Book of the Day Posted Jun 10, 2026

Book of the Day: Surf Shacks Vol. 3 by Matt Titone

From the publisher: "Surf Shacks Vol. 3 continues the cult-favorite series with a new lineup of creative surfers and the eclectic spaces they inhabit. Beyond just spotlighting the individuals who live by the tide, this volume showcases the designers and builders shaping tomorrow’s surf-centric dwellings. This third volume is both a celebration and an evolution—tracing coastal life at the intersection of architecture, creativity, and community. Where surf, style, and creativity meet: this book explores how today’s surfers live, build, and find meaning beyond the waves. From breezy cabins in California and artist-built hideaways in Hawaii to design-forward retreats in Portugal and Panama, each story captures a distinct expression of coastal life. Through documentary photography, intimate storytelling, and cultural insight, it traces the evolving spirit of surf culture—one that celebrates freedom, craftsmanship, and community along the world’s shores." Book of the day. (Gestalten / Indoek, 2026)
Book of the Day Posted Jun 05, 2026

Book of the Day: The Antwerp Six

From the publisher: "Celebrating 40 years of the Antwerp Six and their enduring impact on fashion. Dirk Bikkembergs, Ann Demeulemeester, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Marina Yee: Forty years ago, these six young designers shot to fashion fame. It was the press that coined the name The Antwerp Six for them, as they were all recent graduates of the city’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Radical and unique, they put Antwerp on the world fashion map. Essays by leading fashion experts alongside an unrivalled selection of images highlight their individual journeys and enduring influence. An indispensable reference work on creativity, daring and innovation in fashion. Book accompanying the exhibition at MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp from 28 March 2026 to 17 January 2027." Book of the day. (Hannibal / Fashion Museum Antwerp, 2026)
Book of the Day Posted Jun 04, 2026

Book of the Day: "Sisters, Saints and Sibyls" by Nan Goldin

From the publisher: "Sisters, Saints and Sibyls is a tribute ‘to all rebellious women struggling to survive in society.’ Focusing on the tragic life of her sister, Barbara, Nan Goldin weaves together a tapestry out of medical records, family photographs and mythical allusions to Saint Barbara to compose a haunting meditation on the mistreatment of female mental health in the twentieth century. Barbara’s story is intertwined with Goldin’s own descent into, and emergence from, addiction, shining a brutal light on the realities of trauma, abuse and mental illness." Book of the day. (Thames & Hudson, 2026)
Book of the Day Posted Jun 03, 2026

Book of the Day: "Dwellings - Fragile Architecture"

From the publisher: "A photographic study of over 1,000 distinct bird nests. Steely-vented hummingbird, red-rumped cacique, wallace’s fairy wren, streaky-breasted spiderhunter ... enigmatic names or terms, familiar only to ornithologists. This book is about the nests of these and many other bird species, the bizarre, incredibly fragile, interlaced creations cemented together with grass, clay, leaves and a variety of other materials that birds assemble to lay their eggs, incubate, and raise their offspring. Karen Weinert's pictures combine artistic and documentary photography, natural science and museology from the Senckenberg Natural History Collection in Dresden, which mainly dates back to the 19th century and contains an impressive collection of around 1,000 bird nests from all over the world.She uses three different photographic methods: black and white photography in the abstract Blossfeldt style, color photography in a neutral documentary style, and scanning technology with which she scans found (abandoned) nests. The approximately 100 miniature habitats shown in this collection exemplify the immense variety of forms and construction techniques of these fantastic dwelling structures." Book of the day. (Hartmann Books, 2026)
Book of the Day Posted May 29, 2026

Book (Zine) of the Day: "Serious Tings a Gwan"

Bask in the glory of the best hand-chosen dancehall reggae ephemera in this lovely new zine, Serious Tings a Gwan, by filmmaker and artist Raj Debah. Zine-book of the day! Available in-store now, or ring us at 310-458-1499 OR email manager@arcanabooks.com to have a copy shipped. (self-published, 2026)
Book of the Day Posted May 28, 2026

Book of the Day: "In Case You Missed It" by Jerry de Wilde

From the publisher: "In Case You Missed It: Counterculture Photography of the 1960s and 1970s captures a moment that burned fast and bright—Los Angeles at the crest of the countercultural tide. Through Jerry 'Dok' de Wilde’s lens, the era comes alive in vivid, intimate detail: from daily life at 'the Farm,' a commune in what is now the Hollywood Hills, where creative and social experimentation flourished, to the larger currents of history unfolding at Monterey Pop and the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. Moving fluidly between art, music, fashion, and activism, In Case You Missed It is a layered examination of both a community—and a moment—shaped by ideals of transformation, creativity, and shared experience." (Angel City Press, 2026)
Events Posted May 27, 2026

Book Signing with Bruce Talamon on Saturday, May 30th at Arcana!

Arcana is brimming with pride to present our friend, the legendary photographer of soul, funk, and R&B musicians, Bruce Talamon this Saturday, May 30th, from 4 until 6PM. Refreshments? Yes! Bruce signing the lovely new edition of his Taschen-published book Soul R&B Funk: Photographs 1972-1982? Yes again! Please join us. And if you are unable to be here in person, be here in spirit by purchasing Bruce's book via our website here. See you soon!
Book of the Day Posted May 23, 2026

Book of the Day: The Flyer Art of Raymond Pettibon - Black Flag

This is a catalogue beautifully reproducing sixty-five Raymond Pettibon-designed eighties concert flyers created for Black Flag. A brand new example of this elusive, soon to be out of print gem with its snazzy die-cut cover. Available in-store and from our site here! Book of the day.
Book of the Day Posted May 20, 2026

Books of the Day: "Dear Old Days" Volumes I-III by Ryoji Akiyama

From the publisher: "The 1982 photobook Dear Old Days by Japanese photographer Ryoji Akiyama [is] finally available again as a reprint published by Seisodo. For the series, a young Ryoji Akiyama visited China–coinciding with the ten-year anniversary of the normalization of Chinese-Japanese relations–and photographed Chinese children in various parts of the country. Akiyama portrayed the children within the boundaries of play to capture them from an intimate distance. The book is a stellar example of Akiyama’s sharp observation and photographic sensibilities." Now available, along with two further volumes. Books of the day! (Seisodo, various years)
Book of the Day Posted May 15, 2026

Book of the Day: "Slip Me the Master Key" by Thomas Prior

From the publisher: "Loose Joints is proud to announce Slip Me the Master Key, a monograph by Thomas Prior collecting together two decades of the American artist’s precise and unflinching photographic practice. Prior's sharp images have a connecting thread of the American uncanny, often looking into the bleeding edge of technology, environment, capitalism, and culture to evoke an anthropocentric vision that's sublime in its consistency and composition. Prior’s detailed style moves fluidly between commissioned and personal work to find a subtle dissonance that captures the tremors of Western life at the edge, speaking in their stillness to hidden dynamics of power, change and control in the 21st Century. In Slip Me the Master Key, Prior’s photographs operate like quiet alarms where messages lurk just below the surface. His subject matter is dizzying: the National Pyrotechnic Festival in Mexico, a quantum supercomputer, a COVID-era morgue truck inauspiciously parked on a Manhattan street corner, empty vats of Adderall, the deepest snow in the world, microplastics, the blood and sweat of a boxer mid-punch, a cloned dog, a strip of land in the Maldives close to being lost to the rising tide. Gathered together and placed in a careful procession, Slip Me the Master Key reveals the strange beauty and charged stillness of a world tipping sideways. In many ways, this rising tide is the subject of Prior’s constellation of images; the shifts, gradual yet irreversible, that send the world hurtling into a precarious future. Prior’s oblique approach, cool restraint, and curiosity point toward that future, already in motion. Drawing together both the macro forces shaping our world and the minuscule moments that betray its emotional weight, Slip Me the Master Key offers a chilling yet sublime vision of the Anthropocene in which Prior articulates the unspeakable tensions of the present moment." Book of the day. (Loose Joints, 2025)
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