World Food Books

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World Food Books Gift Voucher

Published by World Food Books / Melbourne

$20.00 - In stock -

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A World Food Books gift voucher is redeemable in our Melbourne bookshop or via our webshop (here). An e-voucher (printable pdf) will be sent to your purchase email address (please notify us if you wish to have the voucher sent to an alternate address and wish us to fill in the receiver's details on the card).

Gift vouchers can be purchased in increments of $20 (Australian Dollars) and the total amount can simply be added to by increasing the quantity in your shopping cart. eg. A quantity of 5 gift vouchers will result in an item total of $100 - a $100 gift voucher. Simply click "ADD TO CART" 5 times, or update your quantity in the shopping cart.

If you wish to purchase multiple, separate gift vouchers in one go, please just email us and we can personally prepare and email you a payment request.

Please note: Please select Pick-Up on gift voucher purchse to avoid any postage charges. Accidental postage charges will be refunded right away!

Thank you.

For any questions, please don't hesitate to email: [email protected]

File under: World Food Books / Melbourne World Food Books Gift Voucher

G.B. Jones

1994 / 2022, English
Softcover (staple-bound), 68 pages, 28 x 21.5 cm
Out of print title / as new
Published by Kunstverein Toronto / Toronto

$45.00 - In stock -

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Long-awaited limited edition re–print of G.B. Jones' legendary 1994 monograph. Only 500 copies – now out–of–print at source!

G.B. Jones (b. 1965, Bowmanville, Canada) is recognized for many accomplishments: for the success of her post-punk band Fifth Column (1981–2002), the widespread influence of the many queer punk zines she co-authored, including J.D.s, Double Bill and Hide, her coining of the term “queercore,”and her prolific work as a “no-budget” filmmaker, scene photographer and visual artist. Her drawing series, “Tom Girls,” originally published in J.D.s, replaced Tom of Finland’s iconic, “hyper-virile studs” with bold, uncompromising leather dykes, co-opting Finland’s objectified, male-on-male erotica and presenting a world of “nasty female role models”—Dodie Bellamy.

In 1994, Feature Inc. + Instituting Contemporary Idea in New York released the monograph G.B. Jones. Edited and designed by Steve Lafreniere, the book compiled Jones’ “Tom Girls” drawings alongside show and film posters, record covers, comics and commissioned writing, including contributions and appearances by Dennis Cooper, Vaginal Davis, Dodie Bellamy, Kevin Killian, Caroline Azar, Johnny Noxzema, and others. As part of a campaign by the Canadian Border Services agency against allegedly pornographic or immoral materials in the 1990s, copies of Jones’ book were seized by the Canada Border Services Agency and barred from entering the country on the charge of depicting “bondage.” Jones was later informed that the seized copies had been burned by Border Control agents.

27 years later, in collaboration with Jones, Kunstverein Toronto is putting G.B. Jones back in circulation in Canada. This re—publication of the book was published to accompany a 2022 exhibition of related drawings, photographs, posters, ephemera and tributes that reflect the reach and influence of Jones’ heterogenous practice, both at the time of the original release of G.B. Jones, and today.

File under: G.B. Jones Dennis Cooper Vaginal Davis Dodie Bellamy Kevin Killian Caroline Azar Johnny Noxzema Kunstverein Toronto / Toronto Art Eros Sound / Music Film / Video LGBTQ+ Drawing Counterculture Collage / Mail Art / Xerox Art

Chikashi Tanaka
Meherlation

1985, Japanese / English
Softcover (w. obi-strip), 210 pages, 28.5 x 23 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Cultural Publishing / Japan

$160.00 - In stock -

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First edition of this truly amazing, rare and unsung Japanese photo-book by Chikashi Tanaka, Japanese hair designer to the stars, published in one edition in 1985. A gorgeous 10 year collection of monochrome photos taken by Tanaka throughout the 1970s and early 1980s of celebrities who were active in the period. "Although photography is clearly stated as a side interest, the photos taken by Tanaka, who was always close to the glamorous as a hair designer, intimately captures the real faces of the stars, which cannot be taken by a professional cameraman." Beautifully and candidly capturing the cool atmosphere of the period and the stars that illuminated it, back-stage, at the hotel, in the nightclub, in between, Tanaka intimately documents friends, the stars of the Japanese (and American, and European) screen and stage, leading actresses, singers, fashion models, fashion designers, actors, and others, including Kaori Momoi, Karen Graham, Brooke Shields, Masako Natsume, Ayumi Ishida, Inès de La Fressange, Ken Takakura, Juliette Gréco, Helmut Berger, Kiwako Taichi, Catherine Deneuve, Akiko Wada, Jerry Hall, Mitsuhiro Matsuda, Moira Swan, Janice Dickinson, Seiko Matsuda, Princess Diana, Kimiko Kasai, Georges Moustaki, Mizue Takada, Hiromi Go, Ayako Wakao, Mikijirō Hira, Kaori Momoi, Yūsuke Suga, Hiromi Satō, Rumiko Koyanagi, Mao Daich, Mari Yoshimura, Keiko Matsuzaka, Jun Inoue, Beverly Johnson, Kimiko Ikegami, Nana Kinomi, Yoshiko Mita, and so many others. Really a beautiful collection to behold, with wonderful design and printing on warm, uncoated stock with a feel much like the early Comme des Garçons books.

Very Good copy with publisher's obi strip. Some light wear to covers and heavier wear, closed tears to uncommon obi.

File under: Chikashi Tanaka Cultural Publishing / Japan Japanese Photography Photography Fashion Out-of-print / Rare

Luna Nagai + Kishin Shinoyama
Accidents 5 "Amazing Girl"

1998, Japanese
Softcover (w. dust jacket and obi), unpaginated, 20 x 15 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Asahi Press / Japan

$100.00 - In stock -

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First edition of the fifth publication of Kishin Shinoyama's "Accidents" series of books. Shinoyama established these lovely photo books in the late 1990s as a way to present the consequential photographs that would develop from commercial nude photoshoots with his models. Each book represents a collaboration between the photographer and one model, Accidents 5 "Amazing Girl" presenting a shoot with Japanese actress and writer Luna Nagai (also known as Runa Nagai). Shinoyama had close friendships with many of his regular models, working closely with them throughout their entire careers. The "accidental photographs", unrestricted by the editorial outcome of the icon "pin-up", unfold with an intimacy, tenderness and freedom that carry with it the passing of time between the photographer and model, sometimes over one shoot, at others across ages. Lavishly illustrated throughout in colour and black and white.

Very Good w. VG dust jacket + obi.

File under: Kishin Shinoyama Runa Nagai (Luna Nagai) Asahi Press / Japan Eros Out-of-print / Rare Japanese Photography Photography

Keiko Oginome + Kishin Shinoyama
Accidents 2 "Breezy Day"

1998, Japanese
Softcover (w. dust jacket and obi), unpaginated, 20 x 15 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Asahi Press / Japan

$60.00 - Out of stock

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First edition of the second publication of Kishin Shinoyama's "Accidents" series of books. Shinoyama established these lovely photo books in the late 1990s as a way to present the consequential photographs that would develop from commercial nude photoshoots with his models. Each book represents a collaboration between the photographer and one model, Accidents 2 "Breezy Day" presenting a shoot with Japanese actress Keiko Oginome. Shinoyama had close friendships with many of his regular models, working closely with them throughout their entire careers. The "accidental photographs", unrestricted by the editorial outcome of the icon "pin-up", unfold with an intimacy, tenderness and freedom that carry with it the passing of time between the photographer and model, sometimes over one shoot, at others across ages. Lavishly illustrated throughout in colour and black and white.

Very Good w. VG dust jacket.

File under: Kishin Shinoyama Keiko Oginome Asahi Press / Japan Art Film / Video Japanese Photography Photography Out-of-print / Rare Eros

Kanako Higuchi + Kishin Shinoyama
Accidents 1 "Water Fruit"

1998, Japanese
Softcover (w. dust jacket), unpaginated, 20 x 15 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Asahi Press / Japan

$60.00 - Out of stock

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First edition of the first publication of Kishin Shinoyama's "Accidents" series of books. Shinoyama established these lovely photo books in the late 1990s as a way to present the consequential photographs that would develop from commercial nude photoshoots with his models. Each book represents a collaboration between the photographer and one model, Accidents 1 "Waterfruit" presenting a shoot with Japanese actress Kanako Higuchi. Shinoyama had close friendships with many of his regular models, working closely with them throughout their entire careers. The "accidental photographs", unrestricted by the editorial outcome of the icon "pin-up", unfold with an intimacy, tenderness and freedom that carry with it the passing of time between the photographer and model, sometimes over one shoot, at others across ages. Lavishly illustrated throughout in colour and black and white.

Very Good w. VG dust jacket.

File under: Kishin Shinoyama Kanako Higuchi Asahi Press / Japan Eros Japanese Photography Photography Film / Video Out-of-print / Rare Art

Square Eyes
by Anna Mill & Luke Jones

2018, English
Hardcover, 256 pages, ‎27 x 24 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by Jonathan Cape / London

$35.00 - Out of stock

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A psychedelic, mind-bending graphic novel about virtual reality, our future and the dangers that lie ahead.

Look - anyone who invents something really great has a moment where they think it's going to destroy the world. For the first time in her life, Fin is off the network. A few months ago, she was the inventor of a programme so powerful, so unusual that she was untouchable. Until she wasn't. Meanwhile, people have started disappearing from the streets of the city and the technology she created might be implicated.

Square Eyes is a graphic novel about a future where the boundaries between memory, dreams and the digital world start to blur. It's a kaleidoscopic mystery story which asks- in a city built on digital illusion, who really holds the power? What is weakness? And when is it most dangerous?

As New.

File under: Anna Mill Jonathan Cape / London Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Out-of-print / Rare Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Drawing

Hubert
by Ben Gijsemans

2016, English
Hardcover, 88 pages, 27 x 21.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by Jonathan Cape / London

$20.00 - Out of stock

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An incredibly beautiful graphic novel by a precociously brilliant young Belgian author. The start of a great career.

Hubert is a solitary man who shapes his life by going to museums. He talks to few people and only about museums and art. When his neighbour downstairs, a lonely woman, tries to seduce him, he doesn't understand. He takes photos of the pictures he likes - usually of beautiful women - and paints copies of the paintings at home. There is only one real woman who fascinates him; she lives in the opposite building and he can see her balcony from his window.

One of the most beautiful graphic novels Jonathan Cape has ever published, Hubert marks the beginning of a great career.

As New.

File under: Ben Gijsemans Ben Gijsemans Jonathan Cape / London Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Out-of-print / Rare

Takashi Homma
"Beware of Dog" sticker

199?, Japanese / English
Vinyl sticker, 15 x 10.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by ? / Japan

$150.00 - In stock -

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Very rare, ridiculously adorable Takashi Homma "Beware of Dog" sticker. Likely issued around 1996, the same time as his classic Tokyo Teens postcard book, and roughly the same size, designed with Gugi Akiyama. A perfect collector's item by one of Japan's leading photographers, perfectly emblematic of Homma's influential "Tokyo pop" work of the period. Known in the West through Purple magazine, etc., Homma followed in the spirit of Provoke photographers such as Araki, Moriyama, and Nakahira to create a new photographic expression for Tokyo at the end of the century. Homma's photography would become a great influence on the fashionable 1990's girly photo boom of Hiromix and Yurie Nagashima, etc.

As New, unused.

File under: Takashi Homma ? / Japan Japanese Photography Photography Objects / Ephemera / A/V Out-of-print / Rare

Takashi Homma
"Beware of Dog" sticker

199?, Japanese / English
Vinyl sticker, 15 x 10.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by ? / Japan

$150.00 - In stock -

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Very rare, ridiculously adorable Takashi Homma "Beware of Dog" sticker. Likely issued around 1996, the same time as his classic Tokyo Teens postcard book, and roughly the same size, designed with Gugi Akiyama. A perfect collector's item by one of Japan's leading photographers, perfectly emblematic of Homma's influential "Tokyo pop" work of the period. Known in the West through Purple magazine, etc., Homma followed in the spirit of Provoke photographers such as Araki, Moriyama, and Nakahira to create a new photographic expression for Tokyo at the end of the century. Homma's photography would become a great influence on the fashionable 1990's girly photo boom of Hiromix and Yurie Nagashima, etc.

As New, unused.

File under: Takashi Homma ? / Japan Objects / Ephemera / A/V Japanese Photography Photography

Takashi Homma
Tokyo Teens

1996, Japanese
Softcover, 30 bound postcards, 15.5 x 11.7 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by Little More / Tokyo

$480.00 - In stock -

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Very rare early book of portraits of Tokyo teenagers by leading Japanese photographer Takashi Homma (b. 1962 in Tokyo, Japan). This special publication features around 30 selected photographs of Homma's iconic and very influential early 1990's photography bound into one volume in the form of thick perforated postcards. These images of Tokyo teens, along with images of their bedrooms and Shibuya / Harajuku street surrounds, are emblematic of Homma's work of the period, known in the West through Purple magazine, etc. Following in the spirit of Provoke photographers such as Araki, Moriyama, and Nakahira, Homma created a new photographic expression for Tokyo at the end of the century. Homma's photography would become a great influence on the fashionable 1990's girly photo boom of Hiromix and Yurie Nagashima, etc.

Fine—As New copy, all postcards still bound, vinyl cover sticker still attached as issued.

File under: Takashi Homma Little More / Tokyo Japanese Photography Photography Out-of-print / Rare Fashion Counterculture

Takashi Homma
Babyland

1995, Japanese
Softcover, 80 pages, 25 x 23 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Little More / Tokyo

$120.00 - Out of stock

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Scarce first book by leading Japanese photographer Takashi Homma (b. 1962 in Tokyo, Japan). Babyland, published in 1995, was released in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name at Parco Gallery, Tokyo, launching the career of one of Japan's most influential and acclaimed photographers. The book collects Homma's photographs taken between 1993 and 1995, including his Tokyo Teens series and portraits of Kim Gordon, Mike Kelley and Nan Goldin, amongst others. A beautiful book of Homma's distinctively subdued, atmospheric photography that created a new photographic expression for Tokyo at the end of the century.

Very Good—Near Fine copy, complete with booklet insert and publisher's inlaid promotional materials. Text is a dialogue between Kyoko Okagaki and Homma

File under: Takashi Homma Mike Kelley Nan Goldin Kim Gordon Little More / Tokyo Japanese Photography Photography Out-of-print / Rare Art

Eric Kroll
Fetish Girls

1994, English / German
Softcover, 200 pages, 30 x 24 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by Taschen / Cologne

$65.00 - Out of stock

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First 1994 English edition of the classic "Fetish Girls" by American fetish photographer, erotica historian, photojournalist, and book editor, Eric Kroll (b. 1946, New York). Fetish Girls is an incredible collection of Kroll's 1980s-1990's erotic photographs, ranking among the absolute classics of fetishistic imagery. Rising from the downtown New York art and fashion scene of the 1970s and 80s, shooting for Elle Magazine, Vogue, The New York Times and Der Spiegel, Kroll published his first book, "Sex Objects" in 1976 with a grant from the New York State Council of the Arts, a book documenting sex workers across America. His best-seller "Fetish Girls" (1994), was an instant classic, full of powerful women and drawing one into a world of bizarre fantasies and sadomasochistic desires while retaining a sense of irony and surreal humour. Many of Kroll's photographs refer to and pay homage to his predecessors Weegee and Bunny Yeager as well as Eric Stanton and John Willie, while being grounded in the conceptual influences of artists such as Man Ray, and Marcel Duchamp. Text in English, German and French. Wonderful introduction by Kroll.

"My therapist says that I take photographs that make people blush because I suffer from 'middle-child' syndrome. She says I want to draw attention to myself because when I was a child I was ignored. She says I want to be heard, so I scream with my photographs. I was concerned she might cure me, so I stopped going to therapy."—Eric Kroll

Good copy, light wear and heavy foxing (spotting) to inside covers and initial blanks. This is the first print of the original full-size book, not to be mistaken for the mini-version or the postcard book.

File under: Eric Kroll Taschen / Cologne Eros Fetishism / BDSM Out-of-print / Rare Photography

Balthus
by Jean Leymarie

1982, French
Softcover, 156 pages, 27.5 x 23 cm
Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Skira / Geneve

$30.00 - In stock -

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"I always feel the desire to look for the extraordinary in ordinary things; to suggest, not to impose, to leave always with a slight touch of mystery in my paintings." - Balthus

Major monographic survey of the Polish-French painter Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, known as Balthus (1908-2001), known for his refined style of dreamlike, classically-informed, ambiguous paintings of childhood - pubescent girls, bourgeois interiors, and cats. Throughout his career, Balthus rejected the usual conventions of the art world. Heavily illustrated in colour throughout, this prominent study authored by French art historian Jean Leymarie (1919-2006) was first published in 1979 in lavish hardcover. This popular French edition is from 1982.

Balthus (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), was a Polish-French modern artist born in Paris to Polish expatriate parents. His given name was Balthasar Klossowski - his sobriquet "Balthus" was based on his childhood nickname, alternately spelled Baltus, Baltusz, Balthusz or Balthus. His father, Erich Klossowski, was an art historian who wrote a noted monograph on Daumier. His older brother was the philosopher and artist Pierre Klossowski. An unusual figure in the history of twentieth century painting, Balthus both traveled among and drew upon the work of other major artists of his time, while at the same time following a unique individual trajectory. He was mentored by, friends of, and/or even collaborated with seminal creative figures from different eras, including Antonin Artaud, André Breton, and Rainer Maria Rilke, while cultivating his own highly refined style of dreamlike, classically-informed painting. The scenes he usually depicted were very ordinary bourgeois interiors or outdoor settings, which nonetheless managed to reveal the heightened inner states of his subjects as well as the states of mind of those who might be viewing them.

Jean Leymarie (1919-2006) was a French art historian. Born into a peasant family, he pursued his studies in Toulouse then Paris. After the Second World War, he began his museum career. He was curator at Museum of Grenoble from 1950 to 1955, director of the Musée national d'Art moderne from 1968 to 1973 and director of the French Academy in Rome from 1979 to 1985. He taught for a long time at the Swiss universities of Lausanne and Geneva and published several works on the history of art. He remains one of those who imposed 20th-century painting on French national museums.

Very Good copy with light tanning, small knick to top of spine.

File under: Balthus Jean Leymarie Skira / Geneve Out-of-print / Rare Art Painting

Balthus and Cats
by Alain Vircondelet

2013, English
Hardcover,‎ 96 pages, 25 x 19.66 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Flammarion / Paris

$35.00 - In stock -

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An intimate portrait of the artist at home, written by a close friend, that reveals Balthus's fascination with felines.

Alain Vircondelet was a close friend of the late Balthus and originally wrote this text in intimate collaboration with the artist. He explains the symbolism within Balthus’s paintings and draws parallels between the sleepy, languishing forms of the girls and cats he painted. Balthus, who referred to himself as the Thirteenth King of Cats, regularly featured the feline form in his art, even as early as age nine, when he recounted the story of his cat Mitsou through forty Indian ink drawings; Rainer Maria Rilke would later write the foreword to the published volume of these drawings. Balthus’s wife Setsuko and their daughter Harumi shared his deep affection for cats and the family’s devotion becomes evident in this volume, which offers behind-the-scenes access into their home, featuring personal photographs, belongings, and reproductions of the artist’s cat paintings.

VG—NF copy.

File under: Balthus Alain Vircondelet Flammarion / Paris Painting Art Out-of-print / Rare

Balthus: Cats and Girls
by Sabine Rewald

2013, English
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 166 pages, 26 x 24 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art / New York

$50.00 - In stock -

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First edition, first printing of this out-of-print anthology of Balthus’s famously ambiguous paintings, focusing on the early decades of his career from the mid-1930s to the 1950s

Balthus’s lifelong fascination with the dark side of childhood resulted in his most iconic works: canvases depicting girls on the brink of puberty, hovering between innocence and knowledge. In these pictures, the artist mingled intuition into his young sitters’ psyches with overt erotic desire and forbidding austerity.

Balthus’s portraits of a local young Parisienne named Thérèse Blanchard, and his interior scenes featuring Thérèse’s various successors, are among the most powerful depictions of childhood and adolescence in the Western canon. Far from being mere pretty girls in frilly dresses, Balthus’s subjects are self-possessed and self-absorbed individuals, with a palpable but mysterious interior life. Also present in many of the images are cryptic cats – often smiling, sometimes leering, and likely as not standing in for Balthus himself.

Balthus: Cats and Girls focuses on the early decades of his career, from the mid-1930s to the 1950s. Sabine Rewald draws on her extensive (and firsthand) knowledge of the artist, as well as on interviews with the models themselves, to explore the origins and permutations of his obsession with depicting adolescents. She addresses the crucial influence of such key figures as the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, his mother’s lover, who acted for a time as Balthus’s surrogate father. And she includes the previously unknown voices of the girls, whose recollections provide a unique perspective to some of the most recognizable and potent images of the twentieth century.

"I always feel the desire to look for the extraordinary in ordinary things; to suggest, not to impose, to leave always with a slight touch of mystery in my paintings." - Balthus

Balthus (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), was a Polish-French modern artist born in Paris to Polish expatriate parents. His given name was Balthasar Klossowski - his sobriquet "Balthus" was based on his childhood nickname, alternately spelled Baltus, Baltusz, Balthusz or Balthus. His father, Erich Klossowski, was an art historian who wrote a noted monograph on Daumier. His older brother was the philosopher and artist Pierre Klossowski. An unusual figure in the history of twentieth century painting, Balthus both traveled among and drew upon the work of other major artists of his time, while at the same time following a unique individual trajectory. He was mentored by, friends of, and/or even collaborated with seminal creative figures from different eras, including Antonin Artaud, André Breton, and Rainer Maria Rilke, while cultivating his own highly refined style of dreamlike, classically-informed painting. The scenes he usually depicted were very ordinary bourgeois interiors or outdoor settings, which nonetheless managed to reveal the heightened inner states of his subjects as well as the states of mind of those who might be viewing them.

Very Good—Near Fine.

File under: Balthus Rainer Maria Rilke The Metropolitan Museum of Art / New York Painting Art Out-of-print / Rare

Kiyotaka Tsurisaki
The Dead

2018, English / Japanese
Softcover (w. dust jacket in hard slipcase), unpaginated, 31 x 21.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Tokyo Kirarasha / Tokyo

$500.00 - In stock -

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Rare first 2018 slipcased edition of Japanese corpse photographer Tsurisaki Kiyotaka's THE DEAD.

Since 1994, Japanese photographer, film director, and writer Kiyotaka Tsurisaki has become known for prolifically photographing dead bodies. Countless shocking and gruesome images of the dead fill the pages of this book, which is certainly not for the faint of heart. Many of these people met with violent ends, whether by vehicle crash, homicide, or suicide. Tsurisaki also brings the viewer into morgues and forensics labs, where the macabre work of embalming and autopsy is unapologetically documented. He has travelled to Thailand, Colombia, Mexico, Russia, and Palestine, as well as other lawless or war-torn parts of the world, to photograph human corpses.

Texts in English and Japanese.

Explicit material!

Near Fine–Fine copy in Very Good slipcase with light wear, one corner knock to back that does no effect the book at all. Very well preserved.

File under: Kiyotaka Tsurisaki Tokyo Kirarasha / Tokyo Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Japanese Photography Photography Crime / Violence Out-of-print / Rare Counterculture

Scene of Death
Corpse Photo Collection

1984, Japanese / English
Slipcase, corrugated envelope, 64 looseleaf plates, 29.7 x 21 cm
Stamped and numbered,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by B-Sellers / Japan

$350.00 - In stock -

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Very rare first stunning printing of Scene of Death, a rare 1984 death photo collection, published by B-Sellers in Japan only, compiled by Noriaki Nakagawa, Hitomi Komukai, and Yoichi Shihata. An elaborate and beautiful print production of the macabre. Housed in an illustrated slipcase within a stamped, button-and-tie-bound corrugated envelope, 64 looseleaf monochrome photographic plates reproduce images from "Atlas der Gerichtsmedizin", an absolutely fascinating collection by Weiman / Prokop, first published in 1963. Atlas der Gerichtsmedizin was originally a serious German scientific reference book for criminal investigators and those in the medical field — a photo scrapbook of thousands of images of graphic human death scenes — suffocation and strangulation, drowning and death by water, death by burning and electrocution, crimes of passion, abuse and neglect, and more. In turn, this visual opus became a bible of reference imagery to a wave of musicians, artists and authors during the industrial avant-garde, from Throbbing Gristle to Paul Buck to Atrax Morgue. This meticulous and unique Japanese offering further influenced many Japanese artists in the 1980s—1990's. Later re-printed in 1994.

Stamped and numbed first printing.

"We believe the scenes of death is, in one sense, the most erotic of human nature. It is at the time of death that man no longer can attempt to control his inner self and therefore the real self appears vividly. Here we have opened the doors to a topic that is usually not only hidden but also shut out of the minds of man. Please share our excitement and take a glance into the world of hidden eroticism"—Scene of Death blurb.

VG—NF copy in VG—NF slipcase, all plates still wrapped in seldom preserved internal obi strip. Some wear/rusting to envelope buttons.

File under: B-Sellers / Japan Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Crime / Violence Photography Out-of-print / Rare

Happy Victims
by Kyoichi Tsuzuki

2025, English
Hardcover (w. dust jacket and obi), 184 pages, 30 x 23 cm
Published by Apartamento / Barcelona

$140.00 - In stock -

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Between 1999 and 2006, before fast fashion and social media changed the world forever, Kyoichi Tsuzuki published 87 instalments of his Happy Victims series in the fashion magazine Ryuko Tsushin. In cramped quarters across Tokyo, these anonymous disciples joyously detailed the ritual and the sacrifice of their brand-name obsessions. A Buddhist monk with a Comme des Garçons shopping habit, an Alexander McQueen collector listening to neighbours through paper-thin walls—photographed at home, their collections before them, Kyoichi’s anti-heroes exist in parallel to the fashion universe of fame, fantasy, and glamour. Happy Victims was first published in book form in 2008. Long out of print, this edition follows Apartamento’s reissue of Kyoichi’s earlier seminal work, Tokyo Style. The new hardcover design comes with an updated foreword by the author, Japanese photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki, and an introduction by Isabella Burley of Climax Books.

While the cover and belly band have been completely reworked, in collaboration with designer Han Gao, the book’s interior maintains a simple, documental format: one happy victim per spread, Kyoichi’s photos supplemented by a short commentary on the individual and his or her daily schedule. Not typically members of the leisure class, the goths, Lolitas, and stringent Margiela fans must also go to work and find time to care for their clothes.

About Kyoichi Tsuzuki
A Tokyo native, Kyoichi Tsuzuki is an award-winning photographer and a former editor at such iconic publications as Popeye and Brutus. He received the 1996 Ihei Kimura Award for his first photography exhibition, Roadside Japan, and has since shown work at the White Cube Gallery, London, MUDAM Luxembourg, Galerie Da-End, and more. Kyoichi is also the author of Tokyo Style, a cult classic reissued by Apartamento in 2024.

About Isabella Burley
Isabella Burley founded Climax Books in London in 2020 as a home for rare editions, adding a New York outpost in 2024. At 17, she started on the shop floor of Dover Street Market with Comme des Garçons, then later served as editor-in-chief for Dazed & Confused from 2015 to 2021. Additional appointments include Helmut Lang and Acne Studios.

File under: Kyoichi Tsuzuki Comme des Garçons Comme Des Garçons Alexander McQueen Maison Martin Margiela Martin Margiela Yohji Yamamoto Helmut Lang Apartamento / Barcelona Fashion Japanese Photography Photography Counterculture

Better Books
Art, Anarchy, Apostasy, Counter-culture & the New Avant-garde

2018, English
Softcover, 320 pages, 21.5 x 28.5 cm
Published by Koenig Books / London

$80.00 - In stock -

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The legendary independent London bookstore Better Books on the Charing Cross Road was the hub for Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Alexander Trocchi, John Latham, Jeff Nuttall, Bob Cobbing, Barry Miles, Gustav Metzger, and countless others, for their ideas and approaches to art, film, literature, and activism. With its unique range of books, offbeat events, poetry readings, film screenings, and happenings, Better Books became the hot spot of London’s 1960s counter-culture scene.

This book is the first to examine this special historic moment, combining previously unpublished texts, documents, and photographs with the voices of the protagonists who authored this revolution.

With Essays by Rozemin Keshvani and Barry Miles and contributions by Philip Cohen, Stephen Dwoskin, John Hopkins, Graham Keen, Bruce Lacey, Gustav Metzger, Jeff Nuttall, Frank Popper, Criton Tomazos, and Islwyn Watkins.

File under: John Latham Gustav Metzger Jeff Nuttall Axel Heil Peter Weibel Rozemin Keshvani Allen Ginsberg William S. Burroughs Alexander Trocchi Jeff Nuttall Bob Cobbing Barry Miles Philip Cohen Stephen Dwoskin John Hopkins Graham Keen Bruce Lacey Gustav Metzger Frank Popper Criton Tomazos Islwyn Watkins Koenig Books / London Anarchism Performance / Dance / Theater Art Fiction / Poetry

Post Human
by Jeffrey Deitch

1992, English
Softcover (french-folds), 144 pages, 28 x 22 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by FAE Musee d'Art Contemporaine Pully / Lausanne

$160.00 - In stock -

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First 1992 English edition of the legendary Post Human exhibition catalogue, published on the occasion of the touring exhibition curated by Jeffrey Deitch, June 1992—October 1993. Post Human brought together the work of leading young international artists confronting a new artificial “real” world; a new figuration. The participating artists examine the media’s obsession with the “virtual reality” of the body beautiful through works that reveal the neuroses that plague contemporary society. In Deitch's words, this lavishly designed catalogue "explores the implications of genetic engineering, plastic surgery, mind expansion, and other forms of body alteration, to ask whether our society is developing a new model of the human being. It poses the question of whether our society is creating a new kind of post-human person that replaces previous constructions of the self. Images from the new technological and consumer culture and the new, conceptually oriented figurative art of thirty-six young artists will endeavor to give us a glimpse of the coming post-human world."

Featuring the work of Dennis Adams, Janine Antoni, John M Armleder, Stephan Balkenhol, Matthew Barney, Ashley Bickerton, Taro Chiezo, Clegg & Guttmann, Wim Delvoye, Suzan Etkin, Fischli / Weiss, Slyvie Fleury, Robert Gober, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Damien Hirst, Martin Honert, Mike Kelley, Karen Kilimnik, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, George Lappas, Annette Lemieux, Christian Marclay, Paul McCarthy, Yasumasa Morimura, Kodai Nakahara, Cady Noland, Daniel Oates, Pruitt & Early, Charles Ray, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Pia Stadtbäumer, Meyer Vaisman, Jeff Wall.

"Post Human was virtually a manifesto trumpeting a new art for a new breed of human. As Deitch’s text explained in the fragmented mottos that punctuated the billboard-style graphics of Dan Friedman’s catalogue design, “It is becoming routine for people to try to alter their appearance, their behavior, and their consciousness beyond what was once thought possible.” And we go on to read, “With the embrace of artificiality, Realism as we used to know it may no longer be possible.” The glossy color plates spoke volumes, whether the illustrations came from art or from “life.” The catalogue was to become something of a cult item that triggered the imaginations of many younger artists. Here was a permanent anthology of the “posthumanity” that surrounds us not only in galleries but on television, in magazines, even in real life, where the friendly androids among us chatter on about Botox and face-lifts. In the catalogue pages, one could see, for instance, four photos of Jane Fonda in four completely different but equally synthetic guises; Pat Buchanan being made up by a cosmetician for a TV appearance; computer morphs of once- human faces; before-and-after bellies and buttocks; and dead center, a profile view of Michael Jackson, clearly the sun god of this new solar system, who would later be deified by Jeff Koons.

This pure plastic environment, whether peopled by Ivana Trump or Barbie, set the stage for the artists in the show, whose works played perfectly in this parallel universe that was quickly replacing that old-fashioned thing called Nature. The result was a complete reshuffling of the contemporary-art deck, with an international mix of thirty-six artists (singles and pairs) that embraced Thomas Ruff and Jeff Wall, Clegg & Gutmann and Pruitt/Early, Damien Hirst and Cindy Sherman, Matthew Barney and Yasumasa Morimura, Charles Ray and Martin Kippenberger. A new dynasty had installed itself, and this ruling class demanded fitting ancestry."—Robert Rosenblum, Artforum (October 2004)

"Looked at from the point of view of being difficult cultural issues to a broader public than usual, the project Post Human could not have come about at a better time. (…) Deitch’s central thesis—that the voluntary manipulation of the human body through surgery, cosmetics and exercise, combined with recent technologies allowing us to simulate the experience of reality, have produced a culture in which the body no longer serves as a cohesive, organic reference point—fits well in an age in which pop starts, politicians and even artists themselves seem to delight in changing their physical identities to suit their purposes. No longer the domain of privacy and difference, the body has become a public crossroads where the merging of real and artificial, organic and synthetic, and even good and evil, is taking place right before our very (ahem) eyes."—Dan Cameron, Frieze (September–October 1992)

Very Good copy.

File under: Dennis Adams Janine Antoni John M Armleder Stephan Balkenhol Matthew Barney Ashley Bickerton Taro Chiezo Clegg & Guttmann Wim Delvoye Suzan Etkin Fischli / Weiss Slyvie Fleury Robert Gober Felix Gonzalez-Torres Damien Hirst Martin Honert Mike Kelley Karen Kilimnik Martin Kippenberger Jeff Koons George Lappas Annette Lemieux Christian Marclay Paul McCarthy Yasumasa Morimura Kodai Nakahara Cady Noland Daniel Oates Pruitt & Early Charles Ray Thomas Ruff Cindy Sherman Kiki Smith Pia Stadtbäumer Meyer Vaisman Jeff Wall Fischli & Weiss David Weiss Peter Fischli Peter Fischli & David Weiss Peter Fischli/David Weiss Jeffrey Deitch FAE Musee d'Art Contemporaine Pully / Lausanne Group Shows / Collections Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Sculpture / Installation Photography Conceptual Art Out-of-print / Rare

The Invention of the Neue Wilde
Painting and Subculture around 1980

2019, English / German
Softcover, 436 pages, 17 x 23.5 cm
Published by Walther König / Köln Ludwig Forum / Aachen

$85.00 - In stock -

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The Invention of the Neue Wilde aims to put a new perspective on the phenomena of the so-called ‘Neue Wilde’ (new Fauves), which was a term used in Germany for neo-expressionism: a movement which saw the re-emergence of expressive painting in the late 1970s and 1980s. Its most famous protagonists include Martin Kippenberger, Werner Büttner, Salome and Walter Dahn.

Instead of focusing on the production of paintings by those involved – and a corresponding catalogue of these paintings – it is much more interested in the emergence of the painting boom out of potent interplay between artists, gallerists, collectors and art historians. Here the focus is especially on personal backgrounds and the context in which painters worked.

The argument shows that the artistic practices of the ‘Neuen Wilden’ had little to do with a generalised ‘return’ to panel painting and thus to a traditional concept of art. Painting was in fact embedded in an extended network of artistic production, which was particularly characterised by a destabilisation in the division between high and popular culture as well as by various media, genres and collaborative forms of praxis.

Hitherto neglected photographic and documentary material as well as artists’ posters, records, newspapers, video works and artists’ books testify to the artists’ experimental bent on one hand, their proximity to self-organised, subcultural phenomenon, such as the punk or new wave scenes of the 1980s on the other. On this basis, the much-described ‘return’ to painting can be exposed as a hugely simplified narrative, while sketching out a complex image of the situation around 1980.

Artists: Hans Peter Adamski, Peter Bömmels, Werner Büttner, Luciano Castelli, Walter Dahn, Jiÿí Georg Dokoupil, Rainer Fetting, G. L. Gabriel-Thieler, Anne Jud, Martin Kippenberger, Helmut Middendorf, Christa Näher, Hilka Nordhausen, Markus Oehlen, Brigitta Rohrbach, Salomé, Bettina Semmer, Bettina Sefkow, Claudia Skoda, Rolf von Bergmann, Bernd Zimmer, and others.

Includes texts by Thomas Bayrle, Andreas Beitin, Werner Büttner, Diedrich Diederichsen, Catherine Dossin, Brigitte Franzen, Ramona Heinlein, Christian Höller, Katrin Köpper

Published on the occasion of the exhibition, The Invention of the Neue Wilde: Painting and Subculture around 1980 at Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (12 October 2018 –10 March 2019).
English and German text.

File under: Martin Kippenberger Werner Büttner Salome Walter Dahn Hans Peter Adamski Peter Bömmels Luciano Castelli Jiří Georg Dokoupil Rainer Fetting G. L. Gabriel-Thieler Anne Jud Helmut Middendorf Christa Näher Hilka Nordhausen Markus Oehlen Brigitta Rohrbach Bettina Semmer Bettina Sefkow Claudia Skoda Rolf von Bergmann Bernd Zimmer Benjamin Dodenhoff Ramona Heinlein Thomas Bayrle Andreas Beitin Werner Büttner Diedrich Diederichsen Catherine Dossin Brigitte Franzen Christian Höller Katrin Köpper Walther König / Köln Ludwig Forum / Aachen Art Painting Performance / Dance / Theater Sound / Music Group Shows / Collections

TOKYO 1970 BY JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHERS 9
Taiji Arita, Eikoh Hosie, Daido Moriyama, Masatoshi Naito, Hajime Sawatari, Issei Suda, Yoshihiro Tatsuki, Shuji Terayama, Katsumi Watanabe

2013, Japanese
Softcover, 212 pages, 28.2 x 21 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Amana / Japan

$150.00 - In stock -

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First edition of this wonderful collection of Japanese photographers that captured 1970s Tokyo, now out-of-print. In the world of fine art photography, post-war Japanese photography is continuing to gather attention. Many Japanese photographers were active specifically during the large cultural and political development of the 70s as the country experienced rapid economic growth. At the time, new styles of expression with a strong focus on the individual viewpoint were beginning to develop, which were distinct to the social documentary photography prior to that. This also coincided with the development of photography within the fashion and advertising field, reflecting a period where the works of many unique photographers and styles began to grow. A careful selection of 160 bodies of works by 9 prominent photographers of the time, each individually portraying the excitement and rapid growth which symbolised the era. Taiji Arita, Eikoh Hosie, Daido Moriyama, Masatoshi Naito, Hajime Sawatari, Issei Suda, Yoshihiro Tatsuki, Shuji Terayama, Katsumi Watanabe.

Very Good copy with good dust jacket.

File under: Taiji Arita Eikoh Hosie Daido Moriyama Masatoshi Naito Hajime Sawatari Issei Suda Yoshihiro Tatsuki Shuji Terayama Katsumi Watanabe Amana / Japan Japanese Photography Photography Out-of-print / Rare Counterculture Art Sociology / Politics Protest / Revolt Performance / Dance / Theater

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