Novelty gift ideas for lovers of travel and the arts

November 21, 1:00 PMDC Art Travel ExaminerMarsha Dubrow

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Looking for novelty gifts for lovers of travel and the arts? Here are a few novel ideas:

-- Architecture City Walks of New York and Paris. Boxed sets have 25 foldout cards of a walking tour on a specific architectural theme. Say, medieval Paris, or historic brownstones in Brooklyn. Each 51/2" and 3 1/2" card in "Architecture City Walks: New York" and "Architecture City Walks: Paris" has a photograph of a site, historical info, and a map of the route. NYC or Paree for $18.95 each.

-- City Ties of London, Rome, Paris, or New York. Okay, so these are ties -- but they show his tie to a world capital. Preferable to designer labels, these pure silk $55 ties will label him as a world traveler.  And for the Bostonian in your life, a subway map silk tie is more mundane but less pricey at $39.99.

-- Lightweight book light. For reading on trains, in bed, wherever... The "Hydra Book Light" has two little "heads" with high intensity bulbs, on a flexible 5" neck, and 3" clip. Let there be light for $15.

"Hydra" might be hype, having only two heads. As we know, the Hydra of Greek mythology grew two heads for each head that was cut off. But what's in a name, or a brand.

-- "Anguished English" 2010 calendar. A chortle a day from these international slaughterings of the English language. A Beirut hotel sign: "Ladies are kindly requested not to have their babies in the cocktail bar." A Paris hotel sign: "Please leave your values at the front desk." How French.

-- Jane Austen Jigsaw Puzzle. Janeites and jigsaw lovers can use their sense and sensibility to assemble this 500-piece puzzle. It becomes a pastel montage of illustrations from the late 1800s with quotations from Austen's novels. And its box looks like a book, dear friend.

-- CDs of Edith Wharton short stories. Great writer and world traveler Edith Wharton's short stories, including "Roman Fever" and "Xingu", can shorten even the longest airport delay. Actors including Robert Sean Leonard and John Lithgow read the stories by Wharton, best known for "Ethan Frome", "The House of Mirth", and "The Age of Innocence" which won the Pulitzer Prize.

Wharton's "ruling passions" included travel, architecture, certainly books, plus "a good joke -- & perhaps that should have come first--".  She believed that "travel was the best means of dealing with the spells of depression she suffered from time to time," according to "Edith Wharton: An Extraordinary Life" (Abrams) by Eleanor Dwight.

These offerings are from the "Bas Bleu" catalogue, a compilation of unique novelty gift ideas focusing on literature and other arts.

The name is French for "blue stocking", which centuries ago became a rather disparaging term for literary women. Click here for a delightful history, gentlemen as well as bluestockings and other women.

Bas Bleu is a fun way to avoid Black Friday.

For more info: Bas Bleu, www.basbleu.com, 1-800-433-1155.