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Tag: Bookstores

My Favourite Book of 2011: Dan (Publicity)

by Dan
Design & Typography + Film / December 19, 2011

The bookstore I used to work at has sadly gone the way of many great independent bookstores in Canada and shuttered-up shop. It used to be on Toronto's Queen West in the days when the street was, well, "grungier" for want of a better word.  

If you don't know the area, the store was near the Art & Design District and the Fashion District. It was right above Blackmarket, a vintage t-shirt store, across the street from MuchMusic, and around the corner from the AGO and OCAD. It rubbed shoulders with boutique stores like Fluevog, small eclectic music stores, a hip urban bike shop and 24-hour grocery store. The owner loved the Beats and was a film critic on the side. Unsurprisingly, a lot of our customers were interested in art, design, film, music, photography and style.

One thing I would get asked quite frequently (apart from "where's the washroom?", "can you turn the music down?" and "where have they towed my car?") was "do you have any books on Saul Bass?"

Along side Paul Rand, Saul Bass was one of the greatest designers of the 20th Century. Even if you don't recognise the name, you would certainly recognise Bass' distinctive (and much imitated) work on films like Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, Otto Preminger's The Man With The Golden Arm and Anatomy of a Murder. And if you don't, you should: they revolutionized film title sequences.

If that weren't enough, Bass also designed logos and corporate identities for AT&T, Quaker Oats, United Airlines, Minolta and the Girl Scouts of America.

His output was remarkable.

Strangely, there were no (zero, zip, nada) books available on Bass for the longest time. It seemed almost unbelievable and customers would always look at me skeptically when I told them there was nothing on the shelves. I have to admit that most times I didn't even bother to look it up (which may have contributed to the skepticism) but that's because I knew there weren't any — I would be first in line if there was. You see, I love Saul Bass' work, especially his film work and his use of hand-drawn lettering. Bass' work is truly like no one else's. He was a design original. 

You can imagine, then, how excited I heard about Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design. From seeing it in the Lawrence King catalogue in April to when it was published last month, there was little doubt what my favourite book would be this year. Designed by Bass' daughter Jennifer, written by design historian Pat Kirkham, and weighing in at over 400 pages, the book doesn't disappoint. It is STILL the only book on Bass's work and is must-have for anyone interested in the history of design or film.

If you're only going to buy one honking great big book on American mid-century modern design for your coffee table this year, make sure it's this one. I'm just sorry my old bookstore isn't there to sell it to you. 

Clowes Bag

by Dan
Graphica / April 21, 2010

The awesome Dan Clowes is the latest cartoonist to join an elite group of artists — including Art Spiegelman, R. Sikoryak, Seth, Adrian Tomine — who have illustrated tote bags for legendary New York bookstore The Strand.

The beautiful new bag is available in the store (where Dan Clowes will be on Wednesday May 5th), but for those of us not lucky enough to live in New York, it is also for sale now on their website.

For Canadian fans, Dan Clowes will be at the Toronto Comics Art Festival May 8th and 9th, and his new book Wilson is released next week.

Reflections on Duthie Books

by Jamie
News / January 19, 2010

The sad news about Duthie Books closing has just hit the wires.

Today everyone at Raincoast is thinking about the wonderful staff at Duthie's, many of whom have decades of bookselling experience. These type of people are vital to the long term health and vibrancy of the publishing scene. We are rooting for them.

There will be lots of talk about what the closing of this landmark bookstore in Vancouver signifies for the book industry and for the culture of books in Canada. Let that be a debate for another day, but when that debate comes, I will argue that despite what certain painful recent examples may suggest, the future of book in Canada is very, very healthy.

For today, I want to comment as resident of Kitsilano, the Vancouver neighbourhood where Duthie's final store is located.

Many people who have lived in Vancouver longer than I, will remember Duthie Books as a large sprawling chain. I have been in Vancouver for decade and know Duthie's as single stand alone store, that stocked books I wanted to read and whose staff loved to talk about books as much as I do. I bought my son's first book at Duthie's and to this day we can't go by the expansive thirty foot store front window (with displays changed daily) without him insisting we go in. I love books on politics, he loves the books on dump trucks. Good stores, large or small chain or non-chain matter to cities. Stores like Duthie's matter to me.