Portobello Road Photographed in the Sixties by John Petty offers a photographic record of the famous London street in what many consider to be its golden era.
Taken in the early 1960s, the photographs remained unpublished until this book was released last year. They show the market, its characters and traditions which have all but gone from the area now.
The book is available in hardback from Amazon, priced £11.66.
Depending on your frame of reference, Portmeirion will either suggest pottery or the setting of The Prisoner. But the Welsh village was also the place where its designers Clough Williams-Ellis brought up his family and thus provided the inspiration for this book Portmeirion ABC.
The book’s author, Sarah Nachamkin was a family friend and wrote the book to help William-Ellis’ grandchildren to learn the alphabet. The book dates back to 1950 and the illustrations are evocative of that era and the Portmeirion location.
Buy the book online from the Portmeirion website, priced £5.99.
If you share our obsession with typography, then the book “Just My Type” by Simon Garfield is a ‘must-read’.
Taken as a whole, the book provides an informative history of printing process, including mentions for retro favourites Letraset transfers and Dymo label makers. There is a chapter about music that includes the Beatles’ logo and Amy Winehouse’s use of a art deco style fonts, whilst a section on politics looks at how a font contributed to Obama’s election campaign, but also goes further back and close to home with information about the typeface favoured during the creation of the NHS. Between the main chapters, there are shorter sections, Font Breaks, which examine the history and use of individual fonts. I would have welcomed more on 60s counterculture design and the Punk aesthetic, about which more could have been said, but all in all, a fascinating read for anyone with an interest in the history of design.
Just My Type is available to buy on Amazon, currently priced just £7.99 for a suitably stylish hardback.
A US book, but one that should be of interest to retro fashion fashions – and knitters – around the world, The Ohio Knitting Mills Knitting Book: Patterns Celebrating Four Decades of American Sweater Style by Steven Tatar.
Here's the story: The Ohio Knittings Mills, has for decades, created knitwear designs for leading department stores, with author Steven Tatar discovering an endless amount of mint-condition knitwear and patterns when he acquired the mill's archives in 2004. Using that source, he has picked out 26 original designs from the '40s to the '70s for the 'home knitter'.
Clear instructions apparently let everyone from beginner to more advanced knitters create the likes of the American gentleman, Rebel Rouser, wavy Gravy, and Soul Sister. It also includes vintage photographs and interviews with Ohio Knitting Mills employees to offer up some history alongside the designs. Want a copy? You can pick one up online, priced at £10.79.
Remember the Joy Division colouring book? Of course you do. Well, the people behind that effort (Piper Gates Design) have produced a second instalment of what's being called the 'doomed poet' series with the Syd Barrett colouring book.
Yes, that's right, you can spend the cold winter evenings adding some colour to images of the Madcap Syd and the 60s-era Pink Floyd line-up. There's a four-page cover and eight pages of colouring fun, as well as a free Arnold Layne 7-inch sleeve, which can also be coloured in.
Each copy is signed by the artist and the run is limited to just 45 copies. Grab one via eBay while you can, each one is available on a 'Buy It Now' for £15.99. Perfect Christmas gift fodder. Another image over the page.
Following on from the Or Glory 21st Century Rockers book by Horst A. Friedrichs comes another book that looks to be covering similar ground – Rockin' – The Rockabilly Scene book by Andrew Shaylor.
There are two key differences though. Firstly, this book doesn't land until next year and secondly, it seems to cover more ground geographically, taking in scenes in the US and UK. Indeed, Rockin' is described as a 'unique portrayal of the contemporary rockabilly scene', with Shaylor granted exclusive access at events to capture 'the raw energy of the music and the commitment of the rockabilly community to authenticity'.
There's also a history of the subculture by rockabilly legend Jerry Chatabox in the book. which is published by Merrell in April 2011. You can pre-order now though, with Amazon discounting to £19.50 from the £30 RRP.
