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–SAT 12–6
WEB-SHOP OPEN 24/7
World Food Books
Postal Address:
PO Box 435
Flinders Lane
Victoria 8009
Australia
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All prices in AUD (Australian dollars)
Pick-Ups
Pick-up orders can be collected in our bookshop during opening hours after order date. Please collect any Pick-up orders within 2 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. If you cannot make it in to the bookshop in this time-frame, please choose postage option.
Return Policy
All sales are final. We do accept returns (for refund or 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.
1982, Japanese
Softcover, 112 pages, 25.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Fool's Mate / Tokyo
$80.00 - Out of stock
Rare early issue of the world's finest "Euro Rock Magazine", Fool's Mate, from Japan. Fool's Mate Vol. 21 May 1982. In the 1970's—1980's, Fool's Mate (named after the 1971 Peter Hammill LP), edited by Masashi Kitamura with regular contributions by Masami Akita (Merzbow) and many other heads, was a vital conduit between emerging and metamorphosing avant-garde music cultures in Europe (Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Free Music, Electronic, Cosmic, Psychedelic Folk, Avant Pop, Rock in Opposition, Post Punk, Industrial, etc.) and Japan. No doubt responsible for the resonance of experimental contemporary music there during that period through to today, each issue of Fool's Mate during these early years was packed cover-to-cover with exclusive interviews with the artists, rare photographs and graphics, thematic genre/artist/label/artistic movement features, in-depth profiles/discographies/family-trees, catalogues, lyrics, letters, collage art, record, book, and live reviews, columns and an endless stream of concert and import/record store/label/venue/coffee shop adverts, all presented in a perfectly obsessive fanzine aesthetic manner, cut 'n' pasted across many paper stocks. The Americas and other realms, including new directions in Japanese alternative music, are all covered alongside their European counterparts, with many issues exploring key artistic and theoretical influences, such as Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Eros, Futurism, etc.
This issue with cover feature on "Female" artists in avant-garde music and culture, including articles on the history of women in experimental music (The Shaggs, Malaria!, Brigitte Fontaine, Suburban Lawns, Tamia, Lydia Lunch, Phew, Sandy Denny, etc.), interviews/in-depths articles on/with Nico, Dagmar Krause, The Slits, The Raincoats, plus features on This Heat, Lieutenant Murnau (Vittore Baroni), Grafika Airlines cassette label, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, 4AD, Mike Oldfield, The Work, and much more. Highly recommended to any fan of such things.
Very Good copy. General wear/age.
1978, Japanese
Softcover, 96 pages, 25.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Fool's Mate / Tokyo
$80.00 - In stock -
Rare early issue of the world's finest "Euro Rock Magazine", Fool's Mate, from Japan. Fool's Mate June 1978. In the 1970's—1980's, Fool's Mate (named after the 1971 Peter Hammill LP), edited by Masashi Kitamura with regular contributions by Masami Akita (Merzbow) and many other heads, was a vital conduit between emerging and metamorphosing avant-garde music cultures in Europe (Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Free Music, Electronic, Cosmic, Psychedelic Folk, Avant Pop, Rock in Opposition, Post Punk, Industrial, etc.) and Japan. No doubt responsible for the resonance of experimental contemporary music there during that period through to today, each issue of Fool's Mate during these early years was packed cover-to-cover with exclusive interviews with the artists, rare photographs and graphics, thematic genre/artist/label/artistic movement features, in-depth profiles/discographies/family-trees, catalogues, lyrics, letters, collage art, record, book, and live reviews, columns and an endless stream of concert and import/record store/label/venue/coffee shop adverts, all presented in a perfectly obsessive fanzine aesthetic manner, cut 'n' pasted across many paper stocks. The Americas and other realms, including new directions in Japanese alternative music, are all covered alongside their European counterparts, with many issues exploring key artistic and theoretical influences, such as Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Eros, Futurism, etc.
This issue with cover feature on "Occultism" with features on the history of the occult in culture and its influence on avant-garde art and music, with in depth articles on Ash Ra Temple, Magma, Heldon, David Bowie, The Pop Group, This Heat, Kate Bush, Robert Fripp, and much more. Highly recommended to any fan of such things.
Very Good copy. General wear/age.
1981, Japanese
Softcover, 112 pages, 25.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Fool's Mate / Tokyo
$80.00 - In stock -
Rare early issue of the world's finest "Euro Rock Magazine", Fool's Mate, from Japan. Fool's Mate Vol. 19 December 1981. In the 1970's—1980's, Fool's Mate (named after the 1971 Peter Hammill LP), edited by Masashi Kitamura with regular contributions by Masami Akita (Merzbow) and many other heads, was a vital conduit between emerging and metamorphosing avant-garde music cultures in Europe (Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Free Music, Electronic, Cosmic, Psychedelic Folk, Avant Pop, Rock in Opposition, Post Punk, Industrial, etc.) and Japan. No doubt responsible for the resonance of experimental contemporary music there during that period through to today, each issue of Fool's Mate during these early years was packed cover-to-cover with exclusive interviews with the artists, rare photographs and graphics, thematic genre/artist/label/artistic movement features, in-depth profiles/discographies/family-trees, catalogues, lyrics, letters, collage art, record, book, and live reviews, columns and an endless stream of concert and import/record store/label/venue/coffee shop adverts, all presented in a perfectly obsessive fanzine aesthetic manner, cut 'n' pasted across many paper stocks. The Americas and other realms, including new directions in Japanese alternative music, are all covered alongside their European counterparts, with many issues exploring key artistic and theoretical influences, such as Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Eros, Futurism, etc.
This issue with cover feature on "Psychic Youth" with features on This Heat, Robert Wyatt, Chris Cutler, Art Bears, Recommended Records, Throbbing Gristle, Keiji Haino, Fred Frith, Merzbow, King Crimson, Peter Hammill, Massacre, Holger Czukay, Can, The Cure, Bauhaus, Dome, New Order, Joy Division, P.I.L., Pungo, Neo Tendency, and much more. Highly recommended to any fan of such things.
Very Good copy. General wear/age.
1978, Japanese
Softcover, 109 pages, 25.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Fool's Mate / Tokyo
$80.00 - In stock -
Rare early issue of the world's finest "Euro Rock Magazine", Fool's Mate, from Japan. Fool's Mate April 1978. In the 1970's—1980's, Fool's Mate (named after the 1971 Peter Hammill LP), edited by Masashi Kitamura with regular contributions by Masami Akita (Merzbow) and many other heads, was a vital conduit between emerging and metamorphosing avant-garde music cultures in Europe (Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Free Music, Electronic, Cosmic, Psychedelic Folk, Avant Pop, Rock in Opposition, Post Punk, Industrial, etc.) and Japan. No doubt responsible for the resonance of experimental contemporary music there during that period through to today, each issue of Fool's Mate during these early years was packed cover-to-cover with exclusive interviews with the artists, rare photographs and graphics, thematic genre/artist/label/artistic movement features, in-depth profiles/discographies/family-trees, catalogues, lyrics, letters, collage art, record, book, and live reviews, columns and an endless stream of concert and import/record store/label/venue/coffee shop adverts, all presented in a perfectly obsessive fanzine aesthetic manner, cut 'n' pasted across many paper stocks. The Americas and other realms, including new directions in Japanese alternative music, are all covered alongside their European counterparts, with many issues exploring key artistic and theoretical influences, such as Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Eros, Futurism, etc.
This issue with cover feature on "Fantasy" in European rock and avant-garde music, features on fantasy art and literature, the Island Records label, Brian Eno, Klaus Schulze, David Bowie, special feature on Derek Bailey, Italian Prog, Peter Hammill, Ashra, Brian Eno, Tony Banks, Van Der Graaf, Genesis, Vangelis, Peter Gabriel, and much more. Highly recommended to any fan of such things.
Very Good copy. General wear/age.
1978, Japanese
Softcover, 90 pages, 25.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by
Fool's Mate / Tokyo
$90.00 - In stock -
Rare early issue of the world's finest "Euro Rock Magazine", Fool's Mate, from Japan. Fool's Mate Vol. 8 April 1978. In the 1970's—1980's, Fool's Mate (named after the 1971 Peter Hammill LP), edited by Masashi Kitamura with regular contributions by Masami Akita (Merzbow) and many other heads, was a vital conduit between emerging and metamorphosing avant-garde music cultures in Europe (Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Free Music, Electronic, Cosmic, Psychedelic Folk, Avant Pop, Rock in Opposition, Post Punk, Industrial, etc.) and Japan. No doubt responsible for the resonance of experimental contemporary music there during that period through to today, each issue of Fool's Mate during these early years was packed cover-to-cover with exclusive interviews with the artists, rare photographs and graphics, thematic genre/artist/label/artistic movement features, in-depth profiles/discographies/family-trees, catalogues, lyrics, letters, collage art, record, book, and live reviews, columns and an endless stream of concert and import/record store/label/venue/coffee shop adverts, all presented in a perfectly obsessive fanzine aesthetic manner, cut 'n' pasted across many paper stocks. The Americas and other realms, including new directions in Japanese alternative music, are all covered alongside their European counterparts, with many issues exploring key artistic and theoretical influences, such as Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Eros, Futurism, etc.
This issue with cover feature on Electronic Music with interviews and discographies of/with Brian Eno, Klaus Schulz, Tim Blake, the Egg Label, Vangelis, Mauro Bagani, Can, Amon Düül 2, Hawkwind, Throbbing Gristle, The Residents, Lucio Battisti, a special feature on Italian Rock (PFM, New Trolls, Area, etc.), Henry Cow, Gilgamesh, Recommended Records/R.I.O., Scorpians, and much more. Highly recommended to any fan of such things.
Very Good copy. General wear/age.
1980, Japanese
Softcover, 96 pages, 25.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by
Fool's Mate / Tokyo
$90.00 - In stock -
Rare early issue of the world's finest "Euro Rock Magazine", Fool's Mate, from Japan. Fool's Mate Vol. 16 March 1980. In the 1970's—1980's, Fool's Mate (named after the 1971 Peter Hammill LP), edited by Masashi Kitamura with regular contributions by Masami Akita (Merzbow) and many other heads, was a vital conduit between emerging and metamorphosing avant-garde music cultures in Europe (Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Free Music, Electronic, Cosmic, Psychedelic Folk, Avant Pop, Rock in Opposition, Post Punk, Industrial, etc.) and Japan. No doubt responsible for the resonance of experimental contemporary music there during that period through to today, each issue of Fool's Mate during these early years was packed cover-to-cover with exclusive interviews with the artists, rare photographs and graphics, thematic genre/artist/label/artistic movement features, in-depth profiles/discographies/family-trees, catalogues, lyrics, letters, collage art, record, book, and live reviews, columns and an endless stream of concert and import/record store/label/venue/coffee shop adverts, all presented in a perfectly obsessive fanzine aesthetic manner, cut 'n' pasted across many paper stocks. The Americas and other realms, including new directions in Japanese alternative music, are all covered alongside their European counterparts, with many issues exploring key artistic and theoretical influences, such as Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Eros, Futurism, etc.
This issue with cover feature on Throbbing Gristle/Genesis P-Orridge/Industrial Records, Come Org., Henry Cow / Art Bears, Brian Eno, French Meta Musique — The History of Magma, Heldon, Lard Free, Bernard Szajner, Catherine Ribeiro+Alpes, Yochk'o Seffer, Ariel Kalma, Theatre Du Chene Noir, Weidorje, Benoit Widemann, Urban Sax, Ilich, etc., P.I.L., The Pop Group, Metabolist, Camel, and much more. Highly recommended to any fan of such things.
Good copy. General wear/age.
1980, Japanese
Softcover, 112 pages, 25.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Fool's Mate / Tokyo
$80.00 - In stock -
Rare early issue of the world's finest "Euro Rock Magazine", Fool's Mate, from Japan. Fool's Mate Vol. 13 August 1980. In the 1970's—1980's, Fool's Mate (named after the 1971 Peter Hammill LP), edited by Masashi Kitamura with regular contributions by Masami Akita (Merzbow) and many other heads, was a vital conduit between emerging and metamorphosing avant-garde music cultures in Europe (Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Free Music, Electronic, Cosmic, Psychedelic Folk, Avant Pop, Rock in Opposition, Post Punk, Industrial, etc.) and Japan. No doubt responsible for the resonance of experimental contemporary music there during that period through to today, each issue of Fool's Mate during these early years was packed cover-to-cover with exclusive interviews with the artists, rare photographs and graphics, thematic genre/artist/label/artistic movement features, in-depth profiles/discographies/family-trees, catalogues, lyrics, letters, collage art, record, book, and live reviews, columns and an endless stream of concert and import/record store/label/venue/cafe adverts, all presented in a perfectly obsessive fanzine aesthetic manner, cut 'n' pasted across many paper stocks. The Americas and other realms, including new directions in Japanese alternative music, are all covered alongside their European counterparts, with many issues exploring key artistic and theoretical influences, such as Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Eros, Futurism, etc.
This issue "La Pop Metaphysique" with cover feature on the history of King Crimson (Part 1) with in-depth chronology, the history of German Rock Music part 1 (Amon Düül I and II, Gila, Kluster, Neu!, Harmonia, Conrad Schnizler, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Can, Sky Records, Roedelius, Moebius, etc), "Pop Music for all the Schizoid-Human & Schizoid-Ages" (Suicide, James Chance, Monochrome Set, etc.), Slapp Happy/Peter Blegvad/Kew Rhone/Amateur/Henry Cow/Faust, "The Real Story of National Health", "U.S.A. Free Music" (L.A.F.M.S., Trans Museq, Henry Kaiser, etc.), Georges Bataille, Gunjogacrayon, Metabolist, David Bowie, Etron Fou Leloublan, Mario Millo, PFM, Ralph Lundsten, Memoriance, and much more. Highly recommended to any fan of such things.
Very Good copy. General wear/age.
1980, Japanese
Softcover, 112 pages, 25.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Fool's Mate / Tokyo
$80.00 - In stock -
Rare early issue of the world's finest "Euro Rock Magazine", Fool's Mate, from Japan. Fool's Mate Vol. 14 November 1980. In the 1970's—1980's, Fool's Mate (named after the 1971 Peter Hammill LP), edited by Masashi Kitamura with regular contributions by Masami Akita (Merzbow) and many other heads, was a vital conduit between emerging and metamorphosing avant-garde music cultures in Europe (Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Free Music, Electronic, Cosmic, Psychedelic Folk, Avant Pop, Rock in Opposition, Post Punk, Industrial, etc.) and Japan. No doubt responsible for the resonance of experimental contemporary music there during that period through to today, each issue of Fool's Mate during these early years was packed cover-to-cover with exclusive interviews with the artists, rare photographs and graphics, thematic genre/artist/label/artistic movement features, in-depth profiles/discographies/family-trees, catalogues, lyrics, letters, collage art, record, book, and live reviews, columns and an endless stream of concert and import/record store/label/venue/cafe adverts, all presented in a perfectly obsessive fanzine aesthetic manner, cut 'n' pasted across many paper stocks. The Americas and other realms, including new directions in Japanese alternative music, are all covered alongside their European counterparts, with many issues exploring key artistic and theoretical influences, such as Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Eros, Futurism, etc.
This issue with cover feature on the history of King Crimson (Part 2) with in-depth chronology, the history of German Rock Music into German Intermedia, Dada, Neo-Dada, German Avant-Garde theatre, etc. (Amon Düül I and II, Bertolt Brecht, Guru Guru, Can, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Strauss, Agitation Free, Joseph Beuys, Ash Ra Temple, Popol Vuh), Kate Bush, Bert Jansch, Robert Wyatt, Throbbing Gristle and Industrial Records (TG, Monte Cazazza, Leather Nun, S.P.K.), Fred Frith interview, plus the R.I.O. Festival in Reims, France, 1980 (This Heat, ZNR, Eskaton, Stormy Six, Samla Mammas Manna, Tim Hodgkinson, Etron Fou Leloublan, Marc Hollander, Ghédalia Tazartès, Maggie Nicols, etc.), INA-GRM discography (François Bayle, Jean Schwarz, Guy Reibel, Jean-Claude Risset, etc.), and much more. Highly recommended to any fan of such things.
Very Good copy. General wear/age.
1981, Japanese
Softcover, 112 pages, 25.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Fool's Mate / Tokyo
$90.00 - In stock -
Rare early issue of the world's finest "Euro Rock Magazine", Fool's Mate, from Japan. Fool's Mate Vol. 18 October 1981. In the 1970's—1980's, Fool's Mate (named after the 1971 Peter Hammill LP), edited by Masashi Kitamura with regular contributions by Masami Akita (Merzbow) and many other heads, was a vital conduit between emerging and metamorphosing avant-garde music cultures in Europe (Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Free Music, Electronic, Cosmic, Psychedelic Folk, Avant Pop, Rock in Opposition, Post Punk, Industrial, etc.) and Japan. No doubt responsible for the resonance of experimental contemporary music there during that period through to today, each issue of Fool's Mate during these early years was packed cover-to-cover with exclusive interviews with the artists, rare photographs and graphics, thematic genre/artist/label/artistic movement features, in-depth profiles/discographies/family-trees, catalogues, lyrics, letters, collage art, record, book, and live reviews, columns and an endless stream of concert and import/record store/label/venue/cafe adverts, all presented in a perfectly obsessive fanzine aesthetic manner, cut 'n' pasted across many paper stocks. The Americas and other realms, including new directions in Japanese alternative music, are all covered alongside their European counterparts, with many issues exploring key artistic and theoretical influences, such as Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Eros, Futurism, etc.
This incredible issue with cover feature on Fred Frith and Recommended Records, plus Vini Reilly/Durutti Column, The Flying Lizards, David Cunningham, Steve Beresford, Piano Records, Phew, David Toop, Michael Nyman, Aksak Maboul, Crammed Discs, Family Fodder, Video Aventures, Band Apart, Robert Wyatt, Lidsay Cooper, Tim Hodgkinson, Nord, Ken Lockie, Landscape, Alan Gowen, Electroacoustic music, medieval heresy and satanism, and much more. Highly recommended to any fan of such things.
Very Good copy. General wear/age.
1981, Japanese
Softcover, 224 pages, 25.5 x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Fool's Mate / Tokyo
$100.00 - Out of stock
Rare "Special Stock" compendium book by the world's finest "Euro Rock Magazine", Fool's Mate, from Japan. In the 1970's—1980's, Fool's Mate (named after the 1971 Peter Hammill LP), edited by Masashi Kitamura with regular contributions by Masami Akita (Merzbow) and many other heads, was a vital conduit between emerging and metamorphosing avant-garde music cultures in Europe (Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Free Music, Electronic, Cosmic, Psychedelic Folk, Avant Pop, Rock in Opposition, Post Punk, Industrial, etc.) and Japan. No doubt responsible for the resonance of experimental contemporary music there during that period through to today, each issue of Fool's Mate during these early years was packed cover-to-cover with exclusive interviews with the artists, rare photographs and graphics, thematic genre/artist/label/artistic movement features, in-depth profiles/discographies/family-trees, catalogues, lyrics, letters, collage art, record, book, and live reviews, columns and an endless stream of concert and import/record store/label/venue/cafe adverts, all presented in a perfectly obsessive fanzine aesthetic manner, cut 'n' pasted across many paper stocks. The Americas and other realms, including new directions in Japanese alternative music, are all covered alongside their European counterparts, with many issues exploring key artistic and theoretical influences, such as Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Eros, Futurism, etc.
This special collection combines Vol. 15 + S.S in January 1981. Features: Heldon and Magma, Rock in Belgium (COS, Aksak Maboul, Marc Hollander, Julverne, Esperanto, Wallace Collection, etc.), Rough Trade Records (The Raincoats, Swell Maps, This Heat, The Fall, Young Marble Giants, Liliput, etc.), EGG Records (Patrick Vian, Fracoise Breant, Ose, Michel Magne, Christian Vander, etc.), Ash Ra Temple, Prog in Italy (PFM, Area, New Trolls, Stormy Six, etc.), Gilgamesh, The Residents, Henry Cow discography, Nurse with Wound, P.D./P16.D4/Permutative Distorsion, L.Voag, Borbetomagus, YLEM Tapes, Negativland, alchemy and the occult, The Pop Group, Bauhaus, Japan, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Vangelis, Jon Anderson, Blondie, Mike Oldfield, and much more. Highly recommended to any fan of such things.
Very Good copy.
1978, Japanese
Softcover, 204 pages, 21 x 29.6 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Hanashi-no-Tokushu / Tokyo
$650.00 - In stock -
Exceptionally rare (signed!) 1978 first edition photobook by Michiko Matsumoto, one of post war Japan's leading photographers. As a young female photographer growing up in a period of turmoil, Matsumoto conveys the wonders of women to the viewer from the perspective of a woman. Women Come Alive is her rarest and greatest example of this. This wonderful book collects "seven years with women...", Matsumoto's front-line photographic records of the women's liberation movement in Japan in the 1970s and her "Sisters Across Borders" (New York, Paris, Los Angeles, London...), as well as portraits of female artists, activists and friends Yoko Ono, Maki Asakawa, Eiko Ishioka, Michiko Gorman, Mamako Yoneyama, Teruko Yoshitake, Tokiko Kato, Harumi Yamaguchi, Chinatsu Nakayama and others. A true time-capsule, this book visits the workshops, bookshops, marches, women's centres, lesbian bars, exhibitions, editorial offices, dances and studios of a pivotal time of great change. An incredible book of feminist protest and celebration. Virtually an impossible book to find, even without a signature from the artist! Highly recommended!!
Very Good copy in very good dust jacket. Signed in black ink and dated 1978.6.7 on title page.
1972, German / English / French
Vinyl ring-binder (screen printed w. design by E. Ruscha), 650 pages +, 32 x 27 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
documenta / Kassel
$500.00 - Out of stock
Scarce copy of the only edition of the most elaborately designed, and lowest circulated Documenta catalogue, conceived by curator Harald Szeemann to accompany the fifth edition of Documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition held in Kassel, Germany.
Subtitled "100 Days of Inquiry into Reality -- Today's Imagery," curated by the team of Harald Szeemann, Jean-Christophe Ammann and Arnold Bode, Documenta 5 followed a lineage of comprehensive shows documenting conceptually and minimally charged artworks curated by Szeemann including Live in Your Head (Kunsthalle Bern, 1969), and Happenings and Fluxus (Kunstverein, Köln), 1970. The largest, most expensive and most diverse of any exhibition anywhere, Documenta 5 was criticized in 1972 as being “bizarre…vulgar…sadistic” by art critic and essayist Hilton Kramer and “monstrous… overtly deranged” by art historian and art critic Barbara Rose, yet it still resonates today as one of the most important exhibitions in history. Featuring the works of over 170 artists and an equally expansive variety of materials and subjects drawn from popular cultural materials, architecture, science fiction, kitsch objects, film, advertising, children's art, etc. in addition to the more anticipated international survey of new painting and sculpture - Documenta 5 valiantly attempted to bridge the gap between art, culture, science and the broader society. This massive tome is housed in the iconic orange vinyl-covered, two-ring binder screen printed with the famous ant design by Edward Ruscha. The binder holds a tabbed index of illustrated artist's pages and associated texts and material, largely in German, but also many in English. All registers are present apart from the usual missing 19-25 which were not directly integrated into the catalogue and had to be ordered by the visitor separately to become their own contribution. This very complete copy also includes the additional 80 page, hole-punched Documenta 5 guide book, with floor plans, complete listing of exhibited artworks, list of exhibitions, bibliography, and many gallery, museum and other related advertisements. More than a catalogue, this publication is a piece of art history in itself.
Includes artists: Vito Acconci, Vincenzo Agnetti, Peter Alexander, John de Andrea, Giovanni Anselmo, Arbeitszeit, Archigram, Chuck Arnoldi, Art & Language, Richard Artschwager, Michael Ashkin, John Baldessari, Robert Barry, Georg Baselitz, Lothar Baumgarten, Robert Bechtle, Gottfried Bechtold, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Karl Oskar Blase, Mel Bochner, Alighiero Boetti, Christian Boltanski, Claudio Bravo, George Brecht, K.P. Brehmer, Marcel Broodthaers, Stanley Brouwn, Günter Brus, Daniel Buren, Victor Burgin, Michael Buthe, James Lee Byars, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Castelli, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Chuck Close, Tony Conrad, Ron Cooper, Bill Copley, Joseph Cornell, Robert Cottingham, Paul Cotton, Hanne Darboven, Walter De Maria, David Deutsch, Jan Dibbets, Herbert Distel, Gino de Dominicis, Marcel Duchamp, John Dugger, Don Eddy, Franz Eggenschwiler, Ger van Elk, Richard Estes, Luciano Fabro, John C. Fernie, Robert Filliou, Jud Fine, Joel Fisher, Terry Fox, Howard Fried, Hamish Fulton, Franz Gertsch, Gilbert & George, Ralph Goings, Hubert Gojowczyk, Dan Graham, Walter Grasskamp, Nancy Graves, Hans Haacke, Duane Hanson, Guy Harloff, Michael Harvey, Haus-Rucker-Co, Auguste Herbin, Eva Hesse, Rebecca Horn, Jean Olivier Hucleux, Douglas Huebler, Jörg Immendorff, Will Insley, Rolf Iseli, Ken Jacobs, Neil Jenney, Alfred Jensen, Jasper Johns, Joan Jonas, Max G. Kaminski, Howard Kanovitz, Edward Kienholz, Imi Knoebel, Christof Kohlhofer, Jannis Kounellis, Tom Kovachevich, Piotr Kowalski, David Lamelas, Barry Le Va, Jean LeGac, Alfred Leslie, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Ingeborg Luscher, Inge Mahn, Robert Mangold, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Etienne Martin, Richard McLean, David Medalla, Fernando Melani, Jim Melchert, Mario Merz, Gustav Metzger, Bernd Minnich, Malcolm Morley, Ed Moses, Bruce Nauman, Hermann Nitsch, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono, Dennis Oppenheim, Blinky Palermo, Panamarenko, Giulio Paolini, A.R. Penck, Giuseppe Penone, Vettor Pisani, Sigmar Polke, Stephen Posen, Markus Raetz, Arnulf Rainer, Gerhard Richter, Klaus Rinke, Dorothea Rockburne, Peter Roehr, Allen Ruppersberg, Edward Ruscha, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Ulrich Ruckriem, Robert Ryman, John Salt, Salvo, Lucas Samaras, Paul Sarkisian, Jean-Frederic Schnyder, Ben Schonzeit, Werner Schroeter, HA Schult, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Fritz Schwegler, Richard Serra, Paul Sharits, Allan Shields, Katharina Sieverding, Robert Smithson, Michael Snow, Keith Sonnier, Klaus Staeck, Paul Staiger, Jorge Stever, Robert Strubin, Paul Thek, Wayne Thiebaud, Andre Thomkins, David Tremlett, Richard Tuttle, Ben Vautier, W + B Hein, Franz Erhard Walther, Robert Watts, William Wegman, Lawrence Weiner, John Wesley, H.C. Westermann, William Wiley, Rolf Winnewisser, Tom Wudl, Klaus Wyborny, La Monte Young, Peter Young, Gilberto Zorio.
Catalogue also includes Bob Projansky and Seth Siegelaub's "The Artist's Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement." This "Agreement form has been drafted by Bob Projansky, a New York lawyer, after my [Siegelaub] extensive discussions and correspondence with over 500 artists, dealers, lawyers, collectors, museum people, critics and other concerned people involved in the day-to-day workings of the international art world. The Agreement has been designed to remedy some generally acknowledged inequities in the art world, particularly artists' lack of control over the use of their work and participation in its economics after they no longer own it. The Agreement for has been written with special awareness of the current ordinary practices and economic realitites of the art world, particularly its private, cash and informal nature, with careful regard for the interests and motives of all concerned. It is expected to be the standard form for the transfer and sale of all contemporary art, and has been made as fair, simple and useful as possible. It can be used either as presented here or slightly altered to fit your specific situation. If the following information does not answer all your questions consult your attorney." -- from Agreement's cover. Copies of the contract are individually included in English, Germany, and French editions.
Very Good, complete (as issued) copy. Very minor wear.
1973, Japanese
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 139 pages, 24.7 x 18.7 cm
Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Fujingahosha / Tokyo
$200.00 - Out of stock
1973 hardcover print of the first 1965 Japanese edition of "Take Ivy", the legendary cult fashion photo-book and mythological sociological study that set off an explosion of American-influenced fashion amongst Tokyo students and re-defined "Ivy Style" as we know it.
Sold out immediately upon publication, and little known outside of Japan until the 2000s, Take Ivy (the title inspired by "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck) was authored by four Japanese sartorial men's style enthusiasts, including Van Jacket founder and unerring dandy Kensuke Ishizu and photographer Teruyoshi Hayashida (who shot for the influential Men’s Club magazine in Japan). In early 1960s Tokyo, many of these Ivy enthusiasts were arrested simply for dressing in "outlandish" American-inspired styles. In the run-up to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, authorities aimed to clean up Japan’s image, targeting those who strayed too far from traditional norms. During this backlash, Hayashida, Ishizu, and their team set off to the USA in search of their beloved modern "American-style". Upon their arrival on the campuses of America’s elite Ivy League universities they were stunned by the dissonance between real Ivy league style and the Japanese understanding of Ivy. The resplendent sartorial formality of Japan’s Ivy was nowhere to be seen. Where were the three-piece suits that were supposed to be the de facto Ivy uniform? Did this style-conscious utopia the Japanese men espoused and emulated ever even exist? This realisation did not discourage the team, but rather gave birth to something truely unique. The Japanese Reimagining of Ivy.
The result is a beautiful and iconic collection of seemingly candid, almost voyeuristic, possibly staged photographs of college-aged men and their clothes between 1959—1965, shot on campus. Whether getting a meal in the cafeteria, lounging in the quad, riding bikes, studying in the library, in class, or at the boathouse, the subjects of this photographic compendium are impeccably and distinctively dressed in fine American-made garments, documenting an idealised golden age of Ivy League campus life. An aspirational ideal designed to inspire. It wasn’t just about the clothes; it was about the lifestyle they represented. A vision of American confidence and cool modernity that resonated deeply with young Japanese audiences and became a cultural reference the world over. The New York Times described "Take Ivy" as “a treasure of fashion insiders”, a bible for designers, stylists and photographers ever since its first publication. While America is the birthplace of Ivy Style, it was the meticulous attention to detail and cultural reinterpretation of the Japanese that preserved and redefined it for generations to come. "Take Ivy" shaped the Ivy we know today. It became the definitive document of the Ivy Style and remains one of the most iconic fashion books of all time.
Original copies are rare in the West, garnering auction prices as high as $2000 USD. This is the rarely seen first 1965 edition in its second print run from 1971, identical to the first print-run with only minor text corrections. The later 1973 and 1980 reprints being much larger print-runs due to demand, although all now incredibly sought after. The quality and feel of these early editions, printed in Japan, far surpass the many later, more common English and Japanese editions.
Very Good copy in Good dust jacket (preserved in mylar wrap). Small closed tears to top of dust-jacket spine, otherwise VG; some foxing spots to first and last pages, otherwise a wonderful sharp copy of the very scarce, very limited 1973 printing. The quality and feel of these early editions, printed in Japan, far surpass the many later, more common English and Japanese editions.
1972, Japanese
Softcover, 122 pages, 21.5 x 15 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / average
Published by
Lemon Inc. / Tokyo
$35.00 - Out of stock
September 1972 (with cover by Aoi Fujimoto) issue of legendary Japanese underground arts periodical, Black Magazine (or Black Notebook), a taboo-shattering vehicle of the 1970s subculture in Tokyo. A magazine like no-other, each issue, "a paradise of 1970's heretical culture", was a who's who of non-conformity, introducing a new wave of illustrators, painters, doll-makers and photographers, "taboo" sexuality and fetish culture, avant-garde comics, sadistic literature, radical criticism, queer poetry, activism, black humour, underground film and theatre, and all manner of transgressive, esoteric and erotic material, new and historical. Black Magazine featured the work of Yukio Mishima, Toshio Saeki, Izumi Suzuki, Simon Yotsuya, Shūji Terayama, Ken Katayama, Nobuyoshi Araki, Genpei Akasegawa, Keiichi Tanaami, Kikuji Yamashita, Aoi Fujimoto, Tadanori Yokoo, Hiroshi Nakamura, and so many others. It was also where Japanese photographer Satomi Nihongi's Tokyo Transgender photographs were first printed. Black Magazine was heavy with queer and trans content, and Nihongi's "The Most Beautifuls" was a regular photo-feature in its pages. A lot of great things started in the pages of this unique magazine. A highly recommended publication!
1981, English
Softcover, unpaginated, 25.5 x 21 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Shinko Music Publishing / Tokyo
Jonathan Music / Sydney
$160.00 - In stock -
Super rare English edition of the cult cat classic photo book and 1980's phenomenon, Namennayo Cats, published in 1981 by Shinko Music Publishing, Tokyo, and this very rare English translation by Jonathan Music, North Sydney. The illustrated photo album of the delinquent Namennayo Cats in their youth, dressed up in leathers, smoking cigarettes, hanging at the catnip coffee shop and the pinball arcade, graffitiing the school, playing in a rock band, as members in bōsōzoku biker gangs, all photographed by Satoro Tsuda and styled by a host of collaborators, set in elaborate miniature scenes with kitten scale props and ever-changing costumes. Tsuda fell in love with cats when he took four abandoned kittens into his care in 1979. "One day, almost two months since they met, Tsuda noticed the kittens playing with costumes for dolls left behind by his girlfriend." The rest is history. Practically overnight the "obliged" Namennayo Cats became mega idols in Japan, and this book an international treasure of Cat Photo humour.
Very Good copy of the especially collectible English edition, with only light cover wear/tanning.
2023, English
Hardcover, 580 pages, 24 x 17 cm
Published by
Korm Plastics / Netherlands
$70.00 - Out of stock
Frans de Waard published Vital, a fanzine for electronic and electroacoustic music, from 1987 to 1995. It was a low-budget, Xeroxed publication, bearing the revolutionary instruction: ‘No Copyright Publication. Reprint Now!’ It featured interviews with Asmus Tietchens, O Yuki Conjugate, Merzbow, P16.D4, Pierre Henry, Jim O’Rourke, Brume, Döc Wor Mirran and many others, hosted discussions on copyright, plagiarism and plunderphonics, house music, ambient music, cassette culture and noise, and included contributions from musicians such as Leigh Landy, Godfried Willem Raes, John Duncan, and GX Jupitter-Larsen. Every issue included reviews of cassette releases, LPs, CDs and books. A total of 44 issues were published. Vital moved online in 1995, where it appeared every week since as Vital Weekly.
This book is a reprint of all 44 issues and is a lively record of the heyday of cassette culture and industrial music, but also of developments in the wider field of electronic music.
2023, English
Hardcover (w. cd), 184 pages, 21 x 15 cm
Published by
Korm Plastics / Netherlands
$60.00 - Out of stock
In October 1984, Frans de Waard started his Korm Plastics label and his music project Kapotte Muziek. Shortly after, a fellow student, Christian Nijs, joined him as a musical partner. They quickly released a few cassettes and contributed to international compilations, and Nijs started a short-lived label, Disabuse Transmissions. In the summer of 1985, they published the first issue of Nul Nul, a fanzine, to promote their projects and to support the industrial music scene in The Netherlands and Belgium. They published four issues. The lack of enthusiasm of readers, the financial struggle and the Nijs leaving Kapotte Muziek meant the end of Nul Nul, and De Waard started shortly after Vital (1987-1995), which is already published in book form by Korm Plastics.
These four issues are a testament to the creative times that were the 1980s, cut ‘n paste, and the strange, curious language we used when we were younger. Mark Posyden and Frans de Waard painstakingly translated all the texts (and went slightly insane doing it, as some of the original writing was pure gobbledygook), and Studio Bertin made a design that is ‘almost’ like the original, making this book a true beauty.
Along with this book comes a 24-track compilation CD by bands discussed within the pages of Nul Nul. It is very well possible this is the first time industrial music from The Netherlands and Belgium is collected on a CD, and it comes with many musical approaches, from pure noise to minimal synth. The bands are Kapotte Muziek (with a rare solo piece by Christian Nijs), Odal, Zombies Under Stress, Factor 6 (Christian Nijs’s solo project), Narzisse, Jacinthebox, Het Zweet (of which in recent years various works have been re-issued), THU20, Joe the Prang’d, Administratief Management, The Dwarf Farm, Clinique Lutetia, Experiment Incest, Heer Peejee, Sluagh Ghairm (pre Psychic Warriors Of Gaia), Zweiter Korps, Mailcop (Roel Meelkop’s earlier project), Ilo Istatov (from O.R.D.U.C.), Prilius Lacus, Dikyl Brobojo, Kanker Kommando, Het Hilaire Brisdak Ensemble, Vidna Obmana (from his early noise days), and A Violated Body; from totally unknown bands to still going strong ones, such as Kapotte Muziek and THU20.
2023, English
Softcover, 232 pages, 24 x 17 cm
Fourth expanded edition,
Published by
Korm Plastics / Netherlands
$40.00 - Out of stock
In 1992, Frans de Waard (of Kapotte Muziek, Beequeen and the Korm Plastics label) was asked to work for Staalplaat, then one of the biggest independent labels for experimental and electronic music. Staalplaat was the home for bands like Muslimgauze, :zoviet*france:, Rapoon, O Yuki Conjugate as well as Jaap Blonk, Normally Invisible and Kingdom Scum. With an average of three new releases every month, Staalplaat remained a major player for the next eleven years. Hired to set-up a database and to sell and buy new music, Frans de Waard over the years also assumed a role as (unofficial) business director and A&R man, and came to be regarded as the head honcho. In 2003 he’d had enough and decided to quit.
This book tells his story about those eleven years, the many high and as many lows of working for a small independent record label, which also functioned as a shop, mail order, radio programme, news outlet, and concert organiser. It’s about embarrassing confrontations with musicians, labels, distributors, and the endless spending on the most unique packaging CD-land ever saw.
The book includes an interview with Staalplaat founder Geert-Jan Hobijn, a transcript of a radio interview with Muslimgauze, a 1980’s account of Staalplaat’s activities, and a discography, among others. This might be a suitable reading for everyone with an interest in the experimental music scene, and anyone else who wants to read a crazy, funny and sad story about a small struggling record label.
The second edition is expanded with two more appendixes, one about John Cage and one about things found and lost, 2016-2019. Also, anyone who is interested in a manual of how (not) to run your record label might want to take notes.
"Before reading this, I had some doubts about Frans’ ability to write something so captivating and downright fucking funny. I’ve worked with him myself before, plus we have met a few times, and I always had this impression he was a somewhat sombre, serious type (an impression maintained by his reviews), but This is Supposed to be a Record Label shatters this completely. The man ought to put down his pipe long enough to get another book out because he certainly knows how to tell a story." - Adverse Effect
"Although familiar with his work in sound and music, I hadn’t had the chance to hear de Waard’s writer voice until I came across his long-running music review newsletter, Vital Weekly. The matter-of-factness reflects the brutal honesty of his assessments. A dry, wicked sense of humor is always close to the surface. De Waard’s keen observational eye made This Is Supposed to Be a Record Label a must-read for anybody interested in underground sounds." - Hyperallegric.com
2019, English
Softcover, 128 pages, 14 x 21.6 cm
Published by
Nightboat Books / New York
$34.00 - Out of stock
A facsimile edition of the classic 1970s book with new essays and archival material.
40th anniversary reprinting of a beloved fable-manifesto from the 1970s queer counterculture. The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions, written by Larry Mitchell with illustrations by Ned Asta, takes place in a brutal empire in decline, where the faggots and their friends are surviving the ways and the world of men. Beloved by many since its publication, now with new essays by Morgan Bassichis and Tourmaline, this book offers a trenchant and irreverent critique of capitalism, assimilation, and patriarchy that is deeply relevant today.
1999, English
Softcover (w. dust jacket), 288 pages, 21.5 x 13.4 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Faber & Faber / London
$55.00 - Out of stock
Scarce first edition of CCRU founder Sadie Plant's end-of-the-millennium classic, Writing on Drugs, published by Faber and Faber in 1999.
"All writers on drugs become ghost writers for drugs. Or perhaps their drugs are ghost writing them"—Sadie Plant
Narcotics, stimulants and hallucinogens — these drugs have always affected far more than the perceptions, minds and moods of their users. Writing on Drugs explores the profound and pervasive nature of their influence on contemporary culture. It reads Coleridge on opium, Freud on cocaine, Michaux on mescaline and Burroughs on them all, and with such writers it begins to understand the many ways in which the modern world has found itself on drugs. Psychoactive substances have been integral to its economic history, its politics, media and technologies. They have influenced its poetry and stories, and shaped some if its most fundamental philosophies. They have even exposed the neurochemistry of a human brain which, like its cultures, has never been drug-free.
Sadie Plant was born in Birmingham and studied at the University of Manchester, where she gained her PhD in Philosophy in 1989. She has been a Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham and a Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, where, in 1995, she formed The Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU) with Mark Fisher and Nick Land, an experimental cultural theorist collective celebrated for its idiosyncratic and surreal "theory-fiction" which incorporated cyberpunk and Gothic horror, gaining an online cult following related to the rise in popularity of accelerationism. She published The Most Radical Gesture: The Situationist International in a Postmodern Age in 1992, and Zeros and Ones: Digital Women and the New Technoculture in 1997. Having spent much of the 1990s in the academic world, she now works independently and writes full-time.
G—VG in VG dust jacket. Normal page tanning, tanning to dust jacket edge and spine. Not necessarily copy pictured.
1971, Japanese / English
Softcover (in slipcase w. obi strip), 22 x 15.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Kodansha Int / Tokyo
$500.00 - Out of stock
The very first printing of the legendary Complete Tadanori Yokoo book, designed by Yokoo and published in Japan in 1971. Still the quintessential Yokoo book, anyone who sees it knows immediately — boldly designed and beautifully produced with gorgeous colour, thick paper stock, fold-outs, and absolutely comprehensive in capturing the early masterpieces of one of Japan's leading artists of the 1960s. All housed in the original iconic illustrated slipcase with publisher's obi-strip present. 360 total works recorded, alongside 230 photographs — all the posters and other works showcasing his psychedelic, erotic, esoteric and politically charged photo-montage and vivid pop print-making, with documentation of the exhibitions, events, and underground scene Yokoo was central to in the 1960s, captioned throughout with texts by Akiyuki Nosaka and Yokoo himself. A treasure for any fan. A most complete copy.
Tadanori Yokoo (b. 1936) is one of Japan's most successful and internationally recognized graphic designers and artists, who began working with painting in 1966. In parallel, Yokoo’s early screenprints experimented with collage and illustration, combining found photographs with the influence of traditional Japanese ukiyo-e and pop art’s flat vibrant colours and overtly sexual and grotesque content, often reflecting on the rapid changes and Westernisation of Japan post-war society. His interests in mysticism and esotericism, deepened by travels to India, influenced his iconic posters with eclectic psychedelic imagery sharing the aesthetics of the underground counterculture he was associated with. In Tokyo, Yokoo worked as a stage designer for avant-garde theatre, collaborating extensively with Shūji Terayama and his experimental theater group Tenjō Sajiki. By the late 60s he had already achieved international recognition and in the early 1970s MoMA mounted a solo exhibition of his graphic work. His famous designs for The Beatles, Miles Davis, Carlos Santana and collaborations with friend and iconic Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake are renowned the world over. He also starred as a protagonist in Nagisa Oshima's film Diary of a Shinjuku Thief in 1968.
Very Good—Near Fine copy preserved with very minimal wear, light tanning to obi/spine, VG slipcase.
1973, English
Hardcover (w. dust jacket, gilt stamped linen binding), 120 pages, 32 x 32 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Jose Domingo Elias / Barcelona
$800.00 - Out of stock
First, only edition of the incredibly scarce and wonderful "Ibiza, A Dream…….?" photo book, published in Barcelona in 1973. This beautiful cloth-covered, oversized volume captures the quiet coastal landscapes, villages and inhabitants of the Balearic island of Ibiza in the early 1970s through Tony Keeler's warm, grainy photographs. Accompanied by introductory poetic text in English by David Walsh and gorgeously designed and produced, this book provides a rare and exquisite photographic document of a unique place and time, before house music ruined everything.
"During the 1970s, the traditional Ibicencan dress could be seen alongside the naked bodies and Indian veils of the new invaders who swarmed the island escaping bourgeois values. My camera explored the villages, fields and coves of Ibiza capturing these contrasts as well as the soft and aromatic nature of the island. I was fortunate to have free access to the hippie communes where the daily routines where seemingly unperturbed by my clicking camera. The Ibicencans were likewise welcoming and receptive, which made it possible for me to document the two juxtaposed cultures. I was also very privileged to make long lasting friendships amongst both “invaders” and Ibicencans." - Tony Keeler
A very good copy, preserved perfectly throughout, in a good dust jacket with light tanning to edges, and some small closed tears, light rubbing, preserved under mylar wrap. Scarcely found with surviving dust jacket.
1969, Japanese
Softcover, 128 pages, 21 x 15 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Tenjō Sajiki / Tokyo
$360.00 - In stock -
Very rare copy of the first issue of Angura (Underground Theatre), the "Dramatic Theory Magazine", published in 1969 in Tokyo by Shūji Terayama's radical avant-garde theatre company Tenjō Sajiki. Strikingly designed by the great Japanese art director Ryōichi Enomoto, this issue's special feature is ‘Anti-Theater’, with contributions by Shūji Terayama, photographer Yoshihiro Tatsuki, artist Jiro Takamatsu, poet Tadaaki Mori, director and cinematographer Sakumi Hagiwara, critic Masaaki Hiraoka, critic Koichi Isoda, actor Shigeomi Satô, and many others. A very unique periodical that not only discusses in-depth the works of Angura theatre, but also the international avant-garde, inviting diverse critical perspectives on performance and anti- and living-theatre, sharing ground with Gutai and Fluxus. Illustrated throughout with drawings, diagrams and photographs, mixing themes of pop, protest, surrealism, and eros, plus texts and scripts in Japanese. A rare printed embodiment of Tenjō Sajiki, Terayama, Tadanori Yokoo and the Japanese underground.
Tenjō Sajiki was a Japanese independent theater troupe co-founded by Shūji Terayama, Kujō Kyōko, Yutaka Higashi, Tadanori Yokoo, and Fumiko Takagi. Led by Japanese avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer Shūji Terayama, the prolific group was active between 1967 and 1983 (until Terayama's death). A major phenomenon on the Japanese Angura ("underground") theater scene, the group has produced a number of stage works marked by experimentalism, folklore influences, social provocation, grotesque eroticism and the flamboyant fantasy characteristic of Terayama's oeuvre. Tenjō Sajiki benefitted greatly from collaborations with a number of prominent artists, including musicians J. A. Seazer and Kan Mikami, and graphic designers Aquirax Uno and Tadanori Yokoo.
Shūji Terayama (1935 — 1983) was a Japanese avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer. His works range from radio drama, experimental television, underground (Angura) theatre, countercultural essays, to Japanese New Wave and "expanded" cinema. Terayama is considered one of the most productive and provocative creative artists to come out of Japan, with a wide-reaching influence on many artists from the 1970s onward.
Very Good copy.
1967, Japanese
Softcover (w. dust jacket), 310 pages, 21 x 15 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by
Haga Bookstore / Japan
$250.00 - Out of stock
Rare and iconic book, Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (1967) is a collaboration between legendary Japanese underground theater and film director Shuji Terayama, graphic designer Tadanori Yokoo and photographer/cinematographer Yasuhiro Yoshioka. As a precursor to Terayama's first audacious feature-length film of the same title, from 1971, this beautiful softcover book is filled with collages, photographs, graphics, drawings and texts (in Japanese), housed in an elaborate dust-jacket (with amazing Beatles homage lipstick collage on verso) typical of the bold and vibrant pop design style of Yokoo, establishes Terayama as a multi-talented avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, editor and photographer, and one of the central figures of the runaway movement in 1960s Japan. In the same year as this book was published, Terayama (in collaboration with Tadanori Yokoo and others) formed the Tenjo Sajiki, a major phenomenon on the Japanese Angura ("underground") theater scene, the prolific group was known for their stage works marked by experimentalism, folklore influences, social provocation, grotesque eroticism and the flamboyant fantasy characteristic of Terayama's oeuvre. An amazing and rare early example of their published collaborative work, wrapped in one of Yokoo's most iconic graphic works.
Shūji Terayama (1935 — 1983) was a Japanese avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer. His works range from radio drama, experimental television, underground (Angura) theatre, countercultural essays, to Japanese New Wave and "expanded" cinema. Terayama is considered one of the most productive and provocative creative artists to come out of Japan, with a wide-reaching influence on many artists from the 1970s onward.
Good copy with Good dust jacket. General tanning and foxing, with edge wear and surface wear to jacket.