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rare books
January 19, 2015

Preview the Most-Coveted Titles at Idea Books’ New NYC Store

By Erica Schwiegershausen

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This weekend, the fashion industry’s favorite rare-book vendor and purveyor of highbrow Instagram eye candy, Idea Books, opened its first permanent store in New York at Dover Street Market. It’s not exactly new territory for the bookseller: Though the brand’s huge Instagram following has shifted a lot of its business online, founders Angela Hill and David Owen have operated a small space at London’s Dover Street Market for ten years. This past September, they launched a pop-up store at Dover Street Market New York, featuring exclusively Comme des Garçons books, which was up for about two months. “We spent the better half of a year collecting books, and it was the biggest, best collection of Comme des Garçons material ever put together,” Owen told the Cut. “The value came out to $30,000 or so, just of Comme books, most of which sold. It did fabulously well.”

Now, for the launch of the new space at Dover Street, their first permanent store in the U.S., Owen has curated a selection of what he calls Idea Books’ “greatest hits” — single copies of about 100 books so rare that Owen claims they are “absolutely unfindable.” The collection includes books like Stile in Progress, an anthology of L’Uomo Vogue highlights from 1968 to 1998, which has no ISBN number and was never sold, but given as a gift by Vogue to various contributors. “Generally speaking, it’s a very impressive book to have because you either bought it from us or you are Peter Lindbergh or the equivalent,” Owen explains. Other highlights from the New York store include Kate Who?, the now-scarce catalogue from Mario Testino’s 2010 exhibition at Phillips de Pury, a coveted copy of Derek Ridgers’s When We Were Young, and the first six volumes of Purple. According to Owen, they’ll be restocking and adding to the selection continually.

Asked about the process of tracking such books down, Owen says it’s a lot of trial and error. “We want to keep buying new things and breaking new ground, finding new areas to focus on. It’s actually really hard to do,” he says. “Our eyes are always open, so we might buy them from Japan on the internet, we might buy them from someone who is changing their career and clearing out their studio, we might buy them from someone who walks off the street into our office … If we find a publisher with a few books that we love, we might blindly buy other books they put out from those same years, and then find out later whether or not we like them.”

Click through the slideshow for a look at some of the unique, hard-to-find books currently on sale at Dover Street Market New York, including everything from Paula Yates’s Rock Stars in the Underpants to Vogue’s 1968 publication Book of Houses, Gardens, People, along with descriptions from Owen.

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1 / 15 Photos
Mode Au Japon by Leonard Koren, 1984 "Koren published WET Magazine in the late '70s and the Wabi-Sabi book in the 2000s. Somewhere in betwee... Mode Au Japon by Leonard Koren, 1984 "Koren published WET Magazine in the late '70s and the Wabi-Sabi book in the 2000s. Somewhere in between came this definitive survey of Issey, Yohji, and Rei." $195 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Rock Stars in the Underpants by Paula Yates, 1980 "If it wasn’t a book of rock stars in their underpants, you would be disappointed. Very ha... Rock Stars in the Underpants by Paula Yates, 1980 "If it wasn’t a book of rock stars in their underpants, you would be disappointed. Very happily, however, it is." $150 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Living Like This by Daniel Meadows, 1975 "The great British photographer Meadows traveled around Britain in the 1970s in a bus and photograp... Living Like This by Daniel Meadows, 1975 "The great British photographer Meadows traveled around Britain in the 1970s in a bus and photographed real people in real towns in (quite often) really extraordinary knitwear!" $95 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Helene by Elein Fleiss, 1997 "This exhibition in Japan was curated by Purple magazine’s co-founder Elein Fleiss. Includes Chloë Sevigny... Helene by Elein Fleiss, 1997 "This exhibition in Japan was curated by Purple magazine’s co-founder Elein Fleiss. Includes Chloë Sevigny and Hélène Fillières in Margiela, photographed by Mark Borthwick." $275 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Il Quarto Sesso, edited by Franco Bonami and Raf Simons "The theme is 'Adolescent Extremes.' It is known to us as the most Intsagrammable bo... Il Quarto Sesso, edited by Franco Bonami and Raf Simons "The theme is 'Adolescent Extremes.' It is known to us as the most Intsagrammable book in the world!" $495 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
When We Were Young by Derek Ridgers, 2004 "Ridgers is Britain’s best photographer of youth cults and culture. Drawn to extrovert looks, he c... When We Were Young by Derek Ridgers, 2004 "Ridgers is Britain’s best photographer of youth cults and culture. Drawn to extrovert looks, he captures the vulnerability of the people beneath them." $750 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Fiorucci: The Book by Eve Babitz , 1980 "The first book of fashion graphics. Never surpassed." $495 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Do! Family, 1992 "A wonderful and super-rare fashion look book for the Japanese company Do!, featuring a very young Kate Moss." $495 ... Do! Family, 1992 "A wonderful and super-rare fashion look book for the Japanese company Do!, featuring a very young Kate Moss." $495 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Kate Who? by Mario Testino, 2010 "The now-super-scarce sale catalogue for Testino’s selling exhibition at Phillips de Pury. Given an Insta-s... Kate Who? by Mario Testino, 2010 "The now-super-scarce sale catalogue for Testino’s selling exhibition at Phillips de Pury. Given an Insta-safe edit to the cover with an Undercover magnet!" $450 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Stile in Progress: 30 Years of L’Uomo Vogue 1968–1998 "The best menswear fashion book there ever was. It flips from '60s to '90s across its ... Stile in Progress: 30 Years of L’Uomo Vogue 1968–1998 "The best menswear fashion book there ever was. It flips from '60s to '90s across its big wire binding. No better book!" $1,500 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Coconuts by Jean-Daniel Lorieux, 1982 "The pictures inside of Brooke Shields in furs in blazing sun by an infinity pool are infinity." ... Coconuts by Jean-Daniel Lorieux, 1982 "The pictures inside of Brooke Shields in furs in blazing sun by an infinity pool are infinity." $595 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
The Alaia Book, 1998 "Of all the big, heavy fashion-designer monographs in sumptuously produced boxes, this one is really super-exciting … a... The Alaia Book, 1998 "Of all the big, heavy fashion-designer monographs in sumptuously produced boxes, this one is really super-exciting … and big and heavy!" $1,250 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Purple Issues 1–6, 1998–2000 "Purple as it was: fashion and fashion photography as it should be. Featuring Mark Borthwick, Martin Margi... Purple Issues 1–6, 1998–2000 "Purple as it was: fashion and fashion photography as it should be. Featuring Mark Borthwick, Martin Margiela, and Anders Edström." $975 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Vogue’s Book of Houses, Gardens, People, 1968 "Photographed entirely by Horst P. Horst, this is a book of interiors — but just as important ... Vogue’s Book of Houses, Gardens, People, 1968 "Photographed entirely by Horst P. Horst, this is a book of interiors — but just as important and impressive are the people within them. Mr. and Mrs. Cy Twombly dress to match the color of their duck-egg-shade reception room!" $995 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
Au Bout De La Nuit: Le Palace, 1979 "The book of the Parisian nightclub. If London had punk and New York had disco, Paris had both at Le Pal... Au Bout De La Nuit: Le Palace, 1979 "The book of the Parisian nightclub. If London had punk and New York had disco, Paris had both at Le Palace." $750 Photo: Courtesy of Idea Books
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  • idea books
  • kate moss
  • derek ridgers
  • vogue
  • mario testino
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