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:
OPEN 12—5 THU—FRI
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
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.
2021, English
Softcover, 160 pages, 23 x 16 cm
Published by
Spector Books / Leipzig
$67.00 - Out of stock
From today’s perspective, Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922 – 1975) comes across as one of the most productive and exhilarating talents in twentieth-century art. He continues to be both an inspiring and provocative figure not only for his wide-ranging virtuosity as a linguist, writer, journalist, and film-maker but also on account of the themes that he addressed. In modern-day Europe with all its levelling processes, regulations, and a hypocrisy protected by the code of political correctness, the loss of his voice is keenly felt. Pasolini never simply glorified the ancient ways of isolated regions and decried progress; rather, by adopting both extremes, he created an all-embracing poetics of experimental thinking. Hans Ulrich Reck’s book shows the relevance of his work today: that Pasolini was proved bitterly right in so many things is an expression of his far-sightedness in not reading the hidden signs of his time in terms of “grand theses” and “narratives”.
2021, English
Hardcover, 144 pages, 17.6 x 23.1 cm
Published by
Spector Books / Leipzig
$52.00 - Out of stock
In the early 1990s, Martin Kippenberger developed the idea of a global underground network: METRO-Net. Although it is one of the artist’s most fascinating projects, his premature death in 1997 meant that it could only be implemented in rudimentary form. In 1993, a metro entrance was built on the Greek island of Syros, followed by two more: one in 1995 in Dawson City in Canada and the other in 1997 on the new Leipzig exhibition grounds. This created a means of travelling in the boundless space of the imagination. Its usability depends on the imagination: without the willingness to visualise tunnel tubes and moving underground trains, this project remains a 'nonsensical building plan'. But the moment we accept the artwork as a mode of transport for 'mind travellers', then its full power can unfold. Kippenberger’s METRO-Net was intended to counter life’s predictable, rationally oriented parameters with a romantic sense of the world.
1984, English
Softcover, 176 pages, 32 x 23.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Harry N. Abrams / New York
$45.00 - Out of stock
Published in 1984, this critical study of the life and work of the Polish-French artist Balthus serves as the catalogue of a major exhibition held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris. Heavily illustrated throughout in colour and black and white with Balthus' paintings, sketches and artistic references, alongside extensive texts by curator The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Balthus scholar, Sabine Rewald.
Balthus (1908—2001), was a Polish-French modern artist born in Paris to Polish expatriate parents. His given name was Balthasar Klossowski - his sobriquet "Balthus" was based on his childhood nickname, alternately spelled Baltus, Baltusz, Balthusz or Balthus. His father, Erich Klossowski, was an art historian who wrote a noted monograph on Daumier. His older brother was the philosopher and artist Pierre Klossowski. An unusual figure in the history of twentieth century painting, Balthus both traveled among and drew upon the work of other major artists of his time, while at the same time following a unique individual trajectory. He was mentored by, friends of, and/or even collaborated with seminal creative figures from different eras, including Antonin Artaud, André Breton, and Rainer Maria Rilke, while cultivating his own highly refined style of dreamlike, classically-informed painting. The scenes he usually depicted were very ordinary bourgeois interiors or outdoor settings, which nonetheless managed to reveal the heightened inner states of his subjects as well as the states of mind of those who might be viewing them.
"I always feel the desire to look for the extraordinary in ordinary things; to suggest, not to impose, to leave always with a slight touch of mystery in my paintings." - Balthus
Very Good copy with dedication to previous owner on title page.
2021, English
Softcover, 254 pages, 26 x 17 cm
Published by
Edition Patrick Frey / Zürich
$110.00 - Out of stock
This is the first book to bring together Dan Mitchell’s (b. 1966) complete posters and flyers. The British artist designs subversive, socially critical and humorous posters to promote his own shows as well as those of fellow artists, and to serve as critical commentary on everyday occurrences. Whilst carrying on the age-old tradition of poster art, he explores contemporary approaches involving various print sizes and even digital posters. “The Age of LOLZ is Over. Long Live DEATH LOLZ” proclaims Mitchell in a satirical commentary on a serious state of affairs: the age of “laughing out loud” is over. The book is rounded out with an interview of the artist by Swiss curators Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen.
Dan Mitchell (born 1966 in Great Britain) is a London-based artist who has exhibited widely outside of mainstream galleries. He is a founding member of Poster Studio (1994–1997) and the publisher of the magazine Hard Mag. His work is generated on computers and takes the form of an assemblage of culled images (from the web, magazines, posters, film and photography) and is rendered on paper in the forms of posters, magazines, drawings and prints as well as sculpture.
2019, Japanese
Hardcover (cloth), 312 pages, 195 x 130 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by
Asahi Shimbun / Japan
$120.00 - Out of stock
Stunning new hardcover catalogue published on the occasion of the largest traveling Moomin exhibition ever staged, Moomin: The Art and The Story, Japan, 2019. Beautifully designed by the exhibition designer Yuria Oshima, this comprehensive book delves into the world of Tove Marika Jansson's Moomins in such detail that only a Japanese book could. Made in collaboration with the Moomin Museum in Tampere, who loaned 500 works for the exhibition, almost every exhibited item is captured here in in print across various paper stocks, including a miniature inlayed facsimile of the marvellous Trollvinter, first published in 1957. There is so much material captured in this book that has not been previously published, including countless original sketches and illustrations, paintings, first-edition Moomin books, all the original Moomin dolls, products and animations, commercial Moomin work, personal photographs of Jansson and much more, all thoroughly indexed. 2019 also marked the 100th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Finland, Tove Jansson’s native country. Jansson visited Japan twice, in 1971 and 1990, each time making social and professional connections, sketches, and photographs. She also passionately collected the prints of 19th Century woodcut masters like Hiroshige, Hokusai and many more, which are captured here alongside her own artwork, drawing out the obvious influence, and admiration Jansson had for Japanese art. Also includes her Japanese hotel drawings, correspondences and photographs of her visits. An invaluable and inspiring resource for any Moomin fan.
Tove Marika Jansson (1914 – 2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in Stockholm, Helsinki and Paris. Her first solo art exhibition was in 1943. She continued to work as an artist and a writer for the rest of her life, and it was with the creation of her much-loved Moomin characters that she become known around the world. Jansson wrote the Moomin books for children, starting in 1945 with The Moomins and the Great Flood. Her books became international classics translated to 35 languages. For her work as a children's writer she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1966.
As New.
2014, Japanese
Hardcover, 253 pages, 25 x 19 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / as new
Published by
Asahi Shimbun / Japan
$120.00 - Out of stock
Beautiful hardcover catalogue of the extraordinary Japanese 2014-2015 travelling Tove Jansson Exhibition. This absolutely packed, comprehensive and profusely illustrated book covers Jansson's entire career, from her earliest childhood drawings, through her prolific painting career, political cartoons, commercial illustration, stage costume designs, and, of course, much of it's contents beautifully reproducing Jansson's sketches and illustrations for her famous Moomintroll books, spanning 1940s-1970s. This book gives a wonderful insight into the creative process of each page of Jansson's books, presenting her pencil sketch-ups alongside the final inked pages. Alongside the almost 400 illustrations in colour and b/w, it also includes many photographic portraits of Jansson, especially her island life and studio. It even reproduces her painting palettes! Texts in Japanese with a detailed index of all artworks. A book that will not disappoint any Moomin fan.
Tove Marika Jansson (1914 – 2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in Stockholm, Helsinki and Paris. Her first solo art exhibition was in 1943. She continued to work as an artist and a writer for the rest of her life, and it was with the creation of her much-loved Moomin characters that she become known around the world. Jansson wrote the Moomin books for children, starting in 1945 with The Moomins and the Great Flood. Her books became international classics translated to 35 languages. For her work as a children's writer she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1966.
As New copy.
2022, English
Looseleaved in bag (w. hand-pulped paper edition), 38 pages, 24 x 17 cm
Ed. of 200,
Published by
Discipline / Melbourne
$20.00 - Out of stock
Publication produced over the course of the exhibition of Brighid Fitzgerald and Amy Jane Parker, curated by Helen Hughes, at MEJIA, 1—23 April 2022. Brighid Fitzgerald and Amy Jane Parker work in close proximity with one another. They share a studio (along with painter Clare Longley), as well a range of artistic interests. These include ecological thinking, the afterlives of waste, and the transmutation of materials. Often unfurling in parallel, sometimes their practices converge. Edited by Helen Hughes, designed by James Oates, and published by Discipline, side by side by side features interviews with Parker and Fitzgerald, texts by Chi Tran, Autumn Royal, and Aodhan Madden, as well as photography by Beth Maslen.
Edition of 200 copies with hand-pulped paper edition insert.
1993, German / English
Softcover, 32 pages, 29 x 27 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by
Stockhausen-Verlag / Kürten
$80.00 - Out of stock
First edition of Texte der MOMENTE : für Solosopran, 4 Chorgrupppen und 13 Instrumentalisten (for solo soprano, 4 choir groups and 13 instrumentalists); Europa Version 1972, published in 1993 by Stockhausen Verlag, Kürten, Germany. Introduction in English and German, score and original manuscript primarily in German, with some English words. Long out of print.
Momente (Moments) is a work by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, written between 1962 and 1969, scored for solo soprano, four mixed choirs, and thirteen instrumentalists (four trumpets, four trombones, three percussionists, and two electric keyboards). A "cantata with radiophonic and theatrical overtones", it is described by the composer as "practically an opera of Mother Earth surrounded by her chicks". It was Stockhausen's first piece composed on principles of modular transposability, and his first musical form to be determined from categories of sensation or perception rather than by numerical units of musical terminology, which marks a significant change in the composer's musical approach from the abstract forms of the 1950s.
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928 – 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundbreaking work in electronic music, for introducing controlled chance (aleatory techniques) into serial composition, and for musical spatialization.
Very Good-Fine copy.
1977, English / German / French
Softcover, 72 pages, 31 x 23.4 cm
Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Universal Edition / Vienna
$140.00 - Out of stock
Very rare original published score accompaniment to Karlheinz Stockhausen's (1928—2007) Hymnen : Elektronische und Konkrete Musik, "intended to be read while listening to the tape or the record"—Introduction. First edition, second issue, published in 1977 by Viennese Universal Edition, and printed in Vienna from Stockhausen's manuscript — the transcription of the tape was made by Stockhausen using earphones, piano and a stopwatch. Texts in English, German, and French, including programme notes from the world premiere in Cologne in 1967, disposition, supplementary commentary for the DGG record, August 1968, and the complete score. English translations by Australian musicologist and a former teaching assistant to Karlheinz Stockhausen, Richard Toop. Long out of print.
Hymnen (German for "Anthems") is an electronic and concrete work, with optional live performers, by Karlheinz Stockhausen, composed in 1966–67, and elaborated in 1969. In the composer's catalog of works, it is No. 22. Hymnen is a massive tape soundscape based on samples of 40 national anthems, various field recordings of public events, a few dialogue "inserts", shortwave radio noise and synthesized sound (from sine and pulse generators) to create a kind of "portrait of humanity" as it melts together, bursts apart, and then is reborn as a new utopian entity.
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928 – 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundbreaking work in electronic music, for introducing controlled chance (aleatory techniques) into serial composition, and for musical spatialization.
Very Good copy.
2019, English
Softcover, 406 pages, 26.7 x 19 cm
Published by
Ecstatic Peace Library / New York
$98.00 - In stock -
French composer Luc Ferrari (1929-2005) was one of the progenitors of Musique concrète and a pioneer of and resolutely idiosyncratic voice within electroacoustic music. Ferrari was an early participant in the Groupe de Musique concrète and, with Pierre Schaeffer and François-Bernard Mâche co-founded the Group de Recherches Musicales (GRM) in 1958. Throughout his career, Ferrari worked in multiple forms: instrumental works, vocal music, text scores, electronic and electroacoustic music, Hörspiele, theatre and films.
This is the first monograph in English on Luc Ferrari and includes writings, original compositions, notes, text scores, artworks and interviews. Edited by Brunhild Ferrari. English translations by Catherine Marcangeli. Foreword by Thurston Moore. Introduction by Jim O’Rourke. Preface by Brunhild Ferrari. Afterword by David Grubbs.
1972, English / French / German
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 130 pages, 26.5 x 19 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by
Schuler Verlagsgesellschaft / Stuttgart
$30.00 - Out of stock
Published in 1972, volume 6 of the book series Große Designer in der Werbegraphik (Great Designers in Advertising Graphics), this volume "USA II" devoted to leading American-based designers/illustrators in the 1960s/1970s : R. O. Blechman, Paul Davis, Obermayer & Geismar, and Rudolph de Harak. Heavily illustrated throughout with many great examples of each designer's works in vivid colour and b/w reproduction, alongside texts/interviews (in English, French, German) and portraits. At least 8 volumes were published in this series, three of them on the USA.
Good copy in Good dust jacket. Light general ageing/wear with a loose page or two.
1972, English / French / German
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 140 pages, 26.5 x 19 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Schuler Verlagsgesellschaft / Stuttgart
$45.00 - Out of stock
Published in 1972, volume 7 of the book series Große Designer in der Werbegraphik (Great Designers in Advertising Graphics), this volume "USA III" devoted to leading American-based designers/illustrators in the 1960s/1970s : Louis Dorfsman, Milton Glaser, George Tscherny, and Tomi Ungerer. Heavily illustrated throughout with many great examples of each designer's works in vivid colour and b/w reproduction, alongside texts/interviews (in German) and portraits. At least 8 volumes were published in this series, three of them on the USA.
Very Good copy in Good dust jacket. Light general ageing/wear.
1982, English / German
Softcover, 32 pages, 14.8 cm x 18.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Edition Copie / Hannover
$400.00 - Out of stock
Extremely rare and wonderful Lapo Binazzi artist book, "Cool Lights (Indifferent Technology)", first edition from 1982. Almost entirely illustrated with Binazzi's incredible lamp objects dating from 1973-1981, this small book compiles his works, drawings, and ideas, with accompanying text by Michael Erlhoff.
Lapo Binazzi is a quintessential figure in the Italian Radical movement and a founding member of Global Tools and the collective UFO, one of the “supergroups” of Italian architects, alongside Gruppo 9999 and Superstudio. The Italian Radical movement grew in response to the political state of Italy in the 1960’s, when groups of designers congregated together to create works that challenged the current political and economical system, violently opposing the standardisation and doctrines of the international style of design. Binazzi’s designs exemplify this movement through their provocative tones, humorous messages and symbolic imagery. Lingering between conceptual and pop art, Binazzi works in a variety of mediums including interior design, fashion, film and performance.
Very Good copy with only light tanning/spotting with age.
1988, English / German / French
Softcover, 180 pages, 30 x 23 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by
Taco / Berlin
$45.00 - Out of stock
European 1988 re-print of this major 1987 Japanese monograph on Studio 80, the influential Japanese design group founded in 1981 by three of the leading interior and furniture designers of the 1970's, Shigeru Uchida, Ikuyo Mitsuhashi and Toru Nishioka. Lavishly illustrated throughout in colour and black and white architectural photography with their acclaimed designs for fashion boutiques (inc. many interiors for Yohji Yamamoto/Y's), clubs, bars, restaurants and more, alongside a collection of 30 floorplans and essays by Shigeru Uchida. Texts in English, German, and French.
Good - Very Good copy. Light wear and creasing to spine.
1988, English / Japanese
Softcover (w. dust jacket), 85 pages, 30 x 24 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Rikuyo-Sha / Tokyo
$80.00 - Out of stock
First edition of Setsuo Kitaoka : Interior Designer, the 1988 monographic survey on the work of acclaimed Japanese interior and furniture designer, Setsuo Kitaoka, surveying the years 1980—1988. Working closely with fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto to create the exquisite boutiques and stage designs for Y's and Yohji Yamamoto throughout the 1980's, Kitaoka also created incredible interiors of "lightness and wit" for Kenzo, Barney's New York, Basco, St. Honore, Men's Melrose, Solariste, TKX, and many more, profiled throughout this publication in lush architectural photography by Hiroyuki Hirai and others, alongside his iconic chair, table and lamp designs of the period.
Very Good copy in original dust jacket (small closed tear).
1989, English / Japanese
Softcover (w. dust jacket), 88 pages, 30 x 23 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by
Rikuyo-Sha / Tokyo
$80.00 - Out of stock
First edition of The Air : Interior Designer, the 1989 monographic survey on the work of acclaimed Japanese interior designers Kenji Oki and Hisako Watanabe, including all their incredible boutiques, parlours and guest-houses for Cassina, J.C. de Castelbajac, etc., alongside their iconic work in furniture, objects and lighting, spanning the years 1979—1988. Lavishly illustrated throughout in colour and black and white architectural photography by Hiroyuki Hirai, as well as drawings and floor-plans. Bi-lingual essays in English and Japanese by Hajime Yatsuka, Shiro Kuramata, Riichi Miyake, Shigeru Uchida, and others. Edited by Masaya Yamamoto.
Fine copy in original dust jacket.
1984, Italian
Softcover (loop stitched), 60 pages, 30 x 22 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Memphis Milano / Milan
$340.00 - Out of stock
Very rare, early original Memphis Milano trade catalogue from 1984. Beautifully preserved copy of this lavishly illustrated and iconically designed (by Christoph Radl and Sottsass Associati) catalogue presenting furniture pieces, lamps, ceramics, glassware, metalware, and textiles produced between 1981 and 1984 by Ettore Sottsass, Peter Shire, Andrea Branzi, George James Sowden, Hans Hollein, Aldo Cibic, Martine Bedin, Gerard Taylor, Michele De Lucchi, Mattheo Thun, Marco Zanini, Masanori Umeda, Nathalie du Pasquier, Michael Graves.
A wonderful collector's item.
Very Good copy, bright and clean throughout.
2022, English / French
Softcover, 316 pages, 17 x 24 cm
Published by
Les Presses Du Reel / Paris
$55.00 - In stock -
Bi-lingual English/French publication of an in-depth essay by art historian Valérie Da Costa on the Italian period (1962-1976) of the American artist, Paul Thek (1933-1988), one of the most distinctive American artists of the latter half of the twentieth century, always refusing the artistic mainstream. Although never studied before now, Thek's life in Italy profoundly influenced the artist's imagination and his work.
From 1962 to 1976, he traveled to Italy, for multiple extended stays. In Rome, he discovered ancient sculpture, the achievements of the Renaissance, the Baroque churches, but above all the contemporary artistic effervescence of the capital. In Sicily, with his friend the photographer Peter Hujar, he was confronted with the question of death through reliquaries, religious processions or the extraordinary Capuchin catacombs. On the island of Ponza, he immersed himself in an ecstatic Mediterranean lifestyle, in osmosis with nature and the sea in particular. Many deeply felt experiences in Italy helped shape his artistic practice, from the famous Technological Reliquaries, to innovative installations and his return to painting and drawing.
Heavily illustrated throughout with Thek's many artworks, studies and cultural references in colour and b/w, this essay sets out to analyze, for the first time, the deep influence of this Italian life on the imaginary and work of Paul Thek.
Valérie Da Costa is an art historian, art critic and curator. She holds the position of associate professor in contemporary art history (twentieth-twenty-first centuries) at the University of Strasbourg. Her research focuses on Italian art of the second half of the twentieth century, on which she has published numerous articles and books, including Écrits de Lucio Fontana (Les presses du réel, 2013).
Translated from the French by Garry White.
1969, English / German
Flexible plastic covers, screw-bound in acrylic spine, multiple stocks throughout, approx 500 pages, 28 x 15 cm
3rd enlarged edition,
Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Ludwig Museum / Cologne
$300.00 - Out of stock
The extraordinary, definitive 1960s art exhibition catalogue, in it's 3rd expanded and corrected edition, designed by Wolf Vostell for the Ludwig collection in Cologne in 1969. A work of art itself, "Kunst der sechziger Jahre" perfectly embodies the materiality of the pop-era in book form. Housed in thick blind-stamped clear soft plastic covers bound in a hard acrylic plexiglass spine with stainless steel screws, this remarkable book opens with an introductory text and lexicon in German and English, printed on styrofoam pages and graph stock, with contributions by Gert von der Osten, Peter Ludwig, Horst Keller, and Evelyn Weiss. Featuring 92 artists, all part of the private collection of Peter Ludwig, each artist is presented with a portrait on transparent acetate followed by a selection of glossy offset-printed colour artworks tipped-in (often concertina fold-out!) on thick raw kraft paper pages. This enlarged 3rd edition features over 200 objects in total, a vast expansion on the first editions.
Featuring the greats of European-American Pop, Nouveau Réalisme, Fluxus, Art Informel, Abstraction, Minimalism and more, this mighty tome includes the work of Josef Albers, Carl Andre, Horst Antes, Shusaku Arakawa, Allan D'Arcangelo, Arman, Richard Artschwager, Jo Baer, Larry Bell, Miguel Berrocal, Joseph Beuys, Peter Blake, Gernot Bubenik, Anthony Caro, John Chamberlain, Dan Christensen, Alex Colville, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Ronald Davis, Jim Dine, Jean Dubuffet, Richard Estes, Oyvind Fahlstrom, Dan Flavin, Lucio Fontana, Domenico Gnoli, Bruno Goller, Robert Graham, Nancy Stevenson Graves, Gunter Haese, Richard Hamilton, Hans Hartung, Erwin Heerich, Eva Hesse, David Hockney, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Allen Jones, Donald Judd, Howard Kantovitz, Ellsworth Kelly, Edward Kienholz, R. B. Kitaj, Konrad Klapheck, Yves Klein, Yayoi Kusama, Sol Lewitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Linder, Morris Louis, Heinz Mack, Piero Manzoni, Marisol, Malcolm Morley, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Louise Nevelson, Kenneth Noland, Claes Oldenburg, Eduardo Paolozzi, Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Robert Rauschenberg, Martial Raysse, Gerhard Richter, Jean-Paul Riopelle, James Rosenquist, Niki de Saint Phalle, Nicolas Schoffer, Bernhard Schultze, George Segal, Richard Serra, Keith Sonnier, Pierre Soulages, Daniel Spoerri, Lawrence Stafford, Lewis Stein, Frank Stella, Antoni Tapies, Paul Thek, Wayne Thiebaud, Jean Tinguely, Richard Tuttle, Cy Twombly, Gunther Uecker, Ursula (Schultze-Bluhm), Victor Vasarely, Wolf Vostell, Franz Erhard Walther, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, Wols (Wolfgang Schulze).
A Very Good copy of this fragile and collectible catalogue. The usual bowing to pages, some general ageing, with a split to the lower back of plastic spine where the screw hole is, yet all still intact, nothing missing. Complete copy.
2009, English
Softcover (w. plastic dust jacket and 15 artist postcards), 200 pages, 33 x 25 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis / Missouri
$300.00 - Out of stock
Our story begins in Ancient Greece with Socrates announcing, “I know that I know nothing.” Clearly, confusion has always been at the heart of wisdom.
Curated by Anthony Huberman at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis in 2009, the group exhibition and catalogue For the Blind Man in the Dark Room Looking for the Black Cat That Isn't There explores the speculative nature of knowledge and insists on the importance of curiosity and the things we don't understand. Arranged around the premise that the world—and art—is not a code that needs cracking, the works in the exhibition center on the fruitfulness of not-knowing, un-learning, and productive confusion. David Hullfish Bailey, Marcel Broodthaers, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Fischli & Weiss, Rachel Harrison, Giorgio Morandi, Matt Mullican, Rosalind Nashashibi & Lucy Skaer, Frances Stark, Rosemarie Trockel and others present explanations that playfully don't explain. Dedicated to the inquisitive mind, For The Blind Man celebrates our ability to get lost and the stories we use to find our way in the dark. The book is edited, arranged and designed by London-based writer Will Holder and includes a new essay by curator Anthony Huberman.
Featuring: Anonymous, Dave Hullfish Bailey, Marcel Broodthaers, Sarah Crowner, Mariana Castillo Deball, Eric Duyckaerts, Ayşe Erkmen, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Rachel Harrison, Giorgio Morandi, Matt Mullican, Bruno Munari, Nashashibi/Skaer, Falke Pisano, Jimmy Raskin, Frances Stark, Rosemarie Trockel, Patrick van Caeckenbergh, and David William.
Rare first edition of this incredible catalogue, over-sized and complete in plastic jacket and original issue 15 large artist postcards included. Very Good—Fine copy with some light tanning only.
2008, English
Softcover, 255 pages, 19.5 x 12.6 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by
Film and Video Umbrella / UK
$120.00 - In stock -
"1/ 210 possible first lines/openings to a book about the relationship between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century ..."
Produced in a limited edition in 2008 by New York artist Cory Arcangel in collaboration with leading design duo Dexter Sinister (David Reinfurt and Stuart Bailey), this lovely, now very collectible artist's book was published as an accompaniment to Arcangel’s installation, A Couple Thousand Short Films About Glenn Gould, commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella.
The book was released in an edition of 1106 unique copies – this figure representing the total number of separate video clips that Arcangel used in putting together the double-channel video installation 'A couple thousand short films about Glenn Gould'. (A different image of one of the many musical instruments that feature in the piece appears on the first inside page).
Extemporising around the theme of that project, while highlighting the artist’s innovations with digital technology and his experiments with sound, the book features texts by writer and music critic Paul Morley, curator Steven Bode, and an interview/Q&A between Arcangel and curator Michael Connor.
Published by Film and Video Umbrella and funded by Arts Council England, with additional support from Max Wigram Gallery and London Newcastle.
Very Good copy with some light page edge tanning, and light shelf wear.
2022, English / German
Softcover, 148 pages, 20 x 12 cm
Published by
Lärm Publications / Berlin
$28.00 - Out of stock
The second issue of LÄRM fanzine! Once more, it’s a journey to the fringes. Recalling resistant and peculiar aesthetics, wondrous and forgotten outgrowths of music and cultural history of the last seventy years – a search for works with inherent value, often contrary to a semblance of seriosity. Among them are Vox Populi!, Takahisa Zeze, Antediluvian, Unica Zürn, Wolfgang Hilbig, Sergio Martino and others.
Lärm Fanzine focuses on things marginal, strange or excessive in music and film culture. Lärm Publications is based in Berlin.
2020, English
Hardcover, 287 pages, 19 x 29 cm
1st UK Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by
ICA / Pennsylvania
$140.00 - Out of stock
First, only edition of this quickly out-of-print monograph. Celebrations of sentiment, wit and thought: an overview on the beloved and influential American postminimalist Ree Morton.
This volume accompanies the first major United States exhibition of artist Ree Morton (1936–77) in nearly four decades. Edited by Kate Kraczon. Foreword by Amy Sadao. Text by Nayland Blake, Roksana Filipowska, Abi Shapiro.
During a brief but incredibly prolific career, Morton produced installations, sculptures and drawings rich in emotion and philosophically complex, that celebrated tropes of love, friendship and motherhood, radically asserting sentiment as a legitimate subject of artmaking. Her inclusion of personal narrative—through literary, theoretical and autobiographical references—and use of bold color and theatrical imagery infused her objects with sly humor and decorative energy, generating a feminist legacy increasingly appreciated in retrospect.
Long celebrated by peers and younger generations, Morton’s influence on contemporary art remains considerable yet widely under-recognized.
As New but damages from the factory - a crush to the front hardcover edge and bumping to top corner towards back of book, light edge wear to hardcovers. Otherwise Very Good, unread copy.
1976, English
Softcover, 82 pages, 20.5 x 20.5 cm
Out of print title / used / average
Published by
Wesleyan University Press / US
$80.00 - Out of stock
Scarce second printing from 1976 of Anni Albers's pioneering book of essays "On Designing", published by Wesleyan University Press, Connecticut. On Designing (1961) was the first book by Albers, one of the leading modernist designers of the 20th century, and featured an important collection of her illustrated texts on textile design, weaving, the bauhaus, textiles in art and architecture, and more.
Anni Albers (1899—1994) was one of the most influential textile designers of the 20th century. Born in Berlin, in 1922 she became a student at the Bauhaus in Weimar, where she met her husband, Josef Albers. From 1933 to 1949 Albers taught at Black Mountain College. This beautifully illustrated book addresses the artistic and practical concerns of modern design and considers the ever-changing role of the designer.
Albers's work is in private collections and in those of leading museums both here and abroad. Among them are the Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard University, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Museum Neue Sammlung in Munich, the Bauhaus Archiv in Berlin, and the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York.
Average copy with general wear, small repaired closed tear to bottom of front cover, small coffee stain to bottom corner, some underlining throughout.