Heart Stones

A heart stone is one of nature's gifts. Heart stones are not rare or precious in the typical sense--a good scour of a beach with any stones at all will usually turn up one or two heart-shaped stones. But heart stones, lifted from their obscurity, with all of their cracks and blemishes, lopsided and imperfect, are simply the best find on any beach. Beachcombers collect them, keep them as talismans, and give them to friends and lovers.

Josie Iselin, author of Abrams' very popular Beach Stones, has put together a magical collection of 100 heart stones, and each one expresses a universal feeling. Love, passion, admiration, obsession, reassurance, joy, intrigue, comfort, wonder, and many other human emotions seem to be portrayed in these homely but appealing objects. This little book can bring great pleasure to anyone who has ever sought inspiration and solace in nature.

Josie Iselin is a photographer and installation artist. She holds a Bachelors degree from Harvard in Visual and Environmental Studies. Although her training is in traditional photography, she now uses a flatbed scanner and a computer, exclusively, to produce images. Her work has been exhibited at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Intersection for the Arts, SF Camerawork, and art galleries in and around San Francisco, where she lives. She is the creator of Beach Stones, Leaves and Pods, and Seashells, all published by Abrams.