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)
Book of the Day Posted May 14, 2026

Book of the Day: "Chelsea Hotel" by Albert Scopin

From the publisher: "The Chelsea Hotel in New York has been an iconic spot for the art and music scene since the 1960s. From 1969 to 1971, the artist Albert Scopin, who was, at the time, an assistant to photographers Mikel Avedon and Bill King, also lived there. The hotel was always abuzz with activity and everyone who lived there seemed to be searching for something. What the young Scopin was searching for was an unfiltered view of the people who came and went. To capture the lively goings-on as discreetly as possible, he often didn’t even look through the viewfinder of his Kodak Instamatic. The resulting images depict an as-yet unknown Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe as a fledgling couple, both individuals on their path to fame; film directors Wim Wenders, Rosa von Praunheim, Milos Forman and Jonas Mekas are there; the Warhol crowd performs a play; the hotel staff throw a crazy party in the basement; up on the roof, people contemplate what the future might hold, looking down on a city just waiting to be conquered. Brief accompanying texts by the artist as well as an interview complete the volume, which provides an unusually intimate look behind the façade of what is perhaps the most famous hotel in the world." Book of the day. (Kerber Verlag, 2026)
Book of the Day Posted May 06, 2026

Book of the Day: Miles Davis - Three Days in Malibu

From the publisher: "On May 26, 2026, Miles Davis (1926–91), an icon of jazz and one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century, would have celebrated his centenary. This book, published to mark the occasion, brings together photographs of Miles Davis taken by German photographer and documentary filmmaker Ralph Quinke between 1971 and 1989. The centerpiece is a reportage that was photographed in 1989: together with Swiss journalist Marco Meier, Quinke traveled to Malibu to accompany the artist for three days and interview him for an issue of Swiss art and culture magazine Du. He got surprisingly close with his camera, taking shots of Miles boxing, in his car, in the kitchen, while painting, sometimes posing, or as an observer of him in conversation. Du’s issue 843 of August 1989, in which Quinke and Meier’s reportage featured, is long out of print and still sought-after by Miles fans. Inspired by German music journalist and jazz expert Arne Reimer, this photo book draws on Quinke’s unique archival material. A revised version of the 1989 interview and a new conversation between Quinke, Meier, and Reimer supplement this 'director’s cut.' A selection of the best images that Quinke took of Miles Davis between 1971 and 1987 rounds off this unique homage to one of the most eminent personalities of all musical genres." Book of the day!
Events Posted May 03, 2026

Upcoming Events, May 2026 - Please Join Us!

 

SATURDAY, MAY 9th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
SHANIQWA JARVIS: GUTS
BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY, MAY 23rd, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
ANDREW MacPHERSON: SYNCHRONICITY
BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY, MAY 30th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
BRUCE W. TALAMON: SOUL R&B FUNK: PHOTOGRAPHS 1972-1982
BOOK SIGNING 

CONTINUING EXHIBITION THRU FRIDAY, MAY 8th
ERIC DOERINGER: BOOKS & CO.
WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM

ARCANA URGES YOU TO VISIT THE
PRINTED MATTER LA ART BOOK FAIR
AT ART CENTER COLLEGE IN PASADENA THIS WEEK!

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