Arcana: Books on the Arts

Arcana: Books on the Arts is an open shop specializing in new, rare, and out-of-print books on 20th-century art, architecture, design, and photography since 1984.

The Historic Helms Bakery
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310.458.1499

Best-Selling Design Books (January)

1

Beyond Chic Add to My Reading List

Ivan Terestchenko

From France to Italy, from England to Morocco, come along on a private visit to the remarkable homes of couturiers, stylists, muses, and fashion personalities.

2

François Halard Add to My Reading List

François Halard

This extravagant volume is the magnum opus of today’s most celebrated interiors photographer. His unique photographic sensibility—old-world elegant and bohemian, accessible and personal—is instantly recognizable. Thirty years since his first assignments, Halard still captures our imagination with his breathtaking photographs.

3

George Ohr: The Greatest Art Potter on Earth Add to My Reading List

Eugene Hecht

The definitive and most up-to-date volume on the celebrated Biloxi artist, who was the most revolutionary art potter of his time. 

4

Keiichi Tanaami Add to My Reading List

Momoko Fukurama Editor
Shinji Nanzuka Editor

Keiichi Tanaami (born 1936) was a protagonist of Japan's postwar avant-garde, and one of the first Japanese artists to successfully blend art and commerce. This volume constitutes a catalogue raisonné of Tanaami's early work of the 60s and 70s.

Past Best-Selling Design Books

In the Good Name of the Company Add to My Reading List

Jan Tumlir Editor
Chris Michlig Editor
Brian Roettinger Editor

The Colby Poster Printing Company has been a friend to Los Angeles-based artists ever since the seminal Colby-printed announcement for the 1962 exhibition New Paintings of Common Objects. Printed in four neon-spot colors, this book is a unique tribute to Colby. More

Punk 45 Add to My Reading List

Jon Savage Editor
Stuart Baker Editor

Punk 45 is an exhaustive, thorough and exciting celebration of the stunning artwork of punk music, including everything from the most celebrated and iconic designs through to the stark beauty of the cheapest do-it-yourself lo-fi obscurities. More

It’s Modern: The Eye and Visual Influence of Alexander Liberman Add to My Reading List

Charles Churchward

This gorgeous volume celebrates the creative eye and inspiration of the man who, through his art, photography, design, magazine work, and social life, influenced and changed our visual culture. More

Verve: The Sound of America Add to My Reading List

Richard Havers

The entire story of jazz—from its earliest days in New Orleans to the 1970s and beyond—told through archival material from Verve, the genre’s most important label. More

Never Built Los Angeles Add to My Reading List

Sam Lubell
Greg Goldin
Foreword by Thom Mayne

Never Built Los Angeles explores the “what if” Los Angeles, investigating the values and untapped potential of a city still in search of itself. More

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities Add to My Reading List

Guillermo del Toro
Marc Zicree

For the first time, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reveals the inspirations behind his signature artistic motifs, sharing the contents of his personal notebooks, collections, and other obsessions. More

Enjoy The Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992 Add to My Reading List

Johan Kugelberg Editor
Michael Daley Editor

Enjoy the Experience is the largest collection of American private-press vinyl ever amassed and presented, featuring over 1,000 cover reproductions from 1958-1992. The musicians here range from awkward teen pop combos to pizza-parlor organists; religious cult leaders to Sinatra imitators. More

Hippie Chic Add to My Reading List

Lauren Whitley

Sumptuous photography, dynamic design, and far-out images from the 1960s era make Hippie Chic a must-have book that goes past peace signs and patchouli to unearth how hippies forever changed the way fashion functions. More

Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes Add to My Reading List

Jean-Louis Cohen
Barry Bergdoll

This publication, appearing 25 years after the Centre Pompidou released the seminal catalogue Le Corbusier, une encyclopédie, aspires to become a new sourcebook, giving an account of research developed worldwide in recent decades. More

The Wes Anderson Collection Add to My Reading List

Matt Zoller Seitz

The Wes Anderson Collection is the first in-depth overview of Anderson’s filmography, guiding readers through his life and career. Previously unpublished photos, artwork, and ephemera complement a book-length conversation between Anderson and award-winning critic Matt Zoller Seitz. More

Bowie: Album by Album Add to My Reading List

Paolo Hewitt

David Bowie is a shape-shifting, genre-twisting genius whose 27 albums over 40 years reveal a creative bigamist marrying pop and art, theatre and rock, fashion and film, sound and style. More

Shadow Type Add to My Reading List

Steven Heller
Louise Fili

Compiled by the leading historian of graphic design Steven Heller and renowned graphic designer Louise Fili, this invaluable collection, packed full of typographic ideas, will inspire anyone aiming to give more depth to their design. More

Fire Island Modernist Add to My Reading List

Christopher Bascom Rawlins

As the 1960s became The Sixties, architect Horace Gifford executed a remarkable series of beach houses that transformed the terrain and culture of New York's Fire Island. More

Raymond Cauchetier: Photos De Cinema Add to My Reading List

Marc Vernet

The definitive photography album of the nouvelle vague. More

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