World Food Books' programme is largely produced on Kulin Nation land. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the first and continuing custodians of this land, and pay respect to their Elders past, present, and emerging.
World Food Books is an arts and special interests bookshop in Naarm / Melbourne. Founded in 2010, World Food Books is devoted to the presentation of a rotating, hand-selection of international art, design, literary and counterculture publications with an emphasis on the anti-traditional, the experimental, the avant-garde, the heretic, the marginal.
Presenting new titles alongside rare and out-of-print books, catalogues and journals spanning the fields of modern and contemporary art, design, photography, illustration, film, literature, poetry, cultural theory, philosophy, sexuality, popular and underground culture in its many radical forms, World Food Books wishes to encourage adventurous, thoughtful and open-minded reading, looking, writing, and exchange of publishing and ideas, both current and historical.
As well as our bookshop, located in Melbourne's historical Nicholas Building, all of our inventory is available internationally via our online mail-order service.
World Food Books semi-regularly co-ordinates "Occasions", a programme of exhibits and events at the bookshop and in partnership with other hosts (such as museums and art galleries) that develop out of the activities, relationships and content of the bookshop itself.
World Food Books
The Nicholas Building
37 Swanston Street
Room 5, Level 6
Melbourne 3000
Australia
SHOP HOURS:
THU—FRI 12—6 PM
SAT 12—4 PM
WEB-SHOP OPEN 24/7
World Food Books
Postal Address:
PO Box 435
Flinders Lane
Victoria 8009
Australia
Art
Theory / Essay
Architecture / Interior
Graphic Design / Typography
Photography
Fashion
Eros
LGBTQ+
Fiction / Poetry
Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction / Horror
Transgressive / Visceral / Abject
Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle
Film / Video
Painting
Sculpture / Installation
Performance / Dance / Theater
Drawing
Sound / Music
Curatorial
Group Shows / Collections
Periodicals
Out-of-print / Rare
Posters / Ephemera / Discs
Signed Books
World Food Books Gift Voucher
World Food Book Bag
Australian Art
Australian Photography
Japanese Photography
Conceptual Art
Minimal Art
Dada
'Pataphysics / Oulipo
Fluxus
Concrete Poetry
Pop Art
Surrealism
Arte Povera
Arte Informale / Haute Pâte / Tachism
Nouveau Réalisme / Zero / Kinetic
Situationism / Lettrism
Collage / Mail Art / Xerox Art
Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic
Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées
Furniture
Italian Radical Design / Postmodernism
Textiles
Ceramics / Glass
Counterculture
Protest / Revolt
Anarchism
Socialism / Communism / Capitalism
Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language
Feminism
Fetishism / BDSM
Drugs / Psychedelia
Crime / Violence
Animal Rights / Veganism
Occult / Esoterica
Ecology / Earth / Alternative Living
Whole Earth / Crafts
All prices in AUD (Australian dollars)
Pick-Ups
Please note: The bookshop is closed until February 1, 2024.
Pick-up orders can be collected in our bookshop during opening hours after this date. Please collect any Pick-up orders within 3 weeks of ordering as we have limited storage space. Orders will be released back into stock if not collected within this time. No refunds can be made for pick-ups left un-collected.
Return Policy
All sales are final. We do accept returns (for refund, exchange) for items received in error. All our orders are packed with special care using heavy-duty padding and cardboard book-mailers or bubble mailers (for smaller books), using reinforcement where required. We cannot take responsibility for any lost, stolen or damaged parcels.
Insurance
Should you wish to insure your package, please email us directly after placing your order and we can organise this at a small extra expense. Although all standard/express tracked packages are very safe and dependable, we cannot take responsibility for any lost, stolen or damaged parcels. We recommend insurance on valuable orders.
Interested in selling your old books, catalogues, journals, magazines, comics, fanzines, ephemera? We are always looking for interesting, unusual and out-of-print books to buy. We only buy books in our fields of interest and specialty, and that we feel we can resell.
We base these prices on desirability, market value, in-print prices, condition and our current stock levels. We offer cash, store credit, and can take stock on consignment. All
about 25% of the price we expect to get when we sell them, or 30% in store credit. We base these prices on desirability, market value, in-print prices, condition and our current stock levels.
Sell your books any day of the week. You can drop them off and return later. If you have a lot of books, we can visit your Sydney home.
We buy books that we feel we can resell. We offer about 25 % of the price we expect to get when we sell them, or 30% in store credit. We base these prices on desirability, market value, in-print prices, condition and our current stock levels.
Philadelphia Wireman
03 August - 01 September, 2018
World Food Books is proud to announce our next Occasion, the first presentation of sculptures by Philadelphia Wireman in Australia.
The Philadelphia Wireman sculptures were found abandoned in an alley off Philadelphia’s South Street on trash night in 1982. Their discovery in a rapidly-changing neighbourhood undergoing extensive renovation, compounded with the failure of all attempts to locate the artist, suggests that the works may have been discarded after the maker’s death. Dubbed the "Philadelphia Wireman" during the first exhibition of this work, in 1985, the maker’s name, age, ethnicity, and even gender remain uncertain. The entire collection totals approximately 1200 pieces, all intricately bound together with tightly-wound heavy-gauge wire (along with a few small, abstract marker drawings, reminiscent both of Mark Tobey and J.B. Murry). The dense construction of the work, despite a modest range of scale and materials, is singularly obsessive and disciplined in design: a wire armature or exoskeleton firmly binds a bricolage of found objects including plastic, glass, food packaging, umbrella parts, tape, rubber, batteries, pens, leather, reflectors, nuts and bolts, nails, foil, coins, toys, watches, eyeglasses, tools, and jewellery.
Heavy with associations—anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and socio-cultural responses to wrapped detritus—the totemic sculptures by Philadelphia Wireman have been discussed in the context of work created to fulfil the shamanistic needs of alternative religions in American culture. Curators, collectors, and critics have variously compared certain pieces to sculpture from Classical antiquity, Native American medicine bundles, African-American memory jugs, and African fetish objects. Reflecting the artist’s prolific and incredibly focused scavenging impulse, and despite—or perhaps enhanced by—their anonymity, these enigmatic objects function as urban artefacts and arbiters of power, though their origin and purpose is unknown. Philadelphia Wireman, whatever their identity, possessed an astonishing ability to isolate and communicate the concepts of power and energy through the selection and transformation of ordinary materials. Over the course of the past two decades, this collection has come to be regarded as an important discovery in the field of self-taught art and vernacular art.
Presented in collaboration with Fleisher-Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, and Robert Heald, Wellington.
Susan Te Kahurangi King
02 February - 10 March, 2018
Susan Te Kahurangi King (24 February 1951 - ) has been a confident and prolific artist since she was a young child, drawing with readily available materials - pencils, ballpoint pens and felt-tip markers, on whatever paper is at hand. Between the ages of four and six Susan slowly ceased verbal communication. Her grandparents William and Myrtle Murphy had developed a special bond with Susan so they took on caring responsibilities for extended periods. Myrtle began informally archiving her work, carefully collecting and storing the drawings and compiling scrapbooks. No drawing was insignificant; every scrap of paper was kept. The King family are now the custodians of a vast collection containing over 7000 individual works, from tiny scraps of paper through to 5 meter long rolls.
The scrapbooks and diaries reveal Myrtle to be a woman of great patience and compassion, seeking to understand a child who was not always behaving as expected. She encouraged Susan to be observant, to explore her environment and absorb all the sights and sounds. Myrtle would show Susan’s drawings to friends and people in her community that she had dealings with, such as shopkeepers and postal workers, but this was not simply a case of a grandmother’s bias. She recognised that Susan had developed a sophisticated and unique visual language and sincerely believed that her art deserved serious attention.
This was an unorthodox attitude for the time. To provide some context, Jean Dubuffet coined the term Art Brut in 1945 to describe work created by self-taught artists – specifically residents of psychiatric institutions and those he considered to be visionaries or eccentrics. In 1972 Roger Cardinal extended this concept by adopting the term Outsider Art to describe work made by non-academically trained artists operating outside of mainstream art networks through choice or circumstance. Susan was born in Te Aroha, New Zealand in 1951, far from the artistic hubs of Paris and London that Dubuffet and Cardinal operated in. That Myrtle fêted Susan as a self-taught artist who deserved to be taken seriously shows how progressive her attitudes were.
Susan’s parents Doug and Dawn were also progressive. Over the years they had consulted numerous health practitioners about Susan’s condition, as the medical establishment could not provide an explanation as to why she had lapsed into silence. Dawn educated herself in the field of homeopathy and went on to treat all twelve of her children using these principles – basing prescriptions on her observations of their physical, mental and emotional state.
Doug was a linguist with an interest in philosophy who devoted what little spare time he had to studying Maori language and culture. To some extent their willingness to explore the fringes of the mainstream made them outsiders too but it was their commitment to living with integrity and their respect for individuality that ensured Susan’s creativity was always encouraged.
Even though Susan’s family supported her artistic pursuits, some staff in schools and hospitals saw it as an impediment to her assimilation into the community and discouraged it in a variety of ways. Her family was not always aware of this and therefore did not fully understand why Susan stopped drawing in the early 1990s. However, rather than dwell on the challenges that Susan faced in pursuit of her artistic practice, they prefer to highlight her achievements. In 2008 Susan began drawing again in earnest, after an almost 20 year interruption, and her work is now shown in galleries around the world.
Susan grew up without television and has been heavily influenced by the comics she read as a child. She is absolutely fearless in the appropriation of recognizable characters, such as Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, in her work. She twists their limbs, contorts their faces, compresses them together, blends them into complex patterned backgrounds - always imbuing them with an incredible energy. Although Susan often used pop culture characters in her work they are not naive or childlike. These are drawings by a brilliant self-taught artist who has been creating exceptional work for decades without an audience in mind.
Mladen Stilinović
"Various Works 1986 - 1999"
02 February 16 - September 10, 2016
Various works 1986 - 1999, from two houses, from the collections of John Nixon, Sue Cramer, Kerrie Poliness, Peter Haffenden and Phoebe Haffenden.
Including: Geometry of Cakes (various shelves), 1993; Poor People’s Law (black and white plate), 1993; White Absence (glasses, ruler, set square, silver spoon, silver ladel with skin photograph and wooden cubes), 1990-1996; Exploitation of the Dead (grey and red star painting, wooden painting, black spoon with red table, red plate), 1984-1990; Money and Zeros (zero tie, paintings made for friends in Australia (Sue, John, Kerrie), numbers painting), 1991-1992; Words - Slogans (various t-shirts) - “they talk about the death of art...help! someone is trying to kill me”, “my sweet little lamb”, “work is a disease - Karl Marx”; Various artist books, catalogues, monographs, videos; Poster from exhibition Insulting Anarchy; "Circular" Croatian - Australian edition; Artist book by Vlado Martek (Dostoyevsky); more.
Thanks to Mladen Stilinović and Branka Stipančić.
Jonathan Walker
Always Will Need To Wear Winter Shirt Blue + Ochre Small Check Pattern
21 August - 21 September, 2015
Untitled
I am not a great reader of poetry but I always return to the work of Melbourne poet, Vincent Buckley (1925- 1988). Perhaps I find his most tantalising piece to be not a finished poem but a fragment left on a scrap of paper discovered on his desk after the poet’s death.
The poetry gathers like oil
In the word-core, and spreads
It has its music meet,
Its music is in movement.
This fragment is more the shell left behind from a volatile thought than a finished poem. I find the last two lines honest but awkward whereas the first two lines work like an arrow. Most likely he could not find a resolution so it was left. Still, in its present form, it remains an eloquent testimony to the ultimate failure of a medium to express mobile thought and sensation, in Buckley’s case, through verbal language. It’s an important matter because this is something all artists have to deal with regardless of the medium.
I have never written a poem, however, I am forever copying fragments from books on paper scraps in a vain effort to fix certain notions in my head. At first, they function as bookmarks that are sometimes returned to when I open the book. But before long, as they accumulate, they fall out littering the table interspersed with A4 photocopies, bills, books and medications.
To return to Buckley’s fragment, the first two lines very much evoke how I paint nowadays. As you age, detail diminishes and patches of light become more luminous and float. I feel the most honest way of dealing with this is by smearing the oil paint on the canvas with the fingers and working close-up, blind. Only if the patches coalesce into an approaching image can the work gain a life.
-
Jonathan Walker was born in Melbourne, Australia and brought up on a dairy farm in Gippsland. In the 1970’s he studied painting at RMIT and won the Harold Wright Scholarship to the British Museum, London. During the 1980’s he exhibited at Pinacotheca Gallery, Richmond and had work shown at the NGV and Heidi City Art Gallery. Over the same period he designed the cover for the “Epigenesi” LP by Giancarlo Toniutti, Italy and conducted a mail exchange work with Achim Wollscheid, Germany. The work with artists through the post resulted in an article published in the bicentenary issue of Art and Australia 1988. He showed in artist run spaces such as WestSpace in the 90’s and 2000’s, and until 2012, taught painting at Victoria University, which is where we (Colleen Ahern and Lisa Radford) as organisers of the exhibition, among many others, had the privilege of being his student.
Walker’s knowledge was imparted to students through the careful selection of music, literature, and artists found in books that he himself had ordered for the library. Walker’s strategy was the generosity of sharing his vast knowledge with references specific to each student and their context.
Walker’s paintings share a similar focus and intimacy.
This exhibition presents a small selection of recent paintings alongside a publication that includes Walker’s writing. Observational and analytical, Walker’s work is a type of material notation — the time of day, colour and how it is blended, the both specific and fleeting location of a reflection on lino or the question of whether a chair leg should be included in a painting.
Please join us on Friday August 21 between 6-8pm to celebrate the opening of the exhibition.
Curated by Colleen Ahern and Lisa Radford.
B. Wurtz
Curated by Nic Tammens
March 26 - April 4, 2015
B.Wurtz works from a basement studio in his home on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
This local fact is attested to by the plastic shopping bags and newsprint circulars that appear in his work. As formal objects, they don’t make loud claims about their origins but nonetheless transmit street addresses and places of business from the bottom of this long thin island. Like plenty of artists, Wurtz is affected by what is local and what is consumed. His work is underpinned by this ethic. It often speaks from a neighborhood or reads like the contents of a hamper:
“BLACK PLUMS $1.29 lb.”
“Food Bazaar”
“USDA Whole Pork Shoulder Picnic 99c lb.”
“RITE AID Pharmacy, with us it’s personal.”
“H. Brickman & Sons.”
“Sweet Yams 59c lb."
Most of the work in this exhibition was made while the artist was in residence at Dieu Donne, a workshop dedicated to paper craft in Midtown. Here Wurtz fabricated assemblages with paper and objects that are relatively lightweight, with the intention that they would be easily transportable to Australia. This consideration isn’t absolute in Wurtz’s work, but was prescriptive for making the current exhibition light and cheap. Packed in two boxes, these works were sent from a USPS post office on the Lower East Side and delivered to North Melbourne by Australia Post.
Wurtz appears courtesy of Metro Pictures, New York.
Thanks to Rob Halverson, Joshua Petherick, Sari de Mallory, Matt Hinkley, Helen Johnson, Fayen d'Evie, Ask Kilmartin, Lisa Radon, Ellena Savage, Yale Union, and "Elizabeth".
John Nixon
"Archive"
December 15 - January 20, 2014
The presentation of John Nixon's archive offered a rare showcase of this extensive collection of the artist's own publications, catalogues, posters, ephemera, editions and more, from the mid 1980s onwards, alongside a selection of his artworks.
Organized by John Nixon, Joshua Petherick and Matt Hinkley.
"Habitat"
at Minerva, Sydney (organised by Joshua Petherick and Matt Hinkley)
November 15 - December 20, 2014
Lupo Borgonovo, Janet Burchill & Jennifer McCamley,
Lewis Fidock, HR Giger, Piero Gilardi, Veit Laurent Kurz,
Cinzia Ruggeri, Michael E. Smith, Lucie Stahl, Daniel Weil, Wols
Press Release:
“...It contained seven objects. The slender fluted bone, surely formed for flight, surely from the wing of some large bird. Three archaic circuitboards, faced with mazes of gold. A smooth white sphere of baked clay. An age-blackened fragment of lace. A fingerlength segment of what she assumed was bone from a human wrist, grayish white, inset smoothly with the silicon shaft of a small instrument that must once have ridden flush with the surface of the skin - but the thing’s face was seared and blackened.”
William Gibson, “Count Zero”, 1986
"Autumn Projects Archive"
Curated by Liza Vasiliou
March 6 - March 15, 2014
World Food Books, in conjunction with the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival 2014, presented the Autumn Projects archive, consisting of a selection of early examples in Australian fashion with a particular interest in collecting designers and labels from the period beginning in the 1980’s, who significantly influenced the discourse of Australian Fashion.
Curated by Liza Vasiliou, the exhibition provided a unique opportunity to view pieces by designers Anthea Crawford, Barbara Vandenberg, Geoff Liddell and labels CR Australia, Covers, Jag along with early experimental collage pieces by Prue Acton and Sally Browne’s ‘Fragments’ collection, suspended throughout the functioning World Food Books shop in Melbourne.
H.B. Peace
presented by CENTRE FOR STYLE
November 14, 2013
"Hey Blinky, you say chic, I say same"
Anon 2013
H.B. Peace is a clothing collaboration between great friends Blake Barns and Hugh Egan Westland. Their pieces explore the divergences between 'character’ and ‘personality’ in garments....etc
Special Thanks to Joshua Petherick and Matt Hinkley of WFB and Gillian Mears
and a Very Special Thank you to Audrey Thomas Hayes for her shoe collaboration.
Janet Burchill & Jennifer McCamley
"Aesthetic Suicide"
May 10 - June 8, 2013
The first of our occasional exhibitions in the World Food Books office/shop space in Melbourne, "Aesthetic Suicide" presented a body of new and older works together by artists Janet Burchill & Jennifer McCamley, including videos, prints, a wall work, and publications.
During shop open hours videos played every hour, on the hour.
2003, English
Softcover, 418 pages, 27.5 x 21 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Purple Institute / Paris
$220.00 - In stock -
A very rare copy of the inaugural issue of Purple Fashion, edited by Olivier Zahm, featuring Richard Prince, Bruce Benderson, Gary Indiana, Paolo Roversi, Olivier Mosset, Camille Vivier, Mark Borthwick, Pierre Bailly, Elein Fleiss, Viviane Sassen, Helmut Lang, Kerry Hallihan, Antek Walczak, Marcelo Krasilcic, Michael Lonsdale, Maison Martin Margiela, Katja Rahlwes, Niels Schumm, Dike Blair, Vava Ribeiro, Monte Hellman, Comme des Garçons, Slavoj Zizek, Balenciaga, Tony Alva, Marina Faust, Wolfgang Tillmans, Terry Richardson, Dominique Gonzales Foerster, Jeff Rian, Noritoshi Hirakawa, Anuschka Blommers, François Laruelle, Yan Céh, Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, Susan Eldridge, John Galliano, Ann Demeuelemeester, Vava Ribeiro, Serge Leblon, Hiromix, Cecile Bortoletti, Vanessa Bruno, Takashi Suzuki, Miltos Manetas, Pascale Gatzen, Stéphanie Moisdon, Junya Watanabe, Ferdinand Gouzon, and many more...
In 1992, Elein Fleiss and Olivier Zahm started the magazine Purple Prose as a reaction against the superficial glamour of the 1980s; much as a part of the global counterculture at the time, inspired by magazines like Interview, Ray Gun, Nova, and Helmut Newton's Illustrated, but with the aesthetics of what usually is referred to as anti-fashion. Based on their personal interests and views; Purple was, and in a sense still is, made much in the same spirit of the fanzine. Started "without any means, and without any experience, because we wanted to make a magazine that was radically different. We wanted to support the artists around us that no one else supported, much less talked about."—Olivier Zahm. The magazine became associated with the "realism" of the new fashion photography of the 1990s, with names like Juergen Teller, Terry Richardson, Wolfgang Tillmans, Mark Borthwick, Corinne Day, and Mario Sorrenti. Soon after the birth of Purple Prose, Zahm and Fleiss created spin-off publications such as les cahiers purple, Purple Sexe, Purple Fiction, and of course, Purple Fashion, in which Zahm aimed at fusing together his two worlds, fashion and art. Now one of the most iconic and influential fashion magazines in history.
Very Good copy, some light wear to spine and extremities.
1978, French / Japanese
Softcover, 58 pages (w. Japanese translation booklet insert), 34.5 x 29 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Façade / Paris
$240.00 - In stock -
Issue no. 7 of the incredibly rare and iconic Façade, the French underground magazine published in Paris between 1976—1983. Founded in 1976 by Alain Benoist and Hervé Pinard, Façade was the french answer to Andy Warhol's Interview, heavily centered around Parisian club, fashion and art scene and published without any date or periodicity until 1983. Launched at an Issey Miyake show where models handed out the magazine from the catwalk, the cult magazine witness through its pages a long-lost, short-lived period in Paris featuring the so-called "jeunes gens modernes" of the 1970's, like punk icons Edwige Belmore and Alain Pacadis. With pop celebrity covers and vibrant fashion shoots styled by the likes of a young Pierre et Gilles (who met through working on this very magazine), features in collaboration with the likes of Serge Gainsbourg, and in each issue a unique "false" advertisement created by Karl Lagerfeld, it's no wonder Façade's reputation spread quickly to New York, Tokyo and beyond, making it one of the most desired magazines of the new wave. With texts in French, these rare issues come complete with the inserted Japanese translation booklets. Includes cover stars Jack Nicholson as 007 (front) and musician Djemila (back), with interviews and astrological charts for both, industrial designer Roger Tallon, Karl Lagerfeld, industrial designer Philippe Starck, publishing extraordinaire Daniel Filipacchi, Sonia Rykiel, Paco Rabanne, Thierry Mugler, a perverse fashion portfolio, Kenzo, Brion Gysin, Sid Vicious, Pierre et Gilles, Nightclubbing, Dining, Fashion, Music, tremendous ads and much more.
Very Good copy of one of the best issues! Beautifully preserved with only light marking/tan/age.
1993, Japanese
Softcover, 240 pages, 21 x 15 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Atelier Peyotl / Tokyo
$65.00 - Out of stock
"Mannequin" Special Feature Issue of cult Japanese underground magazine Yaso, published in 1993, edited by Yuichi Konno and Atelier Peyotl (publishers of Night Vision/Yaso/Peyotl/Wave/Silvester Club...). Heavily illustrated with texts in Japanese that look at the theme of the mannequin from fashion apparatus to fetish object, automatons to living dolls, including a panoramic photographic history of mannequins, a photo feature of French photographer Bernard Faucon's boy mannequin collection, a huge illustrated article on famous Japanese costume, stage and exhibition designer, and Issey Miyake collaborator Tomio Mohri, the wax anatomical models of dissected corpses by Clemente Michelangelo Susini of Florence (1754–1814) shot by Ryuji Miyamoto, Czech animator Jirí Barta's Klub odlozenych, Japanese model and actress Sayoko Yamaguchi, the living dolls of the Japanese theatre, medical mannequins, crash-test dummies, icons, "Doll Love" and erotic dolls, plus lots more and a lot more Bernard Faucon!
Very Good—Near Fine copy.
1986, Japanese
Softcover (staple-bound), 36.5 x 26 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by
Cross Culture Foundation / Tokyo
$65.00 - In stock -
Rare inaugural issue of the almost unknown but incredible Japanese magazine, Rag. Was this the only issue? Published in 1986 in over-sized, staple-bound format, Rag issue 1 includes a beautiful photo feature on Butoh performer Goro Namerikawa, a large feature on "Art's Destroying Angel" Tadanori Yokoo, photography by Nobuyoshi Araki, Keiichi Tahara, Yasushi Handa, Shunji Kaida, Herbie Yamaguchi, Sachiko Kuro, Kaoru Ijima, experimental musician and playwright Koharu Kisaragi, costume designer Michiko Kitamura, designers Issey Miyake, Junko Shimada, musician Eitetsu Hayashi, and much more.
Good copy with some large format wear to spine/extremities.
2022, English
Softcover, 376 pages, 30.1 x 23 cm
Ed. of 500,
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by
IDEA / London
$200.00 - Out of stock
Expanded 2022 edition of IDEA London's Self Service 1994-2022, The Ads, the quickly out-of-print heavy visual compendium of more than 300 fashion ads from 25 years of Self Service magazine, featuring iconic contemporary advertising imagery from brands such as Raf Simons, Comme des Garçons, A.P.C., Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan, Prada, Miu Miu, Issey Miyake, Chloé, Balenciaga, Yohji Yamamoto, Jacquemus, Hermès, Celine, Eckhaus Latta, Jil Sander, Calvin Klein, Viktor & Rolf, Yves Saint Laurent, Susan Cianciolo, Marc Jacobs, BLESS, Fendi, Koji Tatsuno, Gucci, Botetega Veneta, Zucca, Helmut Lang, to name a few, all packed into one exceptional reference volume.
Edition of 500 copies.
"This book is a gathering of more than two and a half decades* of fashion advertising campaigns as they have appeared on our printed pages, providing a fascinating testament to and a subjective barometer of fashion's evolving aesthetic and cultural norms."—Ezra Petronio, art director and founder of Self Service
*28 years, 112 seasons, 56 issues, 18,431 pages, 3,397 advertising pages, 314 brands.
Near Fine copy with light wear and light spine crease.
1990, English / Japanese
Softcover (two-volume catalogue house in original printed cardboard sleeve w. invitation), 21 x 30 cm, 40 pages / 20 pages / folded invitation
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Touko Museum of Contemporary Art / Tokyo
$280.00 - Out of stock
The incredibly rare and beautiful two-volume catalogue edition, issued in conjunction with the exhibition "Issey Miyake: Pleats Please" at Touko Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan, 1990.
This is a first (only) edition printing in VG—fine condition, with additional inserted exhibition folding invitation to the private reception in 1990.
Housed in their original printed cardboard folder/pocket, these two publications, designed by Ikko Tanaka, both feature text in English and Japanese. Volume one: "Pleats Please by Issey Miyake" examines the exhibition "Issey Miyake: Pleats Please", which saw the first presentation of renowned Japanese designer Issey Miyake's new technique called garment pleating, in which the garments are cut and sewn first, then sandwiched between layers of paper and fed into a heat press, where they are pleated. The fabric's 'memory' holds the pleats and when the garments are liberated from their paper cocoon, they are ready-to wear. Miyake's pleating works were first exhibited here in 1990, three years before the launch of the famous line "Pleats Please" in 1993. The publication documents production and installation photography from the exhibitions, where the garments were set into a custom built floor system.
Volume Two: "Issey Miyake by Irving Penn", features stunning photography by the great Irving Penn, of each of Issey Miyake's first "Pleats Please" garments together with a poem by Shuntaro Tanikawa.
This is truely a collector's item for any Issey Miyake enthusiast or collector, marking the beginning of "Pleats Please" through the photography of Irving Penn. This copy has been well looked after, with both books in wonderful condition, protected by the original printed folder sleeve, which is also in preserved condition.
VG—F condition all round.
2003, English / Dutch
Hardcover, 228 pages, 26 x 20 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / average
Published by
MoMu / Antwerp
Ludion / Brussels
Ludion / Ghent
$150.00 - Out of stock
Seldom seen first limited edition copy of the hardcover catalogue, Patronen / Patterns, published in 2003 on the occasion of the unique exhibition on pattern-making curated by Kaat Debo at MoMu - ModeMuseum Antwerp, 24.04.2003—10.08.2003 — almost immediately out-of-print. Showcasing the work of Haider Ackermann, Azzedine Alaïa, Balenciaga, Véronique Branquinho, Pierre Cardin, Hussein Chalayan, Courrèges, Ann Demeulemeester, Dior Haute Couture, Sevin Doering, Angelo Figus, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Romeo Gigli, Hubert de Givenchy, Christian Lacroix, Martin Margiela, Issey Miyake, Josephus Thimister, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Van Saene, A.F. Vandevorst, Patrick Van Ommeslaeghe, Madeleine Vionnet, Vivienne Westwood, Yohji Yamamoto, and Yves Saint Laurent, along with the photographic work of artist Nicole Tran Ba Vang, this lavishly illustrated and well-researched volume gives rare insight into this fundamental, largely un-documented aspect of contemporary fashion design, illuminating the new avant-garde alongside the history of dress-making, most importantly reproducing the actual pattern designs of many of the featured designers.
"The pattern is traditionally seen as a technical drawing and therefore, in a museum context, only interesting for research or study. With regard to both purchasing and exhibition policies, fashion museums focus mainly on the end product – the garment – and in so doing rarely exhibit the pattern, let alone acquire or purchase it. "Patterns" aims to explore both the technical and the artistic and cultural philosophy aspects of a clothing pattern."
Includes bi-lingual texts in English/Dutch by Kaat Debo, Dirk Lauwaert, Linda Loppa, Frieda Sorber, Christoph De Boeck, Neeltje ten Westenend, Karin De Coster, and more.
Average—Good copy. Cloth covers well-worn with marks, general age/tanning to book extremities, some (erasable) pencil underlining to text by previous owner. No dust jacket (as issued).
1982, Japanese
Softcover (staple-bound), 60 pages, 39.1 x 30 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by
JICC Publishing Bureau / Japan
$180.00 - In stock -
First 1982 edition of this wonderful, very early collection of artworks by Japanese artist Katsu Yoshida (1938—2002). Bold, expressionist and homo-erotically charged, Yoshida's illustration work defined the new wave of 1980's Tokyo. "Portfolio" is packed cover to cover with full-bleed, over-sized reproductions of his sensational, sensual colour brushwork that was to become iconic through the pages of Japanese underground magazines such as SM Sniper and through his collaborations in the world of fashion with Issey Miyake.
Good copy with some chipping to the spine edge of covers, tanning to extremities of newsprint stock.
1988, Japanese
Hardcover (w. dust jacket and obi), 76 pages, 26.5 x 31 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Libro Port Publishing Co. Ltd. / Tokyo
$190.00 - Out of stock
Wonderful first 1988 Japanese printing of this iconic Irving Penn and Issey Miyake fashion photo book, published by Libro Port Tokyo in 1988. Hardcover version with original illustrated dust-jacket and publisher's obi-strip.
Published to coincide with the exhibition "Issey Miyake A UN," organized by Miyake Design Studio in association with the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris in 1988, this heavily photographic book features stunning full-page colour photos by Irving Penn of Issey Miyake's 1987 line throughout the entire book. Foreword by Isamu Noguchi, and accompanying essay by Jay Cocks. Type design by Kiyoshi Kanai. Project coordinated by Midori Kitamura and June Kanai, who also modeled the clothes. Iconic imagery of Issey Miyake's late 1980's works.
Very Good copy protected by G—VG original dust-jacket under plastic wrap, and average original obi. Light tanning to page edges.
1978, English / Japanese
Softcover, 216 pages, 36.5 x 25 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Heibonsha Limited Publishers / Tokyo
$160.00 - Out of stock
Hands-down one of the greatest Issey Miyake books ever published - the classic "East Meets West" of 1978.
First edition of the iconic first book/folio dedicated to the work of Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake. Published by Heibonsha Limited Publishers of Tokyo in 1978, the book features beautiful photoshoots by the likes of Guy Bourdin, Richard Avedon, Kishin Shinoyama, Harry Peccinotti and David Bailey throughout, documenting Miyake's creations of the 1970s.
Broken into three sections ("Man and his Cloth", "The Form of Cloth" and "Witness of Time") the book texts include a preface by Diana Vreeland and essays by Mutsuo Takahashi, Arata Isozaki, and Eiko Ishioka.
Texts are in Japanese and English.
Very Good copy with light cover edge-wear, general light age.
1997, English / Japanese
Hardcover (plastic boards w. printed plastic slipcase), 52 pages (leporello-fold), 22 x 30.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by
Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art / Tokyo
$380.00 - Out of stock
The beautiful and extremely rare "Arizona" publication, produced to accompany a collaborative exhibition between sculptor Isamu Noguchi and fashion designer Issey Miyake at Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, in 1997. This elaborate leporello-fold (accordian) publication is lavishly illustrated with the works of both artists, putting Noguchi's sculptures in direct conversation with Miyake's textiles across it's photographic pages. Accompanying texts from architects, fellow artists and critics addressing their work make up the reverse side of the publication, all in English and Japanese, with biographies. Bound between textured, foiled, plastic boards and housed in the original printed plastic slipcase, this unique edition is the perfect celebration of the incredible friendship between Isamu Noguchi and Issey Miyake, whose works fused the ideas and cultures of East and West and continue to inspire generations.
Fine first edition of this rare book.
2017, English
Softcover, 672 pages, 20 x 27.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by
Many of Them / Spain
$80.00 - Out of stock
Sealed copy, out-of-print, limited to 1000 copies.
Fashion : Cosmic Wonder, Balenciaga, Loewe, Dries Van Noten, Chanel, Comme Des Garçons, Sacai, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Junya Watanabe, Paco, Rabanne, Off-White, Dior Homme, Olivier Theyskens, Jacquemus, Lutz Huelle, Vejas, Simone Rocha, Louis Vuitton, Courrèges, Undercover, Celine, Miu Miu, Hermès, Bernhard Willhelm, Sies Marjan, Prada, Raf Simons, John Alexander, Skelton, Olympia Le-Tan, Wendy & Jim, Koché, JW Anderson, Ligia Dias, Lemaire, Cherevichkiotvichki, Eatable Of Many Orders, Daniela Gregis, Hood By Air, Molly Goddard, Bless.
Cinema : Oliver Laxe, Paz Encina, Paul Verhoeven, Amat Escalante, Andres Di Tella, Milagros Mumenthaler, Joao Pedro Rodriges Pablo Larrain Terence Davies, Walter Salles, Jonas Trueba, Bertrand Tavernier.
Many of Them is a limited edition publication. Its aim is to offer a space for discussion in which creators can share their perspective about their own field, their languages and the problems they face in their everyday practices. It originally started as a diary in 2008 and it keeps evolving into different formats.
2018, English
Softcover, 552 pages, 19.6 × 27.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by
Many of Them / Spain
$80.00 - Out of stock
"This issue is the result of daily photo shoots on the same street of Paris from 15 May 2018 to 15 July 2018, with selected pieces from: LOEWE, BALENCIAGA, CHANEL, COMME DES GARÇONS, MIU MIU, SACAI, ISSEY MIYAKE, YOHJI YAMAMOTO, PACO RABANNE, BYREDO, GUCCI, SIMONEROCHA, OLIVIER THEYSKENS, JACQUEMUS, REALITY STUDIO, LOUIS VUITTON, CÉLINE , HERMÈS, DIOR HOMME, PRADA, RAF SIMONS, UNDERCOVER, OFF-WHITE, LEMAIRE, BLESS, JUNYA WATANABE, ÉTUDES, LAUREN MANOOGIAN, SIES MARJAN, GOSHA RUBCHINSKIY, BEIRA, GEOFFREY B. SMALL; and conversations with YOSHIYUKI MIYAMAE, WIM WENDERS, BEN GORHAM, DRIES VAN NOTEN, JAMES FRANCO, RUBEN ÖSTLUND, ECKHAUS LATTA, MARK JENKINS, TODD HAYNES AND ANDRE WALKER. Thanks to all the contributors for making it possible to accomplish this love letter to Paris and its citizens."
As New, sealed.
1978, Japanese / English
Softcover, oversized folio w. obi-strip, 216 pages, 36.5 x 25 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Heibonsha Limited Publishers / Tokyo
$150.00 - Out of stock
Hands-down one of the greatest Issey Miyake books ever published - the classic "East Meets West" of 1978.
First edition of the iconic first book/folio dedicated to the work of Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake. Published by Heibonsha Limited Publishers of Tokyo in 1978, the book features beautiful photoshoots by the likes of Guy Bourdin, Richard Avedon, Kishin Shinoyama, Harry Peccinotti and David Bailey throughout, documenting Miyake's creations of the 1970s.
Broken into three sections ("Man and his Cloth", "The Form of Cloth" and "Witness of Time") the book texts include a preface by Diana Vreeland and essays by Mutsuo Takahashi, Arata Isozaki, and Eiko Ishioka.
Texts are in Japanese and English.
1985, Japanese
Softcover, 64 pages, 25 x 24 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Okanoyama Museum of Art / Nishiwaki
$140.00 - Out of stock
Very scarce publication produced to accompany the exhibition "ISSEY MIYAKE BY TADANORI YOKOO" at Okanoyama Museum of Art in 1985. First and only 1985 edition, this excellent catalogue details the history of iconic collaborations between Japanese graphic artist Tadanori Yokoo and Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, spanning the 1970s and 1980s. It's all here, all of the incredible textile designs, posters, invitations, greeting cards, advertisements, garments, along with drawings and photographs, biographies, portrait, a full catalogue of the works... An invaluable resource for fans of either artist, boldly detailed and designed by Tadanori Yokoo Studio!
Very Good copy.
1985, English
Softcover (folded catalogue and poster), 75 x 50 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Boilerhouse Project / London
Victoria and Albert Museum / London
Miyake Design Studio / Tokyo
$170.00 - Out of stock
Stunning and extremely rare Issey Miyake exhibition poster / publication for the exhibition produced by Miyake Design Studio and held at the Boilerhouse, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, February 27 - April 9, 1985. Issued as a folded publication: one-side photography (by Gilles Tapie, Kazumi Kurigami, Tsutomu Wakatsuki, Marcus Leatherdale, Daniel Jouanneau) and texts about Issey Miyake (by Stephen Bayley, James J. Nelson), the verso a gorgeous 75 x 50 cm poster advertising the exhibition, with photography by Gilles Tapie, a well-known French photographer who is married to ballerina Sylvie Guillem. Design by Bill Womack, London and Studio Aile, Tokyo.
Very Good condition. Small pin holes in corners from previous use (not impacting cover side), general light fold/edge wear.
1985, Japanese / English
Softcover, 56 pages, 30 x 21 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization / Tokyo
$35.00 $10.00 - Out of stock
Issue 166 of Japan's leading magazine for Industrial Design, published in 1985. A vital mouth piece of the post-modern design industry in Japan and internationally, this issue of Design News features an article on Robot as Pet, introducing the TOMY Omnibot and co., an interview with design critic and curator Stephen Bayley (Habitat, The Boilerhouse Project at the Victoria and Albert Museum — Issey Miyake, Memphis, etc., Design Museum in London, etc.), article on Slovenian industrial designer Davorin Savnik, store concept for the mighty Tokyu Hands department store, plus loads of industry news, reports, new product reviews, exhibitions, books, etc. Mostly in Japanese with some English.
Very Good copy with tanned spine,
1990, English
Hardcover, 48 pages, 26.5 x 31 cm
1st edition of 3000 copies.,
Published by
Miyake Design Studio / Tokyo
$160.00 - Out of stock
First edition of the scarce "Issey Miyake by Irving Penn" (1990), printed only once in a limited edition of 3,000 copies and published by the Miyake Design Studio in Tokyo, 1990. Said to have not been available for sale, but rather distributed to trade only.
This beautiful oversized hardcover volume is made up entirely of legendary photographer Irving Penn's elegant images of the great Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake's 1990 collection, in full-colour on gloss stock. One of the greatest collaborative partnerships in fashion image history.
‘through his eyes penn-san reinterprets the clothes, gives them new breath, and presents them to me from a new vantage point — one that I may not have been aware of, but had been subconsciously trying to capture. Without penn-san’s guidance, I probably could not have continued to find new themes with which to challenge myself, nor could I have arrived at new solutions.’ – Issey Miyake (from Irving Penn: A Career in Photography, the Art Institute of Chicago, 1997)
credits:
Clothing Design by lssey Miyake
Photographs by Irving Penn
Book Design by lkko Tanaka
Face by Tyen
Hair by John Sahag
Modeled by Yuki Fujii
Printed and bound by Nissha Printing Company, Kyoto, Japan
Published by Miyake Design Studio, Tokyo, Japan
Published in a limited edition of 3,000 copies
Fine copy.
1985, Japanese / English
Softcover (w. dust jacket), 242 pages, 28 x 36 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Obunsha Co. Ltd. / Tokyo
$180.00 - Out of stock
First edition of the beautiful and incredibly rare "Issey Miyake & Miyake Design Studio 1970-1985 (Works Words Years)". This heavy, over-sized monograph on Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake was published in 1985 by Obunsha in Tokyo. Lavishly illustrated with full-colour photographic documentation of Miyake's designs between 1970-1985, with texts largely in Japanese (and a small amount of English), all designed by Miyake Design Studio and printed immaculately in Japan. Includes a chronology of these years with various clippings, plus a wonderful group portrait of the Miyake Design Studio staff. A stunning volume from the 1980's on one of the greatest fashion designers of our time.
Includes the original industry press-release from Miyake Design Studio president Midori Kitamura inserted and printed on great 80s MDS letterhead.
Very good copy in VG original dust jacket, with only light wear and light occasional age spotting.
1983, English / Japanese
Softcover (w. in original obi-strip and inserted 1983 exhibition ticket stub, flyer and newspaper clipping), 147 pages, 30.3 x 24 cm
1st Japanese Edition, Out of print title / Used*,
Published by
Shogakukan / Tokyo
$120.00 - Out of stock
First Japanese printing from 1983 of Issey Miyake's great "Body Works" book.
In the 1980s, acclaimed Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake furthered his exploration of the body’s motions and form, enthusiastically taking on the challenge of designing garments using materials other than cloth: plastic, paper, and wire. He called his creations from this period “Body Works.” The American art magazine Artforum featured a Rattan- vine Body created by Miyake on its February 1982 cover—the first time clothing had been featured on the cover of an art magazine.
This is the book that fully encapsulates this incredible period of Miyake's work. With beautiful photography throughout by the likes of Marcus Leatherdale, Daniel Jouanneau, and Helmut Newton, illustrated contributions by Milton Glaser, iconic appearances by Grace Jones, Andy Warhol and many others, alongside behind the scenes photography, garment photography, texts (in English and Japanese) and much more, this museum book is as much an artist's book as it is a catalogue or monograph.
Very fine plastic-wrapped original printing copy with obi-strip comes with ticket-stub to the Japanese "Bodyworks" exhibition in 1983, as well as the exhibition flyer and a Japanese newspaper cutting from the time! A small Miyake archive!
1996, English / Japanese
Softcover (w. clear plastic dust-jacket and original exhibition floor-map insert), 214 pages, 29.5 x 22.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art / Tokyo
$120.00 - Out of stock
The great Japanese monograph/catalogue on Shiro Kuramata, one of Japan's most important designers of the 20th century, published to accompany the major survey exhibition held at Hara Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in 1996. Kuramata translated workaday industrial materials -wire steel mesh, corrugated aluminium, lucite-into poetic objects and interiors. In original plastic wrap sleeve and embossed covers, this lavishly illustrated book presents stunning photographic documentation of his furniture, glassware, interiors, lighting, and architecture (including his incredible boutique interiors for fashion designer Issey Miyake, and his work as a key member of Italian design group Memphis, which he joined at its founding in 1981). This book is certainly one of the finest volumes ever published on Kuramata. Features complete history of works plus text by Japanese architect, Arata Isozaki. This copy includes the exhibition guide/map illustrated by Kuramata himself, along with other printed ephemera.
Very Good - Fine copy.
1990, English
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 129 pages, 22.5 x 29 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Harry N. Abrams / New York
$50.00 - Out of stock
First hardcover edition of "Snoopy Around The World...", published in New York in 1990. The always incredible fashion photo album of Snoopy and his beagle sister Belle travelling world in original one-of-a-kind designer outfits created by the world's most progressive and famous fashion designers of the time, asking each of them to create an for Snoopy and his beagle sister Belle. There is even a cameo by Woodstock in Krizia! Designers include Givenchy, Chloé, Issey Miyake, Karl Lagerfeld, Sonia Rykiel, Martine Sitbon, Balenciaga, Missoni, Krizia, L.L. Bean, Marimekko, Jag, Popy Moreni, Pierre Balmain, Guy Laroche, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Hermes, Dirk Bikkembergs, Cacharel, Bill Blass, Kenzo, Giorgio Armani, Vivienne Westwood, Diane von Fürstenberg, and so many more. Lavishly photographed throughout with endless fold out full-colour spreads!
From the blurb:
"Snoopy Around the World, which features commentaries by Peanuts's creator Charles Schulz, photographs by renowned fashion photographer Alberto Rizzo, and biographies of the designers, is sure to delight the millions of people who avidly follow the daily adventures of the world's most popular beagle. The book accompanies a major exhibition that began its own world tour by opening at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris to international acclaim. For no matter where their journey takes them, Snoopy and Belle always travel in high style - they really know how to put on the dog!"
Very Good copy.
1988, Japanese
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 76 pages, 26.5 x 31 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Libro Port Publishing Co. Ltd. / Tokyo
$360.00 - Out of stock
Signed copy (by Issey Miyake) of the wonderful first Japanese printing of this famous Irving Penn photography book, published by Libro Port Publishing Co. Ltd., Tokyo in 1988. It is the hardcover version with original illustrated dust-jacket.
Published to coincide with the exhibition "Issey Miyake A UN," organized by Miyake Design Studio in association with the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris in 1988, this heavily photographic book features stunning full-page photos by Irving Penn of Issey Miyake's 1987 line throughout the entire book. Foreword by Isamu Noguchi, and accompanying essay by Jay Cocks. Type design by Kiyoshi Kanai. Project coordinated by Midori Kitamura and June Kanai, who also modeled the clothes. Wonderful, iconic imagery of Issey Miyake's late 1980's works.
Dedication, signed and dated (1988) by Issey Miyake in bold black marker on title page!
Very Good copy - tight, clean, protected by original dust-jacket under plastic wrap, very light shelf wear / tanning to cover.
1990, English
Hardcover, 48 pages, 26.5 x 31 cm
1st edition of 3000 copies, signed / out of print title / used*,
Published by
Miyake Design Studio / Tokyo
$530.00 - Out of stock
Signed copy (by Issey Miyake) of the very scarce, collectable "Issey Miyake by Irving Penn" (1990), printed only once in a limited edition of 3,000 copies and published by the Miyake Design Studio in Tokyo, 1990.
Signed and dated (Dec. 1990) by Issey Miyake on the title page in grey lead, this beautiful volume is made up entirely of legendary photographer Irving Penn's elegant images of the great Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake's 1990 collection, in full-colour on gloss stock. One of the greatest collaborative partnerships in fashion image history.
‘through his eyes penn-san reinterprets the clothes, gives them new breath, and presents them to me from a new vantage point — one that I may not have been aware of, but had been subconsciously trying to capture. Without penn-san’s guidance, I probably could not have continued to find new themes with which to challenge myself, nor could I have arrived at new solutions.’ – Issey Miyake (from Irving Penn: A Career in Photography, the Art Institute of Chicago, 1997)
credits:
Clothing Design by lssey Miyake
Photographs by Irving Penn
Book Design by lkko Tanaka
Face by Tyen
Hair by John Sahag
Modeled by Yuki Fujii
Printed and bound by Nissha Printing Company, Kyoto, Japan
Published by Miyake Design Studio, Tokyo, Japan
Published in a limited edition of 3,000 copies