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The cover of Only Fans: white serif lettering and a white desk fan on deep red, surrounded by small fan icons.

Only Fans

A hardcover history of the fan

From palm leaves and peacock feathers to the oscillating desk fan: 102 full-color pages on the ways people have kept cool, in thirteen chapters.

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For hot days

When the air stops moving, someone picks up a fan. Only Fans follows that simple act around the world and through history.

It begins with the first fans, made of palm leaves, feathers and leather, and moves through the ceremonial fans of Egypt, the terracotta ladies of ancient Greece, the folding fans of China and Japan, and the coded flutter of the European ballroom. Then onto the stage, into the hands of advertisers, and finally to the electric fan, humming on a desk.

Every chapter is illustrated with museum pieces and photographs, printed in full color on heavy white paper. It is a handsome thing to leave on a coffee table in July.

Next time you flick a fan or feel the hum of an electric one, I hope you’re reminded that fans aren’t just tools — they’re timeless expressions of comfort, ingenuity, and connection.

Dodge P. Karavan, from the author’s note

Inside

  • A painting of a fan made of peacock feathers.
    p. 4 Nature’s First Breeze
  • A Greek terracotta statuette of a woman holding a fan, about 300 BCE.
    p. 23 Aegean Innovations
  • A carved and pierced ivory folding fan, made in China for the American market.
    p. 32 Celestial Breezes
  • A Japanese war fan of iron and bamboo, painted with a red sun.
    p. 46 Zen and the Fold
  • A French advertising fan for La Veloutine suspenders.
    p. 67 Billboards on a Breeze
  • An early electric desk fan with brass blades in a wire cage.
    p. 81 A Revolution of Air

Contents

  1. Nature’s First Breeze: Leaves, Feathers, and Leather
  2. Handwoven Heritage: The Art of Braiding and Weaving
  3. Across the Sands: Fans of Ancient Egypt
  4. Aegean Innovations: Cooling in Ancient Greece
  5. Myths and Monsoons: India’s Diverse Fan Traditions
  6. Celestial Breezes: China’s Timeless Fans
  7. Zen and the Fold: The Japanese Fan Tradition
  8. High Society and Hidden Messages: Europe’s Fan Culture
  9. Onstage and Offbeat: Burlesque and Cabaret
  10. Billboards on a Breeze: Promotional Fans Across Eras
  11. A Revolution of Air: The Dawn of Electric Fans
  12. Power and Precision: Modern Electric Fans
  13. Spectrum of Expression: Pride Fans and Subcultures
Only Fans standing on a coffee table beside a glass of red wine and a black ceramic panther.Hands holding Only Fans open to a spread of feather fans.Only Fans open to the chapter on burlesque and cabaret: a Victorian trading card and dancers with feather fans.

The book

Format
Hardcover, laminated case
Size
6 × 9 in
Pages
102, in full color
Chapters
13
ISBN
979-8304895668
Published
December 2024
Author
Dodge P. Karavan

Available in hardcover from Amazon.

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Coming soon

Volume 2: Sports Fans

The second volume leaves the drawing room for the ballpark, the racetrack and the stadium.

Photographs of fans at sporting events, in the stands, in the heat of the season.

Also by Dodge P. KaravanMy Aunt KarenA board book about the bravest woman in the family.