Justin Hollar followed the School of Seven Bells on tour and made this beautiful book
Brooklyn based photographer Justin Hollar is best known for his fashion photography, but his new books shows his real passion, music. Inspired by the backstage photos of The Beatles, The Stones and Bob Dylan that he loved when he was growing up, Justin went on tour for two months with School of Seven Bells to capture these backstage moments. The product of this tour is the beautiful and moving SVIIB.
Capturing the atmosphere of the tour and the different sides to the duo’s personality, pictures range from playful and energetic to reflective and lonely. Often pictured on their own or with single objects as the focus – a lone microphone, a guitar sat to rest at the edge of the stage, a small, warm lamp in San Francisco. One of my favourite things about these pictures is the non-intrusive way that he’s captured the artist’s characters and emotions during what must have been an enjoyable but exhausting tour. This book is a must for School of Seven Bells fans or fans of music photography.
SVIIB is available now from artbookclub.org
London Review Bookshop
Nestled comfortably between Holborn and Tottenham Court Road, the London Review Bookshop provides a welcome oasis of calm from the bustling and tourist-ridden West End. It’s classy dark exterior beckons you in to a small yet spacious, light and well stocked bookshop. Complete with friendly, and more importantly book loving staff.
Opened nine years ago this month by the London Review of Books. Bookshop manager John Creasy tells me their aim was to “create a small, independent but well stocked bookshop offering a range of literary and academic titles which, at the time, were not being given much prominence by the largely dominant chain shops.” They have certainly achieved this. The usually dominant fiction section of a bookshop is somewhat overshadowed in London Review Bookshop, by vast and packed non fiction sections. This is a serious bookshop, one where a rouge Jilly Cooper novel would get bullied.
When i asked John what it was that he thought made the bookshop so special he told me, “I think it is the range that we offer that sets us apart. We cram a lot in to a relatively small shop so customers wanting the range we offer can find plenty to interest them in a small. friendly and easily negotiated space. We have very experienced and knowledgeable booksellers and a lovely cafe to meet friends or relax in.”
The cafe was added to the Bookshop three years ago. It’s a wonderful space, with seating in light, sunny (obviously not all the time, this is still London, in England) square, perfect for reading the books you’ve just brought or just meeting people for a relaxed catch up.
With such a fabulous space and location, it makes sense that the shop holds events. John tells me they are more panel discussions, rather than author readings. For upcoming events see here.
I found books here that I’ve never seen anywhere else on my bookshop travels, and an atmosphere that made me want to curl up in a chair and read till closing time. A must-visit for those looking for academic books, or simply those who don’t know what they’re looking for. There’s plenty to choose from.
London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, WC1A 2JL
Persephone Books
Cosy, beautiful and blissfully calm, Persephone’s Bookshop really does justice to the books they publish.
Set up in1996 by Nicola Beauman—an author herself—to publish books by women from the early 20th Century that have gone out of print, Persephone is all about books “by women, for women and about women”. Their titles include both fiction and non fiction works, and are as beautifully presented as their shop.
Persephone’s books can be distinguished by their grey covers and individual end papers taken from wallpaper and tile designs from the time the books were originally published. Each book also comes with a bookmark that matches the end paper. They aim to publish 2 or 3 books every 6 months, titles due to be published in April are Virginia Woolf’s A Writer’s Diary and Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins.
The shop itself opened ten years ago in Bloomsbury. Inside it has the appearance of a lovely tea shop, elegance and femininity oozing from every flower and book display. They have two book groups a month, along with tapas nights and tea time Q&As, and discussions with authors.
For more information on the titles available by Persephone go to www.persephonebooks.co.uk. Although they do mail-order and distribute to other bookshops, it’s a much better idea to go to the shop for yourself.
Persephone Books, 59 Lamb’s Conduit Street WC1N 3NB
Gosh! Comics
Outside Gosh the Bat Signal hangs like a call to London’s comic fans. With old Underground signs and school desks (complete with cannabis leaves carved by bored teenagers) for tables, long benches to read and relax on, old factory lights and sparse metal shelving to let the light in, it’s not just the stock that’s impressive, but the whole experience.
Started by Josh Palmano in 1986, Gosh is due to celebrate it’s 26th birthday this year. After meeting someone at a Specials gig when Josh was 12 years old, he got his first job at a comic shop. Leaving school at 16 to follow his passion, he never looked back. They moved to their Berwick Street location 6 months ago from Bloomsbury and it seems that Josh has now created his dream shop.
When Gosh started its main aim was to sell back issues of comics to other fans. These days they stock a much wider selection, still selling comics but also graphic novels for adults and children, manga, and graphic design and illustration books to cater for the soho market. Spread over two floors, downstairs is more superhero orientated while upstairs is more accessible.
Josh aims to stock things that you won’t find anywhere else, because of this he has to seek out artists that are not widely distributed and deal directly with them. He admits that sometimes this is a lot of work for little gain but he enjoys getting artists out to a wider audience that wouldn’t otherwise be easily available.
The new Berwick Street store also offers a better setting for events and signings. With two doors they can have signings going in one door and out another to minimise waiting times, and with all the extra space they have plenty of author events. Some upcoming ones include Craig Thompson and Eddie Campbell. (See here for more information.) They also currently have an exhibition from the book Nelson dotted around the shop, a combination of 54 artist’s work, with proceeds going to the charity Shelter.
With lovely staff, all as fanatical about comics as josh and a really cool interior, Gosh is definitely somewhere you need to visit whether you’re a Graphic Novel lover or not.
Gosh Comics 1 Berwick Street, London W1F 0DR
Primrose Hill Books
Ceiling to floor books lining every wall, the best view in london just round the corner and a lot of love from the locals. Primrose Hill Bookshop holds an important place in a community populated by artists and writers.
In a Victorian terrace on Regent’s Park Road, amongst a row of small but perfectly formed shops, sits Primrose Hill’s bookshop. It’s royal blue awning (I don’t know if you’ve noticed but a lot of small bookshops seem to be painted blue) and boxes of books outside, present an aladdin’s cave of information and stories, begging to grab your attention.
Offering new and popular titles they also print a twice yearly catalogue of the books they have enjoyed and recommend, so that other people may discover them too. Aiming to encourage others to enjoy reading as much as they do. Should they not have it in stock they can order it for you within 24-48 hours, while also tracking down books from overseas and even finding you out of print titles. Offering a very personal service to all of their customers and valuing each and every one of their needs, it’s clear why owners Jessica and Marek are so loved by their locals.
Utilising the abundance of local authors, they hold frequent author events. Previously these have included events with authors such as Ian McEwan, Dorris Lessing, PD James, Martin Amis and Diana Athill. This week’s event being an evening with Jeanette Winterson, discussing her Christmas memories from her new biography Why be Happy When you Could be Normal?. A heartbreaking, moving and entertaining account of her childhood and her relationship with her mother.
The time and attention given to serving their community’s literary needs, is an excellent demonstration of why keeping independent bookshops alive is so important.
Primrose Hill, 61 Chalcot Rd, London NW1 8LY
“Many upmarket bookshops are like churches; hushed, lifeless and inexplicably depressing”
Discuss.
Christopher Fowler – Ten Ugly Truths About Books
Woolfson & Tay
Woolfson & Tay in the heart of up and coming Bermondsey has far more on offer than just books.
Opened just over a year ago by Shivaun Woolfson and Frances Tay, the shop was never intended to be your bog standard bookshop. Woolfson and Tay were working for a non-profit organisation called Living Imprint – an organisation using the power of real life stories to educate and enlighten – when they began looking for premises to continue their work. Looking south of the river in artsy Bermondsey they came across the last remaining space that had been empty for two years in the corner of the recently rejuvenated Bermondsey Square. It seemed like the perfect setting to house exhibitions, workshops, seminars, teaching and retail. It’s hard to imagine the square would feel the same without the bookshop nestled in the corner, a space for the community and learning.
Inside the shop is spacious, while still being cosy and inspiring. The evidence of people’s stories spill throughout the shop, from the current exhibition on the cafe walls, to the shelves labelled Life stories and Life History Writing rather than Biography, to co-owner Shivaun keen to share their own story with me as well as those of the people exhibiting and writing there.
As we sat opposite the current exhibition in the cafe for a cup of tea she brimmed with enthusiasm for the story themed space they had created and the community in which it resides. Due to appear there in the new year is an exhibition about the Holocaust and a workshop for young people to work with playwrights on a creative response to the riots.
Nominated for the 2011 Independent Bookseller of the Year award Woolfson & Tay have created a warm and inspiring place to explore, learn and create. It seems to me that they’ve reinvented the bookshop in an age when bookshops need to offer more than just a shopping experience, and made somewhere lovely.
For information on what’s on see their website
Buy Tony Millionaire's new book
Tony Millionaire, writer-artist of Maakies, published in every edition of Snipe, has a new book out, featuring 500 of his amazing illustrations.
From Fantatgraphics
500 Portraits collects for the first time over two decades of portrait work by the beloved and award-winning creator of Drinky Crow’s Maakies, Sock Monkey and Billy Hazelnuts. Tony Millionaire’s gorgeous fountain pen illustrations, which mingle naturalistic detail with strong doses of the fanciful and grotesque, include the famous (Bob Dylan), the infamous (Abu Ghraib soldier/model Lynndie England), the fictional (Yoda), the animal kingdom (a cockroach), and everything in between. Literary figures (Hemingway), literary characters (Don Quixote & Sancho Panza), Hollywood legends (Steven Spielberg), comics icons (Hergé) and historical figures (Hitler) also figure prominently.
This book should be purchased immediately.
“He said, ‘You can’t make a living selling my books.’ And I said, ‘We’ll see. I have more faith in your books than you do.’ ”
Mark Oddie, owner of Dover Bookshop on Earlham Street tells Hayward Cirker, owner of Dover Publications, that an entire bookshop of copyright-free images is a viable business. It has only taken 25 years to be proved wrong.
Slightly Foxed
A completely enchanting bookshop, Slightly Foxed (previously Gloucester Road Bookshop, owned by Graham Greene’s nephew) is an independent bookshop gem. Little square windows, breezy awning and a tiny and unintrusive bell over the door that alerts you to your entrance into a book tardis. Small but perfectly stocked and formed.
Slightly Foxed is also a quarterly literary magazine, which took over the shop as an extension of their aim to introduce people to good books, both in and out-of-print. The shop is one of the few left in London that sells a combination of second hand and new books, but it was the second hand portion that really grabbed my attention. Prices range from £1 to £5000. They’ve got shelves of orange Penguins, green Penguins and blue Pelicans, rare and beautiful books from William Morris’s Publishing Company, first editions including signed by Artemis Fowl, and a signed copy of Susan Hill’s Woman in Black. Manager Tony tells me he makes house calls to pick up large amounts of books, which results in their eclectic selection.
Tony and his team are real book enthusiasts and have every base covered. Jane, who deals with the new titles, is an author herself who writes for the National Trust. She compiles newsletters of new books that customers may enjoy to go with the shop catalogue, and is responsible for the ‘Charming’ area. This is exactly what it says on the tin, charming books with lovely illustrations, print and bindings. I’ve never seen this in a bookshop before, but it fits perfectly and provides a great section for people seeking gifts for book lovers.
While upstairs is a combination of new and old, with a large children’s section near the door for pram purposes, downstairs is solely second hand books. Organised in a cunning spiral, you can find an array of non-fiction books to suit anyone. There’s also a little fox door-knocker hanging from the office door, overseeing his territory.
As well as being a local bookshop for local people, there is an ordering service on the website. You can order any book they don’t have for the next day anyway as long as it’s available, but the website deals with orders from further a field. Offering a service where they find out-of-print books for customers in this country and abroad, thanks to the internet they can be your local international bookshop.
This is a bookshop you never want to leave. Beautiful, welcoming, intriguing and intelligent, I can’t recommend you visit this shop enough. It could easily be the romantic little bookshop in a squishy old film.
Edit 15:32 pm. Corrected June’s name.
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