We have stock of four great, little photography books, soft back, saddle-stitched (stapled), 30-odd pages, all covering a decade from 1971.
Isle of Man TT Races 1971
Documentary footage of the second post-Easy Rider Isle of Man TT, by famed, and recently deceased, documentary photographer, Manxman, and Harvard professor of Visual and Environmental Studies, Chris Killip. The shots include race fans, in a British working class take on the Southern California outlaw MC uniform that predicts the Nightriders post-apocalyptic garb from the original Mad Max, eight years before the film was released. Racers and mechanics are included, the most striking of whom are the sidecar teams lined up on Glencrutchery Rd in battered pudding basin helmets that you wouldn't trust to carry half-a-dozen eggs home from the Tesco Express, never mind take on the Mountain Course.
Triumph Workers' Lock-in 1974
A 36-page collection of photos from the period when workers tried to keep the Triumph factory alive when closure seemed inevitable, and took over the factory for a period of months. What a period of history, when Britain was beset by industrial strife. Ron McCormick is a UK photographer who specialised in capturing the changing face of British industry, including the South Wales coal mining industry. The photos of the old Meriden works are a glimpse inside the famous factory.
In 1973, Triumph workers blockaded the factory from its new owners, Norton Villiers Triumph, to prevent it closing as part of a restructure. The company had been nationalised after it had got into financial difficulties, and proposed to lay off 1700 workers. The workers formed a government-backed cooperative during their two-year occupation of the factory.
There's one-page of text explaining the background, and another page of captions.
London Subculture 1979-1981
36-page monograph of French photographer Yan Morvan's images, shot in the English capital. The Guardian points out the photos 'capture that moment when punk in Britain was giving its edge to mod revival culture.'
It shows ground zero punk, mod revival and skinhead culture, kitchen parties, gigs, rides, pubs and street corners. It demands to be picked up time and again while you wonder what happened to the kids and teens in the photos.
To quote The Guardian's review, again, 'His pictures – of the mosh pit at a Killing Joke gig or of rude boys chucking rocks at derelict factory buildings – capture a lot of the violent energy he encountered.'
London Punk & Protest 1979-1981
French photographer Yan Morvan's relocated to London to document the reaction of the capital's youth to the Thatcher government. Over two years he shot riots and royal wedding days, police on the run and punks outside pubs.
We love these simple but effective little photography books, that we find ourselves picking up a looking at again and again.