medicine-related photographs and illustration ...

s; rare

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced ...

s; pamphlets and

ephemera Ephemera are transitory creations which are not meant to be retained or preserved. Its etymological origins extends to Ancient Greece, with the common definition of the word being: "the minor transient documents of everyday life". Ambiguous in ...

; “

magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lens (optics), lenses, and a light source. ...

” slides; toys; stereograph cards; scrapbooks; film stills; posters; and more. Edmonson and Warner's ''Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine: 1880-1930'' (2009) catalogued over 100 previously unpublished archival photographs of students at prominent American medical schools posing alongside

dissected Dissection (from Latin ' "to cut to pieces"; also called anatomization) is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause ...

cadavers in their anatomy classes. Blast has produced three books in conjunction with the Center for Land Use Interpretation: ''Up River: Man-Made Sites of Interest on the Hudson from the Battery to Troy'', by Matthew Coolidge (2008), ''Around the Bay: Man-Made Sites of Interest in the San Francisco Bay Region'' (2013), and '' Los Alamos

Rolodex A Rolodex is a rotating card file device used to store business contact information. Its name, a portmanteau of the words ''rolling'' and ''index'', has become somewhat genericized (usually as ''rolodex'') for any personal organizer performing th ...

: Doing Business with the National Lab, 1967-1978'' (2016). In 2000 Blast published ''"When I'm Dead All This Will Be Yours!": Joe Teller – A Portrait by His Kid'', by Teller (of

Penn & Teller Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic. The duo h ...

) and his father Joe. Blast's 2013 book, ''Everything's Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of

Industrial Musicals An industrial musical is a musical performed internally for the employees or shareholders of a business to create a feeling of being part of a team, to entertain, and/or to educate and motivate the management and salespeople to improve sales and ...

'', by former

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of '' Late Night with David Letterma ...

comedy writer Steve Young and cartoonist Sport Murphy, offered the first chronicle of a neglected genre of music history: the theatrical productions staged by corporations to promote new products to their sales force. In 2016, the book rights were acquired by

Amblin Entertainment Amblin Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions and Steven Spielberg Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy (producer), Kathlee ...

, who announced development of a film production starring

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 20 ...

and

Kristen Wiig Kristen Carroll Wiig (; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Canandaigua, New York, she was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Rochester, New York. She moved to Los Angeles, where she joi ...

. ''

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizati ...

: 3 Days'', published in 2016, chronicles a three-day park bench monologue by the Austrian novelist, playwright, and poet filmed by

Ferry Radax Ferry Radax (20 June 1932 – 9 September 2021) was an Austrian film maker born in Vienna, Austria. Career Radax was active in many genres since 1949. He studied at Vienna's Film Institute in 1953–54, followed by ''Cinecittà'', Centro Sperime ...

for a 1970 documentary film about Bernhard. In 2017, Blast published ''The Secret World of

Renaldo Kuhler Renaldo Gillet Kuhler (born Ronald Otto Louis Kuhler; November 21, 1931 – June 2, 2013) was an American Scientific illustration, scientific illustrator and Outsider art, outsider artist. He worked for three decades as a scientific illustrator for ...

'', the first collection of previously uncirculated illustrations by a prolific and idiosyncratic artist who created a vast body of visionary work without public recognition during his lifetime (1931–2013). (Renaldo was the son of famous railroad designer Otto Kuhler.) The following year, Blast published Robert McCracken Peck's ''Specimens of Hair: The Curious Collection of Peter A. Browne''. The book is based on "an oddball collection of animal and human hair assembled by an obsessive 19th-century naturalist hichwas at one time deemed worthless by the

Academy of Natural Sciences The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natu ...

, despite including samples from 13 of the first 14 presidents."Brady, Shaun, "Academy of Natural Sciences curator of presidents’ hair will exhume the odd lot Wednesday,"
''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Penns ...

'', November 12, 2018

Founding

The company was established in 1989 by Laura Lindgren and Ken Swezey. Lindgren is a professional book designer who edits and designs Blast's titles.

References

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External links

Blast Books website
Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Publishing companies based in New York City Publishing companies established in 1989 1989 establishments in New York City