Motto is coming to Melbourne as a temporary bookstore in collaboration with Neon Parc (and mono.kultur will be there in the mix!).

8 – 25th February 2012
12 – 7pm daily
6 Duckett Street
Brunswick
Melbourne VIC 3056
Australia

Everyone has a Tumblr these days, but it’s rare that they’re even remotely interesting – often they’re just mood boards full of more things to buy. The Museum of Modern Art’s Library Tumblr is a different animal all together. Run by David Senior, MoMA’s bibliographer (best job ever?) and the man responsible for the wonderful Access to Tools show, it chronicles the day to day fun of receiving, opening, and cataloging arts publications from around the world. Follow it.

Photography of MoMA’s Library offices, featuring a Eve Fowler poster.

John McWhinnie, book lover, dealer, and publisher, died earlier this month. McWhinnie, who specialized in counter-culture ephemera and art publications, was a huge presence in the insular, obsessive New York art book scene; in addition to the wonderful shop he ran with Glenn Horowitz, McWhinnie consistently had the most engaging booth at the New York Art Book Fair. The photographer Peter Sutherland has posted an unpublished interview with McWhinnie on his website that makes clear that investment savvy is no replacement for a true, deep, meaningful passion. At the end of the interview is a list of his favorite books, and, predictably, it’s one of the best I’ve ever read.

Photography by Peter Sutherland

Which reminds me of a little happy encounter with Another Country bookstore in Kreuzberg, where I wanted to depose of some English books. The owner, a rather eccentric Englishman, separated them studiously into different piles, with Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho making one pile of its own. The owner told me what he would pay me for each pile, then said, ‘And for this, you will have to pay me one euro,’ pointing at Psycho. ‘Some books are so evil that I cannot sell them at my store, so I burn them in my backyard. This is one of them and it will cost you one euro.’ I thought it was a fair price. This is the reason why you should always go to local stores, since they are still run by humans, not corporations. Talking about politically correct.

The owners of Type bookstore in Toronto (call: + 416 366-8973) put their shelves to life. Is this a video response to Spike Jonze’s Mourir Auprès de Toi? Or an appendix to Anthony’s Bookshelf Porn?

Anyway, nice ad!

Imprint’s August Heffner reports the exciting news that the Guggenheim has digitized a host of out-of-print catalogues. This is wonderful news: not only are these publications valuable scholarly resources, but together they form an inspirational treasure trove (no surprise, considering so many were designed by Herbert Matter). Look at that Klimt \<>/ Schiele cover!

Family
436 N. Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
USA

PS. No, the image above is not the actual Family we are talking about – since we couldn’t find a proper interior shot, and this was one of the first images to come up when looking for ‘Family Los Angeles’, we thought, ‘Who cares? As long as it’s nice…’

T’is the season of the year-end best of photobook list (good ones here and here), and while it’s tempting to show off one’s eccentric and refined taste, I think it’s nicer to narrow in on something fun (and cheap). I picked up Johnny Stiletto’s Vintage 80s a while back, and cannot be happier. Stiletto’s sly, off-the-cuff images of 80s London and its rumpled eccentrics are, unlike many projects these days, accompanied by informative and funny captions. Taken together, they really give a sense of the city at that time, as Thatcher’s arrival shredded its traditional Englishness, attacked its lower classes, and antagonized its youth. Stiletto’s eye is sharp and voracious, capturing pubs, newspaper vendors, artists, punks, and (especially) the London Underground with equanimity and passion.

Photography by Johnny Stiletto. Please visit his site for wonderful, extended digressions about each image.