Books Received: Summer 2009

I really hope this is some sort of e-typo:

$500 list price for Alex Steinweiss: Creator of the Modern Album Cover???? That is the most absurd thing to happen all year in the design publishing industry. Unless the book is made from recycled samples of Steinweiss' first album cover design I can not fathom why anyone would charge that kind of money. Looks like it's only a 1,500 run with Alex's signature. But still, c'mon.

Oh, and thanks for mentioning our book. It's not out until the end of June, so if anyone's curious what it looks like, here are some quick snapshots we took over the weekend:

http://underconsideration.com/gdr_snapshots/

Ah, snap, no self-generating link above... http://underconsideration.com/gdr_snapshots/.

Love the cover concept Armin, very playful.

$500 list price for Alex Steinweiss: Creator of the Modern Album Cover????

Taschen has done this sort of thing before, Armin! See GOAT, Collector's Edition, GOAT, Champ's Edition, and Helmut Newton's SUMO -- this last item was a book so big that it came with its own stand!

funny story: I bought Alex Steinweiss's entire library (and it was deep, old) for twice that. His little book (produced a decade ago) sold well I suppose. Good for him.

And I guess they are targeting musicphiles more than designophiles...

Felix, at least you got actual things, not just reproductions of those actual things. And how come you didn't tell me this before? We had a pretty hard time getting images of his work for our book.

this lot is worse than the usual bunch. funny how the only book i want to check out is from 1998- The Architecture of Diplomacy: Building America's Embassies. how did that get there?

A lot of the special Taschen books are too large. I see now Phaidon is starting to copy this door-stop approach with their Le Corbusier Le Grand. The problem is that the books come apart after only a few perusings. I wish books were more well made and not so disposable as they have become. Sewn backstrips and cloth bindings would help. Also, split these large studies and surveys into 2 volumes and slipcase them instead of one unwieldy novelty item.

excellent resource. thank you

the Taschen books are seemingly made not for reading but for only the most casual of perusing. They often feature in photographs from inferior desecrators, by which i mean "interior designers" in order to spruce up someone's space- most often someone who doesn't know a damn thing about art but loves warhol, murakami etc.

Congrats to Armin and everyone else who helped make GDR, can't wait to take a look!