Better Books | Better Bookz

Art, Anarchy, Apostasy, Counter-culture & the New Avant-garde

A man is standing in front of the window of the Better Books bookstore.

Type of publication
Exhibition catalog
Author / Editor
Rozemin Keshvani, Axel Heil, Peter Weibel (eds.)
Publishing house, place
Koenig Books, London
Year
2018
Content

The legendary independent London bookstore Better Books on the Charing Cross Road was the hub for Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Alexander Trocchi, John Latham, Jeff Nuttall, Bob Cobbing, Barry Miles, Gustav Metzger, and countless others, for their ideas and approaches to art, film, literature, and activism. With its unique range of books, offbeat events, poetry readings, film screenings, and happenings, Better Books became the hot spot of London’s 1960s counter-culture scene.

This book is the first to examine this special historic moment, combining previously unpublished texts, documents, and photographs with the voices of the protagonists who authored this revolution.

With Essays by Rozemin Keshvani and Barry Miles and contributions by Philip Cohen, Stephen Dwoskin, John Hopkins, Graham Keen, Bruce Lacey, Gustav Metzger, Jeff Nuttall, Frank Popper, Criton Tomazos, and Islwyn Watkins.

Language
English
Description
320 p., 345 ill., 21.5 x 28.5 cm, Otabind binding
ISBN
978-3-96098-458-0
Production / Corporation / Exhibition
ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Trondheim kunstmuseum
Sponsors

Henry Moore Foundation, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

Sponsors