Reading Copy Book Blog

Check out the latest feature in the AbeBooks.com ‘Rare Book Room - collecting modern photobooks written by Scott Brown, editor of Fine Books & Collections magazine. Lots of great recommendations.

I like this article from today’s Guardian about Stephen Shore’s photography book A Road Trip Journal, which is a personal record of 1970s Americana.

When Shore set off in 1972 he decided to make a photographic diary of the journey, to record “every meal I ate every person I met, every bed I slept in; every toilet I used; every town I drove through. I wanted to be visually aware as I went through the day.” The result was hundreds of snapshot-size glossy colour prints of the minutiae of ordinary life, which he exhibited in New York that same year in a show called American Surfaces. Although some of these pictures were published in other books, it was nearly 30 years before they were brought together in one book, under the same title.

Arthur C. Clarke in pictures from The Guardian.

The Guardian, a newspaper that always been well known for its use of creative photography, has a picture gallery of authors who have been appearing at the Edinburgh Book Festival. The Margaret Atwood picture is a bit scary, Richard Dawkins has bushy eyebrows and someone needs to have a word with Richard Ford about his choice in sweaters (purple never works, sunshine).

I have a fascination with tattoos. I find myself interested in what people get applied to their bodies, where on their bodies they get them and most importantly the story behind why they get them.

Body Type explores the world of tattooing, but it looks specifically at typographic tattoos.

From Shakespeare to Radiohead, from Dante to James Joyce, from celebrations of love to homage and memorial, the wide breadth of messages captured provides insight into the human condition.

There is something more potent and mildly voyeuristic in reading a message on someone’s body versus a small image or icon - almost like overhearing a private phone call.

Librarything just announced the winners of their cookbook pile contest. The object of the game was to take the most interesting photo of your pile of cookbooks for fabulous cash and prizes.

You can take a look at the winners and runners up here

As I have posted numerous times about food and drink, it may come as no surprise that I enjoy that part of life. And being a designer here at AbeBooks, I also appreciate the visual. So when the two collide it’s a marvelous thing…

There is a wonderful Flickr pool of vintage cookbooks. It really is a treat to see all the designs and recipes of days gone by. The style both in terms of the food, the preparation, the ingredients, and the designs all evoke that retro feel.

Now will future chefs and collectors look upon our contemporary glossy, food-porn styled books and molecular gastronomy with that same amusement? Very likely.

A documentary of version of Edward Burtynsky’s books Manufactured Landscapes and China came out recently. The books and film follow Burtynsky as he captures the landscapes as affected by human activity. He travels to quarries, factories, dams and cities to find images of such horrific beauty — stunning and alien to what most people see in their lives.

His photography is not inherently political, neither pro-environment nor anti-industry — the images are not didactic, rather narrative allowing the viewer to fill in the details and context. The series of images feel as if a beginning of conversation about humans and the environment, and it is up to the viewer to decide where the conversation will go.

The books are wonderful addition to anyone interested in photography or the environment, but they cannot match the power of his large scale photography in galleries, well worth the time to visit.

View the Manufactured Landscapes trailer or visit Burtynsky’s site.

For years Candida Hofer has taken photographs that document public spaces — often in a detached, perhaps clinical fashion. The images are usually devoid of people, and highlight patterns, repetition or a sense of order. With her images there is an archaeological sense of discovery and documentation. Libraries is a collection of her photographs documenting some of the great libraries of the world.