I stumbled across a great collection of Ed Ruscha’s books at Coventry University earlier this week and considered it an opportunity for a whole ‘Evening with Ed‘ with the Photobook Club Coventry. This in turn seemed a good opportunity for a cheeky homage to the great man, and so here is the Phtoobook Club’s ‘Fifteen Ruscha Readers and a Pint of Bitter (please)‘ as a free downloadable PDF…
…and if you would like to see these books or have them visit you, let me know (more info inside)
…well perhaps not rediscovered, when I took a lecturing post at Coventry University I knew from my student days that their special collection housed a 2nd edition ‘Twentysix Gasoline Stations‘, but I had no idea what other treasures I would find…
In no small part thanks to the Brouws, Burtonn, Zscheigner book as well as the Artist’s Books Cooperative’s ‘ABCED‘ I have been thinking about Ruscha a lot recently and was keen to hold an event with a selection of his books and some chatter with the PBC Coventry. With the support of the University library I have been able to scour the entire collection for nuggets of Ruscha on the shelves, folio cabinets and behind lock and key, the result was surprising: Not only is there a copy of ‘Twentysix‘ but also one of the rarest books Ruscha has authored (due to a warehouse error!) in ‘Dutch Details‘ alongside ‘Thirtyfour Parking Lots‘, ‘Every Building on the Sunset Strip‘, ‘Crackers‘, ‘Royal Road Test‘, ‘Some Los Angeles Apartments‘, ‘Real Estate Opportunities‘, ‘Nine Swimming Pools‘ and more!
This event takes place tonight and with the nature of the books is for now, a student and alumni event only but I will be working to expand engagement with these books over the next few months and would be very interested to hear if anyone would be keen to see these books, or even have them visit their gallery or institution. If so, just shout me on email – matt@photobookclub.org.
A report and images will follow tonight’s meeting.
– Matt
