Wayne Bonnett, artist and publisher, is the author of eleven books on California and regional history. His focus now is historical fiction, where he draws on his vast knowledge and research to create accurate settings and memorable, complex characters.
Born in Honolulu, Bonnett was raised in Los Angeles and settled in Sausalito across the bay from San Francisco. At California College of Arts and Crafts, he trained as a graphic designer and fine artist. His oil paintings of historic ships and maritime subjects draw from the rich heritage of such painters as Turner and Constable, while bringing a vitality and energy to the genre. His original paintings are now a treasure trove to draw upon for his new book covers in fiction. An award-winning editor and publisher since 1983, he continues to plumb the depths of the past in his short stories and novels.
CUTTY SARK
Oil on board
W. Bonnett
1982
Books
Bonnett's company, Windgate Press, established in 1980, published stunning coffee table books focusing on California and regional history.
The titles below are written by Bonnett and are available in limited quantities through Linda Fairchild & Company.
California and the Camera
The camera and California came of age simultaneously in the 1840s. Throughout the Golden State's tumultuous growth and development, the camera — from daguerreotype to digital — was an active participant.
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California and the Camera: From Glass to Film, 1850-1930, Sausalito, Ca.: Windgate Press, (2014).
Sausalito:
Moments in Time
The classic history of a unique coastal city’s first one-hundred years. Known worldwide, Sausalito remains a special place of unique charm, a reflection of its diverse, dynamic citizenry.
Sausalito: Moments in Time. A Pictorial History of Sausalito's First One Hundred Years 1850-1950, Sausalito, Ca.: Windgate Press, (1983).
Mt. Shasta Camera
Miller settled in Northern California from Oregon in 1898 and over the next twenty years, he became the foremost photographer of the region. He documented the booming logging camps, loggers and their families, lumber mills, narrow-gauge railroads, and private estates along the McCloud River and the slopes of Mt. Shasta.
Mt. Shasta Camera: The Photographs of Charles R. Miller, 1850-1930, Sausalito, Ca.: Windgate Press, (2005).
A Pacific Legacy:
Century of Maritime Photography 1850-1950
A treasury of rare historic photography from the museum archives
of the San Francisco National Maritime Historical Park explores
the rise of Pacific Coast seaports from San Diego to Seattle.
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A Pacific Legacy:
Century of Maritime Photography 1850-1950,
Sausalito, Ca.: Windgate Press, (1991).
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San Francisco: Gateway to the Pacific
City of Dreams: Panama-Pacific International Exposition
An exploration through photographs and period graphics from the Gold Rush through World War II of how seaborne commerce influenced the character of the City and the Pacific Coast of America.
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San Francisco: Gateway to the Pacific, Sausalito, Ca.: Windgate Press, (2010).
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Portfolio of Prints from the Exposition 1915 in San Francisco, the best-loved and most colorful international fair ever held.
Collection includes official photographs — stunning examples of early color photography — contemporary oil paintings, and rich black-and-white images.
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City of Dreams: Panama-Pacific International Exposition, 1915, Sausalito, Ca.: Windgate Press, (1994).
San Francisco By Land and Sea:
A Transportation Album
A fascinating account, illustrated with maps and rare historic photographs, of how Americans following the Gold Rush reached the city by the Golden Gate and transformed America’s transportation grid for the following century.
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San Francisco By Land and Sea:
A Transportation Album, Sausalito, Ca.: Windgate Press,(1997).
Presidio Soldiers:
San Francisco and Beyond
From the Presidio of San Francisco in 1900 to remote Alaskan outposts and the 1916 pursuit of Pancho Villa in Northern Mexico, Tucker Beckett’s extraordinary photographs document changing American military life.
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Presidio Soldiers:
San Francisco and Beyond, Sausalito, Ca.: Windgate Press, (2012).
Down River:
Sacramento to the Golden Gate
A remarkable photographic document of the Sacramento River, the vital inland waterway that contributed to California’s cultural, industrial, and agricultural character.
Down River: Sacramento to the Golden Gate,
A Pictorial Record 1849-1940, Ca.: Windgate Press, (2009).
Isaiah West Taber: A Photographic Legacy
The most comprehensive record of legendary nineteenth-century photographer Isaiah West Taber. With studios in San Francisco and London, he documented the rich and famous of his era, and explored with his camera San Francisco’s social milieu and cultural heritage.
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Isaiah West Taber:
A Photographic Legacy, Sausalito, Ca.: Windgate Press, (2004).
Build Ships! Wartime Shipbuilding Photographs, 1940-1945
Documentary photographs and text show how combined Bay Area shipyards produced over 1,400 vessels, an average of one per day for the 1,365 days of America’s participation in the war.
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Build Ships! San Francisco Bay Area Wartime Shipbuilding Photographs 1940-1945, Ca.: Windgate Press, (1999).
A Southern California Album:
Selected Photographs, 1880-1900
A Southern California Album: 1800-1900 Photographers recorded the last vestiges of an earlier culture and captured a vast agricultural paradise, sparsely populated Southern California on its way to becoming an urban empire.
A Southern California Album:
Selected Photographs, 1880 - 1900, Ca.: Windgate Press, (2006)
San Francisco Prints
A limited-edition portfolio of rare and colorful chromolithographs reflecting San Francisco’s early history and development.
San Francisco Views
A limited-edition portfolio of early photography of the City from the Gold Rush to 1900 reproduced in museum-quality lithography.
In the Press
PICTURES FROM NO MAN'S LAND has created something of a sensation in this country. It has been widely and very well reviewed...and by Scotland's equivalent to Manhattan's Village Voice."
"VICTORIAN CLASSICS of San Francisco is a
storehouse of visual and factual wealth."
"Congratulations on PACIFIC LEGACY! It's an absolute knockout of a book and I'm searching for time to examine it a bit more closely...Hope to help give it a push soon, although I doubt it needs one. Superlative!"
Charles MacLean
MacLean Dubois, Writers & Agents
San Jose Mercury News
Herb Caen
San Francisco Chronicle
Contact
For any media inquiries, please contact agent Linda Fairchild
Tel: 1-415-336-6407