Book of the day > Martin Parr: Real Food. Phaidon. “A bumper collection of cult-favourite Magnum photographer Martin Parr's iconic food pictures, which demonstrate the simple notion that 'we are what we eat.' Real Food celebrates all things food through the eyes of the renowned British photographer Martin Parr - a kaleidoscope of foods the world over, from hot dogs to sticky buns and langoustine to lemon meringue pie. Featuring photographs taken throughout Martin Parr's prolific career to-date, Real Food comprises the very best of Parr's iconic imagery - a collection of close-up food shots, in typical garish colour, taken by Parr throughout his travels across the world.”

Book of the day > The Music Library by Jonny Trunk. FUEL (@fuelpublishing). “Library music-also known as source or mood music-was made for use in film, TV, advertising and radio. It was given to TV channels and producers who needed cheap, signature music for animations, advertisements and television programs. Never commercially available for sale to the public, this music was pressed from the 1950s onwards in limited quantities, and then sent directly for use in production houses and radio stations. These LPs were intended for purpose and function, not for pop charts, and as a result they look and sound like nothing else. Without the usual music industry constraints, the record sleeve designers had almost complete freedom of expression, with unprecedented results. This new and expanded edition of The Music Library (originally published in 20015 and now out of print) contains twice the content of the original book, featuring 625 rare sleeves from 230 music library companies of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. The amazing cover designs of over 100 newly discovered library albums are beautifully reproduced (alongside all the sleeves contained in the first book) and accompanied by exhaustive, updated captions. A celebration of and graphic joyride through some of the greatest unseen and unheard music ever made.”

Book of the day > Marcel Broodthaers. MoMA. “A landmark international survey, a first in 25 years, of Belgian surrealist-conceptualist-minimalist, poet, photographer, filmmaker, artist, wit, Marcel Broodthaers. Marcel Broodthaers’ extraordinary artistic output placed him at the center of international activity during the transformative decades of the 1960s and 1970s. Throughout his career, from early objects variously made of mussel shells, eggshells and books of his own poetry, to his most ambitious project, the Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles (Museum of Modern Art, Department of Eagles), and the Décors made at the end of his life, Broodthaers occupied a unique position, often operating as both innovator and commentator. Setting a precedent for what we call installation art today, his work has had a profound influence on a broad range of contemporary artists, and he remains vitally relevant to cultural discourse at large. Published to accompany Broodthaers’ first retrospective in New York, this volume examines the artist’s work across all mediums. Essays by the exhibition organizers Christophe Cherix and Manuel Borja-Villel, along with a host of major scholars, including Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Jean François Chevrier, Thierry de Duve and Doris Krystof, provide historical and theoretical context for the artist’s work. The book also features new translations of many of Broodthaers’ texts.”

Vive la Belgique!

Book of the day > Cuba 1959 by Burt Glinn. Reel Art Press (@reelartpress). “New Year's Eve, 1958, 10pm: Magnum photographer Burt Glinn is at a black tie party in New York when he hears news that dictator Fulgencio Batista has fled Cuba. By 7am the next morning, he is in Havana in a cab, saying 'take me to the revolution'.  Such photojournalistic fervor allowed Glinn to be in the middle of the action to capture the Cuban Revolution as it unfolded on the ground. As Glinn said, "I could get up as close as I wanted." His magnificent photographs convey the revolutionary idealism, mayhem and excitement of that moment in history. This tome includes some of Glinn's most iconic Cuban photographs, as well as unseen shots, in both black and white and color. From gunshots being fired, confusion on the streets, the rounding up of the Batista Secret Police, spontaneous gatherings, embracing revolutionaries returning home to mothers, and, of course, Fidel Castro's triumphant entrance into Havana. Glinn is famously quoted as saying, ‘I think that what you've got to do is discover the essential truth of the situation, and have a point of view about it.’ This tome celebrates his ability to do just that.”

Book of the day > JH Engström: Tout Va Bien. Aperture. "Swedish artist JH Engström is an inveterate bookmaker. Most recently, his published works have explored ideas of place and home. After more than a decade of such thematic projects, Tout Va Bien returns to the looser, more associative approach of Engström’s critically acclaimed volume Trying to Dance. The source for these photographs is nevertheless strongly autobiographical, as well as vividly metaphorical; a reemphasis of the artist’s belief in photography's potential as visual poetry. The sequencing is highly charged with contrasts: black-and-white images mix with color; the gentle beauty of coastal rocks clashes with a flash-lit image of the bright, blood-red placentas from the birth of his twins. The book leaves it to the viewer to map his or her own network of meaning from image to image, page to page."

Book of the day >  The Art of Impossible: The Bang & Olufsen Design Story. Thames & Hudson. “Founded in 1925 by Danish innovators Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, Bang & Olufsen is one of the world’s foremost consumer electronics companies. For nearly a century, their audio products, television sets, and telephones have broken the established rules and conventions of product design, dictating visual trends and altering irrevocably the appearance of our homes in the process.

This book delves into the stories of each breakthrough, iconic Bang & Olufsen design. Overviews of both the materials and the manufacturing processes used for each Bang & Olufsen model are complemented by profiles on the designers behind each innovative creation. Throughout, the company’s underlying philosophy remains unwavering: design must always serve a purpose. Featuring an extensive archive of sketches and prototypes, 300 specially commissioned photographs of individual products in various interior settings, as well as an exclusive insight into the models that never found their way onto the market, this is the definitive publication on a company whose design inventions are in a league of their own.”

Book of the day > Hannah Ryggen: Weaving the World. Walther König. The first substantial monograph on the Swedish-born, Norwegian modernist textile artist Hannah Ryggen, considered to be one of the most significant Scandinavian artists of the twentieth century. It includes works from her entire oeuvre, with an emphasis on tapestries from the 1930s pertaining to her political and social engagement.  She was the first female Norwegian artist to be represented at the Venice Biennale in 2012 six of her principal tapestries from the 1930s were exhibited at dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel.  Self-trained, she worked on a standing loom constructed by her husband, the painter Hans Ryggen.  She lived on a farm on a Norwegian Fjord and dyed her yarn with local plants. Her tapestries are visual responses to major and minor events, conflicts and processes; she captured the world in her weaving. In the early 1930s, she addressed fascism and the destructive consequences of Nazi power. A pacifist who subscribed to Scandinavian feminist and leftist journals, she was active in the Norwegian Communist Party and international workers’ movements. Violence and abuse are visualised in an idiom reminiscent of modern, critical history painting. Her narrative drive goes hand in hand with a free accentuation of abstract patterns, shapes and colours. 

Book of the day  > Gregory Crewdson: Cathedral of the Pines. Aperture. “Cathedral of the Pines presents Gregory Crewdson's first new body of work in over five years. The series marks a return to Crewdson's classic style of storytelling via the single image, using light and color to create newly intimate, psychologically charged imagery. It also marks a time of transition for the artist, including a retreat from New York to a remote home and studio in western Massachusetts-a period of time during which Crewdson chose to remain socially withdrawn, instead committing to daily, long-distance, open-water swims and cross-country skiing on wooded paths. Cathedral of the Pines is named after one of these trails, deep in the forests of Becket, Massachusetts, the site where he found the inspiration to make these new pictures. It was there that he felt darkness lift, experienced a reconnection with his artistic process, and moved into a period of renewal and intense creative productivity. The photographs are accompanied by an essay by Alexander Nemerov, who addresses the work in relation to the American past, focusing in particular on the way the images draw space and time down to ceremonial points, in which ‘all that ever happened in these places seems crystallized in his tableaux, as if the quiet melancholy of Crewdson's scenes gathered the unruly sorrows and other little-guessed feelings of people long gone who once stood on those spots.’”

Books of the day > Short Stack Editions. “Short Stack is a series of small-format cookbooks authored by America’s top culinary talents. Each edition is a collectible, single-subject booklet packed with recipes that offer ingenious new ways to cook our favorite ingredients. In creating Short Stack, we drew from our experience working in cookbook and magazine publishing. Like the best cookbooks, Short Stack Editions consist of original recipes created and rigorously tested by a single author with the home cook in mind. They are beautiful objects meant to be collected, gifted and, most importantly, cooked from. And, like the best food magazines, Short Stack editions are concise, affordable and built for function. Each Short Stack focuses on a single ingredient and is written by a single author. Every volume consists of 20 to 25 recipes, but beyond that, no two volumes are alike. In any given Short Stack Edition, there is a wide spectrum of recipes, ranging from sweet to savory, and breakfast to dinner. Our authors have decades of experience working as cookbook authors, food writers, chefs,food stylists and more. Short Stack is a contemporary offering of old-school craftsmanship. Each book is printed in New York City on high-quality paper and hand-stitched with baker’s twine. Our production process is intimate and specialized. All of Short Stack’s covers and illustrations are original artwork designed by our creative director, Rotem Raffe.” Choose between Eggs, Tomatoes, Strawberries, Buttermilk, Grits, Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli, Honey, Plums, Corn, Apples, Brown Sugar, Lemons, Prosciutto di Parma, Summer Squash, Peaches, Chickpeas, Chocolate, and Maple Syrup.  Or buy a complete set! 

Book of the day > The Age of Collage Vol. 2 Art - Contemporary Collage in Modern Art. Gestalten. “The Age of Collage Vol. 2 documents current developments in the world of collage and reveals why this technique is as fresh as ever. A comprehensive collection of examples ranging from subversive to museum-worthy, this striking showcase positions collage between provocation and commerce. Presenting the work of more than 70 collage artists—from established names including John Baldessari and Richard Prince to up-and-coming talents such as Lola Dupré and Mat Maitland—the book explores the seemingly endless creative possibilities that result when disparate images are brought together in unexpected ways.”