A fantastic collection of nonfiction work from Renata Adler – a writer we first discovered through her inventive fiction, but one who's got a much greater history as a journalist – including decades of work for the New Yorker and other publications! This huge book brings together some ... read moreBook
The face of Harlem has been constantly changing for decades – but it may well be facing its greatest change in recent years – as waves of gentrification and development spread uptown in Manhattan, and may well forever alter the landscape of one of the most unique communities in America. ... read moreBook
Finally! The world of easy listening gets its own sort of special disc guides – similar to the kinds of books we've seen for jazz, soul, psych, and other styles over the years! This one focuses on the warmest, mellowest sounds of the 50s, 60s, and 70s – with listings of 500 different ... read moreBook
A very cool book on the influence of Eastern spirituality on pop culture at the end of the 60s – one that not only looks at the way The Beatles discovered Indian music and religion, but also the way that moment exploded in so many other directions too! The presentation is great – full ... read moreBook
A fantastic collection of World War II-era comic material – including lots of rare work by some of the biggest comic names of the time! Comic art really came into its own as America was entering WWII – the newspaper medium had hit an all-time high, with some of the best art of the ... read moreBook
(Spine has a remainder mark.)
William S Burroughs —
Naked Lunch ... Book Harper Perennial (UK), 1959. New Copy ...
$5.9918.99
The book that forever put William S Burroughs in the literary map – a mad mix of pulp prose, science fiction, and modernist writing technique – and still maybe one of the greatest books that the man ever gave us! The story is as fast-moving as it is modern – kind of an Alphaville ... read moreBook
An overlooked gem from beat legend William S Burroughs – a book from the early 80s, a bit later vintage than his initial classics – but one that was also penned at a time when he was completely at home with his style! Plus, Burroughs is also more confident with his subject matter, too ... read moreBook
60s brilliance from William S Burroughs – not only a key book in the development of his cut-up writing technique, but also a hell of a rollicking read from start to finish! As you'd guess from the cut-up, the writing is a bit fragmented – but that also serves to really abstract the sci ... read moreBook
A loving tribute to tenor sax legend Gene Ammons – penned by friend and scenemate Al Carter-Bay – a Chicago jazz DJ who really offers a lot of insight to Ammons' life and music! Al's approach here is both personal and polemical – in ways that highlight aspects of Gene's music ... read moreBook
A contemporary book, but one that's got a wonderfully vintage feel – just the sort of right artwork to fit this coming-of-age story set in the New York of the 40s! George Chieffet provides the text, and Stephen DeStefano provides the wonderful illustrations – with penwork that takes us ... read moreBook
Robert Christgau is one of the coolest music writers of all time – a hugely important force for decades, through his work in the Village Voice – where he helped shape acceptance and understanding of generations of new sounds – and a contributor to other publications and broadcast ... read moreBook
One of the few English language looks we've ever seen at the music of Serge Gainsbourg – a well-penned biography that covers all of his classic years in a fair bit of detail! Author Alan Clayson does a good job of paying as much attention to the music as he does to Serge's celebrity – ... read moreBook
A stunningly vivid portrait of New York in the postwar years – a time when the city's already-strong hold on American culture was taken to its apex – as the city became home to some of the most important artists, actors, writers, and creative forces of the generation! The book is ... read moreBook
Golden age of hip hop historian Brian Coleman's second Check The Technique tome – the in-depth stories behind some of the greatest records of the 80s and early 90s – an even greater collection than the first volume! Coleman's approach is straight-forward and direct – chronicling ... read moreBook
Michael Crichton (writing as John Lange) —
Drug Of Choice ... Book Hard Case Crime, 1970. New Copy ...
$4.999.95
Before Jurassic Park, before Westworld, a young Michael Crichton penned this spooky tale of a planned island paradise gone bad – a wrong idea from a biotech corporation gone bad – with all the best mix of science, medicine, and action you'll know from Crichton's more famous thrillers! ... read moreBook
(Spine has a small remainder mark.)
Michael Crichton (writing as John Lange) —
Zero Cool ... Book Hard Case Crime, 1969. New Copy ...
$4.999.95
An early thriller from the great Michael Crichton – penned for the paperback underground in the years before he hit bigger fame on the silver screen! The book tells the tale of an American doctor caught in the crossfire of rival gangs in Spain and France – set in a late 60s mileu that ... read moreBook
Pretty great horror comics from the early 70s – the surprisingly long, healthy run of Gold Key's Dark Shadows comic books – which actually ran longer at the newstand than the show did on TV! The comic's strength comes from some great talents – 50s horror artist Joe Certa, still ... read moreBook
Formica may seem like an everyday surface to some – but at the time of its creation, it was a pretty revolutionary development – one that allowed household and business spaces to step free from longer-term care – giving the workers and residents lots more time to pursue their ... read moreBook
A really great book on Chicago soul – one that's mostly in Japanese, but which also features lots of listings that can be enjoyed by English readers too! The book offers up a vivid take on the world of Chicago soul – with lots of listings for individual records, in the manner of other ... read moreBook
A Japanese language book on modern jazz, but one with lots to enjoy if you're an English reader too – as there's listings of records, lots of photos, and a unique structure that provides a guide into the music! True, the core articles are all in Japanese text – but the book offers up ... read moreBook
A sweet little tour book commemorating DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist's Renegades Of Rhythm tour – and one that features a wealth of rare images from the early days of hip hop – of old gig flyers, records, drawings, acetates, and more! The most incredible fact about the tour itself, is that ... read moreBook
Lena Dunham's always been a very outspoken person – both in her work, and in person – but she maybe hits a new sort of height here, in a book that's partly frank memoir, partly sharp-penned essays – all at a level that's maybe even smarter and more focused than her work in Girls! ... read moreBook
The cover cops an image from a Joy Division album – and the book inside features a huge array of album art from the same generation! The book's not as fluffy as you might guess from the "new wave" title – as much of the records represented are in styles that include post-punk ... read moreBook
A massive look at the Los Angeles art scene from the late 40s through the 70s – proof that New York wasn't the only art world to explode in the postwar years! The book is super-heavy, and does a great job of covering the decades – with images both of famous works that defined the LA ... read moreBook
The authorial debut of Donald Fagan – already a hell of a storyteller in the songs he's penned on his own, and for Steely Dan – and equally great here on the printed page! In the book, Fagan looks at some of the forces that shaped him in his youth – from figures who include Ennio ... read moreBook
More than 500 classic music posters, many unseen for years – in a lavish full-color book that presents the chronological evolution of the genre! The book follows vivid images from early rockabilly through 60s garage, soul, and and psych, through 70s arena rock and punk, to 80s and 90s indie, ... read moreBook
Not the most detailed book we've ever stocked – and maybe not even much of a book at all – but instead a cool collection of punch-out cardboard figures, each of which features a different costumed image of the legendary Liberace! The book features photos from Liberace's estate, each ... read moreBook
One of the best-remembered comics from the pre-code generation – a landmark publication that offered up top-notch science fiction and horror – at a level that really rose the bar for the rest of the industry! The stories are all great – creepy, but with a real sense of structure ... read moreBook
A rich look at the role of music in defining counterculture in the 20th century – a book that starts out with jazz, moves through rock, and covers a fair bit of other styles in between – all with a relatively complex style that's as philosophical as it is informative! The author ... read moreBook
That VU isn't the Velvet Underground – but instead the title of an amazing French magazine from the prewar years – still a landmark in graphic design, and presented here in a very large, very vivid book that offers up pages and pages from the original publication! The book begins with ... read moreBook
Samuel Fuller —
Brainquake ... Book Hard Case Crime (UK), New Copy ...
$4.9912.95
You gotta love a book that begins with a baby shooting its father from its stroller – then takes off into a roller coaster of crime from that very first shot! Yet we'd expect no less from the great Sam Fuller – the director who gave us films like Shock Corridor and Pickup On South ... read moreBook
An incredible book – very much as describe in the title – as the author, who lost her mother during the Nazi occupation of France, sets about to recreate her mother's memory – through a "fake memoir" that comes across as a beautiful work of prose! The book is divided ... read moreBook
A book that's as vivid as the subject it covers – a volume that not only offers up brilliant images of overlooked works of pop art – but also photos of the creators and the scene, plus production process and gallery installations too! The book is lighter than the usual coffee table-size ... read moreBook
A wonderful book that really reminds us that Laurie Anderson was first an artist, then a musician – a legacy that's served up here in a wealth of wonderful images and documents of her early creations – most of which have really been lost to the shifting sands of time for decades! The ... read moreBook
William Goldman —
Marathon Man ... Book Bloomsbury (UK), 1974. New Copy ...
$4.9912.99
The original book behind one of the creepiest movies of the 70s – a tale of Nazis hiding out in New York, up to nefarious deeds decades after the war! The book is maybe even more compelling than the movie – as it really presents the story through the eyes of the main character, Tom ... read moreBook
Group soul harmony gets some great treatment here – in a well-done book that follows the music from the street corner to the airwaves – all with a thoughtful mixture of oral history and the larger issues of the time! Author Stuart Goosman focuses especially on harmony groups on the ... read moreBook
Newspaper comics historian Ron Goulart has turned us onto many great strips over the years, and this time around he presents an overview of the key decade of the 30s – which gave rise to some of the best adventure work to grace newsprint in the 20th century – a long legacy that includes ... read moreBook
A nice history of the classic hip hop culture in NYC that rose from Manhattan's Latin Quarter club – a vital mid 80s proving ground for legends and trailblazers of the time! No Half Steppin' is laid out beautifully in rarely seen photos, street flyers, and the first-hand knowledge of X-Clan ... read moreBook
The story of one of the all-time greats – told by one of the all-time greats – the full tale of Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, told by southern music giant Peter Guaralnick! Long before he rose to fame as the man who discovered Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips was already humming strong ... read moreBook
A hefty look at Hot Rod magazine – from the time the publication started in the postwar years, through its big time in the 60s, to its surprisingly durable run up to more recent years too! The book promises all the covers of all the issues through that run – and it definitely delivers ... read moreBook
A fab book on the Fab Four – one that's overflowing with a huge amount of vintage photos, wrapped around an especially cool timeline that offers up year-by-year, day-by-day details of all the important moments! The photos themselves are more than enough – and include lots of less-iconic ... read moreBook
Some of the coolest postcards you'll ever hope to buy – all at a mighty nice price, too – given that the book features 75 read-to-mail cards! Each postcard features a reproduction of a cover of the magazine Print – a publication beautiful for its groundbreaking design, layout, ... read moreBook
A collection of writings on the music and legacy of Patsy Cline – mostly from an academic perspective, but one that makes for a nice step past the usual myth and legend of the singer! Writers include Douglas Gomery, Bill C Malone, Beth Bailey, Kristine M McCusker, and Warren Hofstra – ... read moreBook
A beautiful book of work by one of the first important animators to emerge on the internet – artist Han Hoogerbrugge, presented here in a transformation of his images to a paper setting – some presented as comics, some as progressive images, and some as stand-alone drawings! The book ... read moreBook
Barney Hoskyns presents an incredibly lovely look at Capitol Records – a book that's every bit as amazing as the vintage image on the cover – presented in the best manner of the limited edition Taschen art books! The whole thing is huge – about 10 pounds in weight, packaged in a ... read moreBook
There are few better writers on Berlin between the war than Christopher Isherwood – whose presence as an outsider in the city during the 30s gave him a special sort of eye for the cultural shifts and political changes! This book is one of Isherwood's best – stories that were intended ... read moreBook
The life and music of one of the founding fathers of bossa nova – and one of the most important composers on the global scene in the second half of the 20th Century! The book's penned by Jobim's sister, Helena – who's also a poet and novelist herself – and it features a mix of ... read moreBook
The title certainly gets it right – as this well-done book focuses on the plastic and vinyl projects of artist Frank Kozik – from his smoking labbits, to his Mickey Mouse Chairman Maos, to his trashy elephants – all presented here in oversize, full-color pages that really do them ... read moreBook
Maybe the coolest book ever from dancefloor historian Tim Lawrence – the man who's given us definitive works on disco and dance music – now turning his sharp eye on some key years of the New York scene! The book looks at a very special time in the city's underground – a post-Studi ... read moreBook
A detailed look at one of the coolest, hippest, most unique groups to come out of the first wave of Brit punk in the late 70s – a quartet who worked in sonic corridors few other artists could touch, and who've gone onto change and expand their sound in more recent decades too! Paul Lester's ... read moreBook
The earliest years of DC Comics – illustrated here in an amazing oversized book that's filled with hundreds of beautiful color pages! The book was put together by Paul Levitz, who ran DC for many years – and features incredible images from the vaults – not just classic covers or ... read moreBook
Amazing images from decades of the Amazon princess – pulled from early Wonder Woman comics, publications in the silver age, and lots of later issues as well – all wrapped up in a really beautiful package that hardly deserves the "little" in its title! Instead, this thing pops ... read moreBook
Turns out, Napoleon didn't die on St Helena – as this book has him escaping the island, and making his way to Europe – where he revisits the scenes of his failures and victories, and has a fair bit of time to ruminate on his career! The short, pudgy man is never spotted for who he is ... read moreBook
Director Robert Altman has always had a special place for music in his films – from his strong use of Leonard Cohen in McCabe & Mrs Miller, to the famous song in MASH, to the range of intersecting styles that make Nashville such a great movie! Yet there's also much deeper relationships ... read moreBook
A beautiful tribute to the vintage boombox and cassette culture – a lavish Japanese book that's filled with loads of full color images, plus additional articles and text in Japanese! The book is mostly visual – some pages don't have any words at all – and in addition to great ... read moreBook
Some of the most impressive comics to ever come out of WWII – not the kind of Nazi-busting action that was handled by the superheroes in the early 40s, nor some of the pinup or joke-heavy material that came from artists back at home – and instead the surprisingly gripping work of Bill ... read moreBook
A surprisingly dark-tinged tale about a young man growing up in the midwest of the late 30s – presented first as kind of a peek into some of the farther-flung reaches of early 20th century society – ala Sinclair Lewis – but also penned in a tradition of books in which the larger ... read moreBook
There's many things we love about the city of New York – the music, the people, the history, the art – but the thing we might love most of all is the food – as every time we visit the Big Apple, we seem to pack on another few pounds! A big part of that edible landscape is the ... read moreBook
The complete story of one of the greatest record labels of the UK scene – the Manchester imprint that opened the door for Joy Division and New Order, then went onto explode even more at the end of the 80s with work from Happy Mondays and the new club underground! Yet Factory was always more ... read moreBook
A really cool look at a label that was maybe one of the hippest things the Beatles ever did – the short-lived Zapple imprint – which was part of their main Apple label, but dedicated to more experimental work from a variety of musicians and writers! The imprint is perhaps best ... read moreBook
A fantastic world of stuffed rodents, petrified reptiles, and strung-up birds – all presented in the 19th Century taxidermy of Walter Potter! Potter was a real wizard with roadkill – and worked to create these totally cool little scenes with his subjects – a classroom full of ... read moreBook
The second volume in this series of completely essential books for collectors of Brazilian music! Like the first volume, this one is overstuffed with images of hard to find Brazilian music albums – listings for hundreds of rare records – all the kind of albums that we almost never are ... read moreBook
A very cool book on the legendary Blue Note record label – home to some of the greatest jazz of the 20th Century, and still going strong well into the new millennium! The book is a bit like some of the Japanese discographies on the label – in that it offers up listings of different ... read moreBook
A book that's maybe not what you'd guess from the title – or maybe only partly from the title – as the whole thing is a love letter to the font style of Cooper Black, used on the front – served up in a fantastic array of images from the late 60s onward! The rounded font has been ... read moreBook
A huge run of work from the best science fiction comic strip ever – the mighty Buck Rogers, which managed to pack a hell of a lot of narrative into a surprisingly small space six days a week! Sure, there were other space operas, but none could ever match Buck Rogers in terms of storytelling ... read moreBook
A huge run of work from the best science fiction comic strip ever – the mighty Buck Rogers, which managed to pack a hell of a lot of narrative into a surprisingly small space six days a week! Sure, there were other space operas, but none could ever match Buck Rogers in terms of storytelling ... read moreBook
The decidedly biased story of Buck Owens – told by the man himself, as a true testament to his many years in country music! Owens first started working on the book in the 90s, and took a great deal of time to pull together countless stories of his struggles and successes, his experiences and ... read moreBook
Maceo Parker is one of our real musical heroes – a saxophonist who first rose to fame in the James Brown Band of the late 60s, then came of age with the JBs in the 70s – and continued to grow in a range of funky and soulful styles as the decades wore on – often keeping far truer ... read moreBook
Booze and cartoons – has there ever been a better combination? Certainly not in the years of the cocktail napkin – where each new drink you'd order at a bar would come with a four-fold of visual entertainment – of the sort that Virgil Partch gives us in this excellent collection! ... read moreBook
Robert L Pike —
Bullitt ... Book Bloomsbury (UK), 1963. New Copy ...
$4.9912.99
The original book for the famous action film that starred Steve McQueen – originally titled Mute Witness, but presented here as part of a great film series from Bloomsbury Press! The book follows a breakneck 72 hours in the life of the main character – in a story set in New York, not ... read moreBook
The incredible fourth book in the Hip Hop Family Tree series – artist Ed Piskor's madly brilliant, super fun take on hip hop history, in the style of classic comic books – and the wild styles and huge personalities of '84 & '85 provide the most fertile material of the series to date! ... read moreBook
The fantastic third & fourth volumes of classic comics-enamored/classic rap-reared artist Ed Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree series – which really gets better and better with each new book as it goes deeper into early hip hop history! Books 3 & 4 hone in on the years 1983-1985, a time ... read moreBook
The history of hip hop – as anthologized in one of the coolest comic series of the new millennium! Hip Hop Family Tree #11's cover hero is a fuzzy young Rick Rubin – not the latter day music industry Zen Master Rick Rubin we know today, but the hungry, young Beastie Boys producer era ... read moreBook
The comic series that tells the tale of the early days of hip hop – but presents the story in the style of a Marvel Comics tabloid from the 70s! Ed Piskor's approach to the material is really unique – and he extrapolates historical details into an extended narrative of the scenes with ... read moreBook
A landmark science fiction publication from the earliest days of comic books – presented here in a heavy, hardbound format! The book is a great way to experience this otherwise-rare comic – and it's done in the heavy style of DC's Archive Editions, or the Marvel Masterworks volumes ... read moreBook
A massive punk rock discography – done in the same beautiful style as some of the best Japanese jazz discographies! Like those, the overall text is in Japanese, but the book's got plenty to offer for anyone who digs rare records – hundreds of images of rare albums and singles, with ... read moreBook
Incredible record covers from the early years of rock and roll – beautiful color images from the genre's first decade – served up here not just from rare American albums and singles, but also a fair bit of European releases too! The book is French, and from that perspective it's able ... read moreBook
A beautiful look at an explosive time in men's fashion – a time when the grey flannel suit went by the wayside, and mainstream men adopted a range of colors, textures, and styles – both at work and play! The book's written from a British perspective, and maybe even paints a more ... read moreBook
A very cool look at vending machines around the world – not the boring soda or candy machines you'll find at an American rest stop – but the cool kind of Asian and European machines that sell everything from hot coffee to pizza, to underwear and umbrellas! The book offers up color ... read moreBook
A great introduction to the world of French pop – especially the grooviest sounds of the 60s and 70s that we love so much! The book is Japanese, and the main text is in that language – but it's also a "disc guide", with listings for 500 records that can be understood by ... read moreBook
A heavyweight companion to the book England's Dreaming – Jon Savage's seminal history of the rise of punk in the UK in the 70s! This volume's far bigger than the main book – and features all the interview material that Savage collected for England's Dreaming – hundreds of pages ... read moreBook
We're not normally the biggest fans of hip hop photo books, but this one really does a great job of breaking the mold – by featuring excellent photographs of live performers and their audiences by David Scheinbaum – and interspersing the images with writings by Michael Eric Dyson, Brian ... read moreBook
Great photographs from Mike Schreiber – a New York-based artist who worked heavily for The Source and Vibe back in the day – and managed to capture a whole heck of a lot of great shots in the process! Schreiber includes some nicely personal memories along with the photos – some ... read moreBook
A history of popular Brazilian music from Claus Schriener – a nice and very far reaching reference as well as a more personal view of the diverse, amazing wealth of great music to come from the country over many years! Schriener blends portraits of Brazil's most iconic musical figures as ... read moreBook
Simone Schwarz Bart —
Bridge Of Beyond ... Book New York Review Of Books, 1972. New Copy ...
$4.9916.95
A book that first appeared in the 70s, but which has a vibe that's much more timeless – almost as if it's a 19th Century work, in both its frankness and open, honest approach. Writer Simone Schwarz Bart mixes personal history with a richer narrative of life on the island of Guadeloupe – ... read moreBook
(Spine has a small remainder mark.)
Shea Serrano with Arturo Torres —
Rap Year Book ... Book Abrams, 2016. New Copy ...
$14.9918.95
The history of hip hop – served up in a very cool book that picks out the most important song from the years 1979 onward – and expands on the record for each year in a well-written, well-illustrated chapter that also includes lots of additional information too! The approach is very ... read moreBook
One of our favorite books from Canadian cartoonist Seth – just the sort of special, individual story that's so well-suited to his artwork – presented here in a wonderful format throughout! The book tells the tale of TV host George Sprott – but in a way that weaves together ... read moreBook
A beautiful tribute to one of the greatest comic book teams of all time – Joe Simon and Jack Kirby – the pair who gave the world Captain America, The Newsboy Legion, Sandman & Sandy, and countless other comics over the years! But although much of that material has been reprinted ... read moreBook
Forget the man in the yellow hat – this Curious George follows the man in the sassy purple beret – on an all-male cruise away from the jungle to the streets of the big city – where he explores his new world and new impulses in a set of adventures that nicely parody the original ... read moreBook
(For Mature Audiences only! Please Note – These copies have marker over the barcode.)
The world of comics might seem to be a male-dominated one at times – but DC Comics has more than made up for that over the years – by giving us powerful characters like Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Raven, Big Barda, Catwoman, Lois Lane, and many others – all featured here in a ... read moreBook
A beautiful portrait of one of the most important jazz clubs on the west coast scene of the 70s – the legendary Keystone Korner, a name you might recognize from the dozens of great albums that were recorded at the venue! The book has a very cool approach – in that it lets the many ... read moreBook
A totally wonderful look at one of the coolest comics ever – the legendary Love & Rockets, a joint project by Hernandez Brothers Gilbert and Jaime – and one that opened up countless new paths for the American underground! The first half of the huge book features very detailed ... read moreBook
A beautiful book that traces the intersection of art and commerce in the field of the record album cover – as museum-level creative talents from Salvador Dali, to Albert Oehlen, to Raymond Pettibon all got their time in the record racks – as you'll see in this huge book of full-color ... read moreBook
Bernard Sumner's had a hell of a run in music – a founding member of both Joy Division and New Order, and an important force on the British music scene for decades – all of which makes for quite a story in this personal memoir! Amidst his bandmates, Sumner is sometimes the subtle one ... read moreBook
A very detailed look at one of the most important songwriting teams of the 20th Century – a book that doesn't just tell the tale of Richard Rodgers and Lorenzo Hart, but also examines some of their music in detail – both from a lyrical and musiciological perspective! The author looks ... read moreBook
An unusual journey across fascist Italy in the 30s – one that began as a honeymoon for the two lead Hungarian characters, but which quickly goes awry, and takes the pair through a world that is increasingly fantastic as the story moves on! The book is less of a comedy than something of a ... read moreBook
A great collection of work from one of the hippest music writers of our generation – a book that stretches back to include early Village Voice material from Greg Tate, plus a wealth of other articles too! Tate's way more than just a music or cultural critic – as he always looks for the ... read moreBook
Don't think "jazz for dancers", and instead think "funky jazz" – because that's what this sweet little book is all about – upbeat jazz tracks from the bop years onwards – served up in styles that run the gamut from soul jazz to electric funk, fusion, bossa, ... read moreBook
Armitage Trail —
Scarface ... Book Bloomsbury (UK), 1930. New Copy ...
$4.9912.99
Say hello to my little book – the 1930 crime novel that inspired the Al Pacino film of the same name – a book that sets the story in the world of Chicago crime, where a young Tony Guarino rises from poverty to become the king of the mobs! Obviously, the setting's different than the ... read moreBook
An incredible guide to sound library music around the world – one that features artwork from countless different labels, and brief notes on their history and output! The package is quite unique – not really a discography, not really an art book – but kind of a mix of both – ... read moreBook
