The (Sometimes Obsessive) Allure of Books with Photos
I arrived home late last night after a delayed flight back from Maine, and I immediately went to the computer to rustle up a copy of Richard Misrach’s On The Beach. I’ve been waiting to buy this book for months; primarily because whenever I stare at it in a store I am either not in a moneyed way, or am far from my house. And that thing is Big and Heavy. This time it was the “far from my house” excuse, as I saw it in Portland at Books, Etc. So home I come, and I ring up a trusty website to make the $85 purchase. Which seems absolutely bargain basement for what you’re getting, which is a 16×20 book with 80 pages of staggeringly beautiful photographs.
I then checked my inbox, and had an email from an “Ann Furthermore” (clever!) telling me about a new photo book blog, and I felt like a failure. I did not have the books I needed to have. Now it was 2am, and I had my credit card, and I made up for lost time. Here are the purchases I made:
I woke up this morning, still thinking that I’d rather be in debt than not get the books I need. So I called the store in Maine, and they’re shipping me the last copy in stock of On the Beach. Phew.
Anyone else have this affliction, or is it just me? Now I just need some Taryn Simon, some Elger Esser, and Nein, Oncle.
See good book reviews of On the Beach here and here. And here are some images:
from buildings on 9/11, and also by the apocalyptic (and really eerie)
movie On the Beach, which I saw with my father way before I should have been seeing a movie about nuclear war.
But Ava Gardner was hot.
It’s not just you… My latest heartfelt want is Paul Graham’s ‘Shimmer Of Possibility’ http://www.steidlville.com/books/600-a-shimmer-of-possibility.html Now, whether to spend £130 on the regular edition, or go or the Special at £5000?
Richard Misrach’s book “On The Beach” is well worth the mini panic attack. Glad you found a copy.
no no no! i kick my own ass all the time over this. i remember seeing a first edition of Bill Burke’s “I want to take picture” in the early 90’s at the Ansel Adams Center book store in San Francisco (r.i.p.) and being amazed by it. i was a poor student and couldn’t afford it at the time and when i was finally able to buy it, it was gone. late last year i found the Twin Palms Press re-issue and this time didn’t hesitate. it’s not the signed slip cased edition i originally saw but it still gave me the same thrill as when i first saw it.
Books
1:23- “but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks fooli