8 Indie Photography Publishers Worthy Of Your Coffee Table

posted by Si Cunningham May 22, 2020

You haven’t left the house in 63 days. The money you’d normally spend on posh coffees and 14% beers that taste of grapefruit has been spent on a slick new desk instead. Now you need some proper nice books to live on it. Luckily the world of independent publishing is a goldmine for weighty photography books – the kind you can dip in and out of when you need some visual inspiration or are putting off a big deadline. We’ve picked out a few photography feasts that will get your creative juices flowing, while proving a bit of visual eye-candy for any discerning desk or coffee table.

Café Royal Books

Cafe Royal Books | © Nan Levy

Café Royal is a one-man publishing machine, with proprietor Craig Atkinson lovingly producing around 70 books a year that are very affordable and refreshingly useful. The result is a cultural archive of British documentary photography, chronicling everything from the Toxteth riots of 1981, to life in a northern sewage works (far more appetising than it sounds, honest).

ACC Books Art

ACC Books | © Clive Arrowsmith

For over 50 years, ACC has been celebrating contemporary design and photography – establishing itself as a leader in arts publishing. Among its remarkable collection of photojournalism books is a unique set of photographs of the renowned artist LS Lowry – taken at his Salford home in the mid 1960s.

RRB Photobooks

RRB | © Peter Mitchell

Bristol-based RRB specialise in the “forgotten” British snappers of the 1970s and 80s, curating a series of eerie time machines in photobook format. Upcoming book Early Sunday Morning will publish 90 images by Peter Mitchell that have lain unseen for over 30 years. Follow his account on Instagram – @strangelyfamiliar.co.uk – for mesmerising images of forgotten Leeds… a taste of what’s to come in this beautiful book.

Goliga

Goliga are known for photography books and eye-catching events, such as photo-culinary experience ‘Say Cheese! The World of Martin Parr in 5 Courses’. Those unable to make the £65-per head dining event at London’s Rose Lipman building in 2014 can settle for a super limited-edition photography book instead. Just don’t try to eat the book.

Super Labo

Super Labo is a Japan-based independent publisher specialising in contemporary photography books, and boasts beautiful special-editions as well as everyday homages to pop-culture. One of its most recent releases is a 40-page photobook devoted to the weird and wonderful world of Star Wars T Shirts.

212 Magazine

Biannual magazine 212 is famed for its distinctive photo essays and long-form reportage. Based in Istanbul, but published internationally, each issue focuses on a specific theme and isn’t afraid to dissect often difficult social and political issues.

TOILETPAPER Magazine

You will need to pop a Naproxin before opening TOILETPAPER. It’s the magazine equivalent of an already excitable child that has gorged on a cocktail of blue Smarties and Red Bull before getting onto a Waltzer. Once you’ve calmed down a bit, you will find a photography-based biannual with no articles, just visuals, optical illusions and stuff like that. Maybe not the ideal Mother’s Day gift, but a very cool magazine for those who use the left side of their brain.

Anthology Editions

See life through the eyes of pro-skater turned photographer Jerry Hsu, with his endearing photobook ‘The Beautiful Flower is the World’ – one of the star turns from indie culture publisher Anthology Editions. Brookyln-based Anthology has a repertoire of visual treats to suit all tastes, including photobooks about the enchanting heritage of New Orleans, and an homage to the phenomenon of UFOs.