BENAH BOOK CLUB | WRITTEN IN THE WEST

Welcome to Benah Bookclub. Where we explore books we love, own or admire and celebrate independent and interesting publishers, books stores and sites. Owning beautiful books is one of the great joys in life. Print is not dead, just more luxurious!

WIM WENDERS - Written In The West

Publisher: teNeues
Copyright: Schirmer/Mosel / Munich

Pages: 108 / 58 Colour Pictures

Cover: Soft with dust jacket

Publication Date: August 2000

Language: English

One of the best films of our time has to be Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders. Written in the West is a series of images Wenders shot in 1983 while looking for subject and locations for the film. Driving through Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California, he was captivated by the unique, saturated, colourful light of the vast wild landscape of the American West.

The series was 1st exhibited in 1986 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and later published as this book in 2000.

Strangely, even though the film takes its name from a sleepy town of Paris, Texas, no footage was ever actually shot there.

Read more about the new revisited edition on AnOther Magazines site here. And if you haven't seen the film, do yourself a favour and watch it immediately!

View Post

BENAH LOVES | Selexyz Dominicanen

It's no secret that we worship books. They are beautifully crafted vessels of infinite information, refined thought, stunning imagery, exquisite prose and timeless characters. It makes sense, then, to house these priceless objects in an equally important and thought-provoking setting. Enter the Selexyz Dominicanen  in the Netherlands, seriously amazing bookstore that has been converted from a church that was originally built in 1294. The thirteenth century? The mind boggles!

We're optimistic in our belief that book stores will still be a thing, regardless of growing sales of Kindles and iPads - a book with pages won't run out of battery and it ages just as we do. Maybe it's pages get a little tattered, or it's pictures a little faded, but it most certainly is a friend for life. Therefore, isn't it wonderful that there are still some existing, individual stores that truly are an experience to lose your self in... much like any good novel.

View Post

READ | Holy Bible

This work deserves your attention. The Holy Bible; but not as you know it. 

“Right from the start, almost every appearance he made was catastrophic… Catastrophe is his means of operation, and his central instrument of governance."

- Adi Ophir

It looks the same, it feels the same. Well, from the outside at least. But Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin's, Holy Bible, is definitely not what you'd expect. Without giving to much away, this is a book that needs to be viewed not on a screen but in your hands. Fingers turning its thin, crisp pages; each uncovering a different meaning to the utterly divine.

Released in April 2013 it's already onto its 2nd printing, luckily we managed to secure the very last copy from Kinokuniya. This incredible and at times confronting project, will challenge your views and make you see the bible in a whole new light.

View Post