It seems like the other day we were announcing a new Daido Moriyama title in this space, his great Northern, and already we have heard that this book is going out of print. The publisher or Moriyama (or a combination of both, perhaps) have decided not to go to a second printing, and what is out there on store shelves now is all there will be. Needless to say, we have a few of those copies ourselves, so order now or be prepared to pay substantially more in the future. I should also add that, although we have not advertised it as such, the copies we have been selling so far have been signed by the artist. (Please note: We will do our best to obtain signed copies of Northern for orders placed in the next couple of weeks, but we CANNOT guarantee it.)
Northern was one of the books we recently featured in a video review, which should provide you with a taste of this book that is well worth owning.
UPDATE (September 16, 2009): Signed copies are now completely sold out and we will not be able to get any more. Non-signed copies are still available for a limited time.
I hesitated before saying anything that might reduce your sales of “Northern”, but having seen yet my third or fourth discrete pile of copies just this week — yesterday, at Kinokuniya in south Shinjuku; today, in the basement of Parco in Shibuya — I venture to suggest that it will be a couple of months before bookstores (other than those we know to avoid) will be calling this title “scarce” or “rare” (ha ha).
Though the copies I’ve seen probably weren’t signed.
Moriyama’s quite an industry, isn’t he? I’m sure his work is Deeply Meaningful, but somehow I’m rarely tempted to buy. The Phaidon “55” and a couple of contributions to anthologies here and there are enough for me. Contrast Kurata Seiji. “Flash Up” is a bit pricy — I wish I’d bought ten copies instead of just one when it came out — and it’s even received the benediction of Saints Martin and Gerry. An “Errata edition” would be far too discreet and civilized. When’s Kurata going to have a bumper retrospective? Something with the page size of Erwitt’s “Personal Best” is called for.
A well made rerelease of “Flash Up” would be a fine thing indeed. Especially if the pictures weren’t spread across the gutter- and it was printed on the same paper stock as “Northern”.