It started in 1978 with an ordinary coffee shop near Kyoto. Word spread that the waitresses wore no panties under their miniskirts. Similar establishments popped up across the country. Men waited i...
Following up on the best-selling Bibliotheca Universalis logo manual, this second volume focuses on corporate identity. In a globalized world, more and more symbols convey values such as trust, q...
On October 1, 1958, the world's first civilian space agency opened for business as an emergency response to the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik a year earlier. Within a decade, the National Aerona...
We owe a great debt to Jean Baptiste Marc Bourgery (1797-1849) for his Atlas of Anatomy, which was not only a massive event in medical history, but also remains one of the most comprehensive and be...
Botanical masterworks from the National Library of ViennaIn pursuit of both knowledge and delight, the craft of botanical illustration has always required not only meticulous draftsmanship bu...
In 1968, when Stanley Kubrick was asked to comment on the metaphysical significance of 2001: A Space Odyssey, he replied: “It’s not a message I ever intended to convey in words. 2001 is...
Back to the Années FollesA vivid cultural portrait of 1920s ParisParis is the City of Light in all its facets. In the 1920s La Ville des lumières gleams especially b...
In Animals, we discover a different side to the famed photographer who skillfully explores animals’ complex relationship with humans and the environment.Tenderness abounds, partic...
Big ideas for small buildingsOver the years, talented architects have occasionally indulged themselves with the challenge of designing small but perfectly formed buildings. Today, with reduce...
From Edouard Manet’s portrait of naturalist writer Émile Zola sitting among his Japanese art finds to Van Gogh’s meticulous copies of the Hiroshige prints he devotedly collected,...
In the architecture of Richard Neutra (1892–1970), inside and outside find their perfect modernist harmony. As the Californian sun glints off sleek building surfaces, vast glass panel walls a...
From the towering Sagrada Família to the shimmering, textured facade of Casa Batlló and the enchanting landscape of Park Güell, it’s easy to see why Antoni Gaudí (18...
Pin-up travels the long road from barracks wall to high artSince TASCHEN released The Great American Pin-up, international interest in this distinctly American art form has increased ex...
An anthology of cult magazine Sneaker FreakerBack in 2002, Simon “Woody” Wood was dreaming up schemes to get free sneakers. Two weeks later, he was the proud owner of Sneaker Frea...
Backstage pass to the Fab FourIn early 1964, photographer Harry Benson received a call from the photo editor of London’s Daily Express, who asked him to cover the Beatles’ t...
The Kisokaido route through Japan was ordained in the early 1600s by the country’s then-ruler Tokugawa Ieyasu, who decreed that staging posts be installed along the length of the arduous pass...
The power and glory of illuminated biblesIn the beginning was the word, and in the Middle Ages were kings, princes, and high-ranking religious members whose wealth and influence produced illu...
A visual history of the world’s magic megalopolisWalt Disney dreamed for decades about opening the ultimate entertainment venue, but it wasn’t until the early 1950s that his handp...
Helmut and June Newton's Legendary Joint ProjectA fifty-five-year history of life and loveThis is a photographic love story tracing the fifty-five years of collaboration, partners...
Before there was Instagram, there was WarholAndy Warhol was a relentless chronicler of life and its encounters. Carrying a Polaroid camera from the late 1950s until his death in 1987, h...