Rare Special Editions available from ACC Art Books –  More Information

There are cities that have made an indelible mark on music as incubators of genres that changed, and are changing, history. These are their stories.
From London told by Blur at the height of Brit Pop, to evenings in Lagos punctuated by Afro beats, and the underground sound of Seattle shaped by Sub Pop. The pages of this book map an atlas of musical cities, from Rio de Janeiro to Seoul, that have made a notable and significant contribution, and bring them to life through the stories of their most important experiences.

Enriched by in-depth “bonus tracks” on the most famous and unforgettable musicians.

Cities featured include: Seattle; New York City; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Nashville; Memphis; Austin; Chicago; Salvador, Bahia; Kingston; Havana; Dublin; London; Manchester; Glasgow; Liverpool; Berlin; Paris; Ibiza; Seoul; Tokyo.

During the 1890s and early 1900s Édouard Vuillard (1868–1940) produced a body of work that combines intimate subject matter with abstract form through the simplification of pictorial elements and observation of decorative fabrics and wallpapers. Through these devices he developed an art that is unashamedly decorative and yet always replete with subtle suggestions of deeper meanings. In balancing form and content, psychological drama and abstraction, his pictures are about as close to poetry as any artist’s, and all the more brilliant for their understatement and the near imperceptibility of their craft.

Illustrating many rarely seen paintings from private collections, this book offers a fresh look at the early career of this much-loved artist. Introduced by Chris Stephens, director of the Holburne Museum, and with an original essay by Belinda Thompson.

According to Count Galeazzo Arconati, who gave other Leonardo manuscripts to the Ambrosiana Library in Milan, the drawings concerning nature, anatomy, and colour, have been “in the hands of the King of England before 1640.” The collection has been recorded as being in the possession of Queen Mary II, in 1690, a year after she and her husband, William III, ascended the throne as joint monarchs. The collection comprises all the known anatomical drawings by Leonardo. Three hundred images of the human body by the great artist, made between about 1485 and 1510–15, are showcased in this magnificent volume. Based on the artist’s own anatomical dissections, they show his evolving understanding of physiology. The drawings demonstrate, as well, Leonardo’s progress from technical mastery of his subject to consummate draftsmanship.
The commentary on this astonishing body of work is by Professor Martin Kemp of Oxford University, a leading international authority of Leonardo da Vinci, who explains the uniqueness of the painter’s stroke and the refined figurative transposition. One of the most renowned Italian Anatomists, Professor Mario Rende of the University of Perugia, analyses the significance of these works from a medical-scientific angle, revealing the insights, the research methodology, and the experimental and analytical approach of the Genius of da Vinci. Moving between art and anatomy, between unsurpassed illustrative display and avant-garde Renaissance scientific research, the work thus provides an in-depth and comprehensive look at an indispensable aspect of the Great Master’s story.

Text in English and Italian.

Architecture, as a discipline and a profession, is facing several crises, which, as yet, it has by no means successfully overcome. The basic hypothesis of the Cosmowomen project is that fully incorporating women into the professional and academic field of architecture would generate new places for thought and attention on the part of professionals or consolidate and expand those that exist, while also intensifying the relationships between those ‘places of thought’, producing a kind of constellation.

The exhibition incorporates the work of 65 women architects who have taken the master’s degree programme at the Bartlett School of Architecture in the past ten years, showing a total of 71 projects and including 283 images. The architects are of more than 20 different nationalities and have been tutored by 22 tutors, 50% of them women, who also come from a wide variety of backgrounds in cultural terms and professional experience.

The exhibition catalogue includes texts by 20 women architects or professionals in related fields, all with outstanding academic records.

Architects: Ana Alonso, Anna Andronova, Christia Angelidou, Felicity Barbur, Justine Bell, Paddi Alice Benson, Christine Bjerke, Romina Canna, Emma Louise Carter, Nicola Chan, Doville Ciapaite, Freya Cobbin, Charlotte Cole, Emma Colthurst, Malina Dabrowska, Naomi De Barr, Emily Doll, Sarah Earney, Sara Firth, Karen A. Frank, Maria Auxiliadora Galvez, Masha Gerzon, Naomi Gibson, Cristina Goberna Pesudo, Faye Greenwood, Lola Haines, Penelope Haralambidou, Bijou Harding, Alice Hardy, Janis Ho, Helena Howard, Sarah Izod, Niki-Marie Jansson, Johanna Just, Gintare Kapociute, Minghui Ke, Fanny Kostorou, Le (Lulu) Li, Ifigeneia Liangi, Ting Jui (Brook) Lin, Marjut Lisco, Shi Yin Ling, Emily Martin, Sara Martinez Zamora, Lauren McNicoll, Heba Mohsen, Alex Mok, Ness Lafoy, Hoy Lei (Kerri) Ngan, Charlotte Page, Jiao Peng, Barbara Penner, Sylwia Poltorak, Sophia Psarra, Katherine Ramchand, Ellie Sampson, Julia Schuetz, Katt Scoot, Maïté Seimetz, Tania Sengupta, Rose Shaw, Faustyna Smolilo, Elin Soderberg, Catrina Stewart, Paula Strunden, Yan Ting (Lorraine), Stefania Tsigkouni, Yinghao Wang, Angeline Wee, Izabela Wieckzorek, Kate Woodcock Fowles, Feng Yang, Siyuan (Amy) Yao, Venessa Yau, See (Phyllis) Yu, Mika Zacarias.

Text in English and Italian.

“If you really want to get under the skin of a city, the 500 Hidden Secrets series, which covers a number of cities from Havana to Ghent, all written by people who know the cities inside out, is ideal. It’s an innovative and refreshing take on the traditional travel guide.”The Independent
Discover the city’s best-kept secrets, with this practical guide to Antwerp’s most beautiful, interesting and often unknown places. This book takes you off the beaten track to discover the city’s hidden gardens, small museums and intimate coffee bars. On its pages you will find the 5 best places to eat frites, the 5 most secret courtyards and the 5 best independent record shops in town. It also guides you to some of the more unusual experiences that you can track down in Antwerp. So you can find out where to eat the best dim sum in Chinatown, sample a chocolate flavoured with fried bacon, or dance the night away. The aim of this book is not to cover the city from A to Z, but to inspire; it is a guide to the places the author would recommend to a friend who wants to discover the real Antwerp.
The 500 Hidden Secrets of Antwerp offers a practical way to explore Antwerp’s finest places, and Derek Blyth covers all bases to ensure no visitor to the city is ever anything short of captivated. Packed with accessible, easy-to-read information summarised in handy lists, maps, itineraries, sections on food & drink, accommodation, green spaces, museums, galleries and shops; this guide is an essential resource for the inquisitive traveller.

An Architect’s Address Book is memoir in 18 chapters of the places Robert Lemon has lived, studied, and worked over the past six decades. Some are of places that he has visited many times and are important to his career.

Studying architecture and conservation, Lemon has lived in Ottawa, Paris, London, Rome, and York. His work has involved projects in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Dorset, the High Arctic, and Xi’an. Other stories are about visiting the buildings of Andrea Palladio and Carlo Scarpa in the Veneto, Arne Jacobsen and Kay Fisker in Denmark, and five iconic 20th-century houses in France, in company of colleagues.

Most of the chapters focus on someone influential to Lemon’s career; and his vast interest in food is a thread through most stories.

Alfredo Häberli, who was born in Buenos Aires in 1964 and has been working from Zurich since the 1980s, is one of the world’s most widely acclaimed product designers. Major international brands such as BMW, Camper, Georg Jensen, Iittala, Luceplan, Moroso, Schiffini, or Vitra are among his clients, for whom he has designed furniture, lamps, objects, tableware, or even entire interiors. Häberli’s work has been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout Europe and has earned him many awards over the years.

In the first of this book’s two volumes, Häberli looks back at the people, places, and objects that have influenced him and shaped his ideas and creative process. He tells of his visits with the great Italian designers, the British and American role models influencing him, and about inspiring exchanges with colleagues such as Konstantin Grcic, Jasper Morrison, or Patricia Urquiola. Moreover, his encounters with visionary entrepreneurs, and the places, locations, and objects that forged his understanding of design come into focus through text and images.

For the second volume, Häberli invited 30 personalities from his circle to ask him one question each, which he answers frankly and in good humour. These personalities include fellow designers, architects, critics, journalists, and creative directors such as Stephen Bayley, Tyler Brûlé, Francesca Molteni, and Alice Rawsthorn.

“I have been photographing the world’s sacred places since 1979. My lifelong theme in the photography is “beauty of impermanence”. I find a beauty in flower, as its life is only several days and can see the change every day. Even the stone monuments of sacred places, after a few thousand years, it starts to turn into sands just by natural elements, sun, wind and rain. I find it beautiful. People’s life is somewhat short, and knowing there is a limit of life, I see people shine within the time. As if the time polish a stone into a jewel. I see the same with people. My photographs in this show and a book, is a homage to a beautiful life“. – Kenro Izu
Kenro Izu (Osaka, 1949) is a Japanese-born photographer based in the United States. Since 1979 began his serious professional commitment to his fine art photography, travelling the world to capture the sacred ancient stone monuments in their natural settings. He travelled and documented Egypt, Syria, Jordan, England, Scotland, Mexico, France and Easter Island (Chile). He has also focused on Buddhism and Hindu monuments in South East Asia: Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam and India.
Sites featured include the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt; Stonehenge, UK; Petra, Jordan; Pyramid of Niches, Mexico; Easter Island, Chile; Angkor, Cambodia; Hampi, India; Machu Pichu, Peru; Mount Kailash, Tibet; and Tamshing, Bhutan. 

Text in English and Italian.

The best of urban exploration. JONK presents a collection of images showcasing abandoned places reclaimed by nature. Country houses, luxurious mansions, churches, farms, factories, institutions, train stations, planes, cars, tanks, trains, palaces, spaces of work, play, life, and death—all captured in the vivid process of returning to nature. A wide range of architectural styles, from classical to ultra-modern, is depicted under the influence of a wild and resurgent natural world. Poetic, powerful, and fascinating images that provoke reflection.
A leading figure in the world of urban exploration, JONK travels across the globe in search of abandoned places. Over time, his focus has shifted toward what he finds most compelling within this vast theme of abandonment: locations reclaimed by nature. There is something poetic, almost magical, in watching nature take back what was once hers—re-entering through broken windows and cracks into spaces built and then deserted by humans, until they are completely overtaken. This book contains 226 photographs taken in 14 countries.

Whisky is a story. Whisky is many stories. This book brings together the most surprising anecdotes from the world of whisky and is therefore the perfect addition to other books on distilling, tasting and travelling. Enjoy heart-warming tales about secret recipes, haunted castles, hidden distilleries, generous drunks and the first whisky tourist, and discover aspects about whisky that you’ll never find in any other book. For almost 40 years, whisky enthusiast Fernand Dacquin has been travelling through this wonderful world of whisky, in search of the most striking stories and images. Now he turns those experiences into 111 stories, in his own tongue-in-cheek style. The result is a wonderfully unusual book, published in a practical format that leaves one hand free for a good glass of whisky.

“David Mellor …was the outstanding British flatware designer of the last century and a remarkable man who … understood, and insisted upon, the essential relationship between making things and designing them” Stephen Bayley, The Guardian

“Britain’s most serious, modest and greatest post-war product designer” Sir Terence Conran David

Mellor: Design is an introduction to the designer, his works and his importance within the British design landscape, post 1950. The wider world knows him for his cutlery, which although exquisite and important, is the tip of the iceberg. To see Mellor as ‘just’ a cutlery designer is to miss his depth: his love of public projects, street furniture or Church commissions. But then to see Mellor as ‘just’ a designer is to miss his influence as a patron of architecture, or his passion for retailing and promoting British crafts. He may be the ‘King of cutlery’ but that is just the beginning.

David Mellor (1930-2009) began his career at the RCA, developing sophisticated yet simple aesthetics which he displayed through his silver smithing. His cutlery continued in the Sheffield tradition whilst using some technologically advanced manufacturing methods and radically modern designs. He also designed public street furniture in the 50s and 60s which pulled Britain’s streets into the modern era. During the late 1960s he opened a shop in Sloane Square, London. His work as a retailer helped introduce the highest professional design standards into our equipment for cooking with and eating with. It followed the trail led by Elizabeth David, introducing continental cuisine to the country, a development that today seems so natural. Beautifully and comprehensively illustrated, this book opens up the wonderful work of David Mellor to a wider audience.

The Design series is the winner of the Brand/Series Identity Category at the British Book Design and Production Awards 2009, judges said: “A series of books about design, they had to be good and these are. The branding is consistent, there is a good use of typography and the covers are superb.”

Also available: Claud Lovat Fraser ISBN: 9781851496631 GPO ISBN: 9781851495962 Peter Blake ISBN: 9781851496181 FHK Henrion ISBN: 9781851496327 David Gentleman ISBN: 9781851495955 E.McKnight Kauffer ISBN: 9781851495207 Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious ISBN: 9781851495009 El Lissitzky ISBN: 9781851496198 Festival of Britain 1951 ISBN: 9781851495337 Harold Curwen & Oliver Simon: Curwen Press ISBN: 9781851495719 Jan Le Witt and George Him ISBN: 9781851495665 Paul Nash and John Nash ISBN: 9781851495191 Rodchenko ISBN: 9781851495917 Abram Games ISBN: 9781851496778

“I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I cannot wait to visit Upton Grey to see the garden for myself.” Garden Design Journal

Gertrude Jekyll was perhaps the most important British garden designer of the 20th century. She famously argued that gardening ought to be considered a Fine Art, highlighting that it becomes a point of honour to be always striving for the best. This volume examines Jekyll’s work at Manor House, Upton Grey in Hampshire, offering an insight into her eclectic, imaginative, and inspiring art. Designed between 1908 and 1909, and once maintained by as many as nine gardeners, the garden fell into disrepair by the second half of the twentieth century, before a full and accurate restoration was carried out in the early 1980s.



Gertrude Jekyll: Her Art Restored at Upton Grey presents a visual record of the garden’s plants and layout, with original plans and photographs, as well as beautiful images of the garden taken since its restoration. There is also a fascinating chapter about Miss Jekyll’s discovery, admiration and use of Mediterranean plants. The book succeeds in illustrating exactly why Jekyll was so admired in her lifetime and why she continues to inspire and influence gardeners today.

Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: The Garden from 1902 to the Start of its Restoration in 1984 Chapter 2: The Rose Garden Chapter 3: The Dry-Stone Walls Chapter 4: The Main Herbaceous Borders Chapter 5: The Pergola, the Rose Arbour and Surrounding Garden Chapter 6: Miss Gertrude Jekyll’s Mediterranean travels and plant discoveries and their use at Upton Grey Chapter 7: The Wild Garden Chapter 8: The Art Completed Also available: The English Garden Through the Twentieth Century ISBN: 9781870673297

Julien Saudubray graduated in 2012 from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and since then has exhibited in Belgium, France, Italy and England.

This young artist excels in experimenting. After a few detours, a synthesis of his painting has now developed into a practice that he calls mechanistic. Between abstract and figurative, he continues to work on images, constantly adding layers and colours while at the same time also removing them, with the subjective being reduced to a minimum. As he says: ‘With each brushstroke I hesitate between excitement and boredom as I observe myself while painting as an absurd machine programmed according to the Beckettian formula “To miss more, to miss better”.’

Together with gallery Waldburger Wouters, Uitgeverij Snoeck found the time for a first overview of his work in a book with a challenging design. An artist’s book, but not only. With texts by Louma Salamé, director of the Fondation Boghossian and by Claire Leblanc, director of the Elsene Museum.

Text in English and French.

Micronesia, Hawaii, Polynesia, Bora Bora, Seychelles, Maldives, Australia – where does the mind go when imagining such places. Drawn from the best travel blogs and Instagram images, this book brings together the most beautiful locations near, on, or under water. From eco resorts to remote, pristine islands; from sailing on ultra-blue oceans to diving in translucent waters; in aerial and underwater photography, the focus is on finding paradise. Whether thinking about a trip or longing for sun and sand, this book is where those daydreams begin.

Looking for 5 classic places to eat a Francesinha?

What are the 5 coolest spots to grab a coffee? 

Where in Porto can you find 5 projects by Eduardo Souto de Moura?

What are the 5 quirkiest sights in the city?

Which are the 5 best museums for curious visitors?

Visit Portugal’s second city in the footsteps of the sisters Joana and Sofia de Lacerda. They were born and raised in Porto. Through their website they share their pick of places to stay, and places to visit in their hometown, and the rest of Portugal.

In this guide, they have compiled their local expertise for visitors who want to discover the lesser-known spots of Porto, and for locals who want to get to know their city even better. 500 addresses and facts in total, presented in original lists of 5.

Includes maps and an index.

In Belgium for Foodies
Femke Vandevelde leads you to the best places in Belgium to eat and drink. Femke is a food writer and restaurant critic (for, i.a., De Morgen
Magazine). She inherited a passion for great food and quality products from her grandmother, and as a journalist she is always in the know about what’s happening in the Belgian culinary scene. In this guide she shares the places every foodie should visit in Belgium, from amazing food shops to extraordinary dining locations, and from top restaurants to simple local specialities. Discover such experiences as:

– Vineyards that are worth the trip
– the best Japanese restaurants
– restaurants where chefs eat
– the best places for Liege-style meatballs and much more.

Hidden Malta gives visitors an opportunity to explore the hidden gems of the Maltese archipelago. Beyond the thriving main streets that attract the tourist crowds, there are so many other places waiting to be discovered, including churches, small museums, and places to eat, where you can meet and connect with locals. The guide also covers Malta’s many annual festivals and traditions, with historical re-enactments, wine, beer and music festivals, as well as food fairs held in various parts of the islands throughout the year.
In this alternative guide to Malta, licensed tourist guide Vincent Zammit pays tribute to the islands that he knows intimately, choosing to highlight places that are not well-known or frequented by visitors to Malta, giving them the opportunity to discover these well-kept secrets and the Malta that he loves.
Also available: Hidden Belgium, Hidden Scotland, Hidden Holland, Hidden Brooklyn, Hidden Tenerife. Discover the series: the500hiddensecrets.com

Nostalgic London is the first book in Luster’s second spinoff from the successful The 500 Hidden Secrets series. Following the Hidden
guides on regions, there will now also be themed guides, focussing on a specific subject in or a specific side of a city or region.

The first guide in this series will lead you to all the places in London that evoke nostalgia. It’s a guide for visitors who aren’t looking for the newest trendy places-to-be per se, but who are instead more interested in the places where time seems to have stood still, or addresses with a timeless, classic vibe. Author Ellie Walker-Arnott shares nostalgic addresses and places in London, such as:

– romantic ruins
– traditional tearooms
– iconic department stores
– spots in the footsteps of the Beatles
– and much more.

“If you really want to get under the skin of a city, the 500 Hidden Secrets series, which covers a number of cities from Havana to Ghent, all written by people who know the cities inside out, is ideal. It’s an innovative and refreshing take on the traditional travel guide.” The Independent

Where are the 5 best places to eat like a Portuguese? Which are the 5 best restaurants for Petiscos? Where can you find the nicest salons and barber shops? Which are the 5 best places to see Azulejos? Where will you find the most unique lifts and elevators? The best Lisbon area beaches? The 500 Hidden Secrets of Lisbon reveals these good-to-know places and many more. An affectionate and informed guide to Lisbon, written by a true local.

This is a book for visitors who want to avoid the usual tourist spots and for residents who are keen to track down the city’s best-kept secrets.

From his childhood in Melbourne, David Neilson (b. 1946) has been motivated by his twin loves of mountaineering and photography. He has made multiple expeditions to southwest Tasmania, Patagonia, and Antarctica, and published critically acclaimed photo books about each of these places; he has also carried his camera into the Karakoram, and the Alps of Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. In this oversize volume, Neilson recounts his lifelong quest to capture the mountain light and encourage the preservation of wild places. His most spectacular images of jagged peaks, massive glaciers, and hardy wildlife are reproduced as duotones of the highest quality. A number of vertical double-page images even invite readers to turn the book sideways to immerse themselves in the mountain heights. Chasing the Mountain Light will delight all lovers of the outdoors.

This revised and updated guide is journalist Derek Blyth’s personal ode to the most beautiful and intriguing spots in what he calls “the world’s strangest country”. He shares hundreds of places to go, things to do and interesting facts, presented in original lists such as: art in unexpected places, haunting war cemeteries, roadside fries stands, unique shop interiors, and lovely secret gardens. You’ll discover bizarre but fascinating places like an abandoned car factory and a dreamy castle full of hidden messages, as well as amazing contemporary architecture and the most authentic cafes to drink a Belgian beer. Hidden Belgium is the perfect companion for those who wish to explore Belgium off the beaten track, in all its splendor and quirkiness. Even long-time residents are bound to discover many hidden gems thanks to this one-of-a-kind guide. 

Also available: Hidden Holland, Hidden Scotland, Hidden Brooklyn, Hidden Tenerife, Hidden Malta. Discover the series: the500hiddensecrets.com

What are the best burger joints in San Francisco? Which local craft breweries are worth visiting? Where should you go to find the coolest surf gear? The 500 Hidden Secrets of San Francisco is the perfect guide for anyone who’s keen to explore the city’s best-kept secrets. It guides the reader to the places not typically included in tourist guides. Like a secret fairy door in Golden Gate Park or the truly steepest hills in the city. At the same time, it also lists fantastic places frequented by San Francisco residents, like where to shop for local goods and antiques, or where to go for a fabulous brunch and the best craft cocktails in the city. Packed with hundreds of places to go, things to do, and good-to-know facts about the city, The 500 Hidden Secrets of San Francisco will help you make the most of your visit to one of the United States’ coolest towns.

Discover the series at the500hiddensecrets.com

Hidden Holland is an alternative travel guide with inspiring stories about approximately 380 different and unexpected places all around the country. This guide entreats you to leave the beaten path, pointing you to locations that many people didn’t even know existed. Such as a forest full of miniature waterworks, a cellar with a mummy in a small Frisian church and secret NATO headquarters.

This guide introduces you to the lesser-known charms of the Netherlands through surprising places presented in original lists, such as: 5 artworks in unexpected locations, the 7 most authentic pubs, 5 cool repurposed industrial heritage sites, 6 local specialities you should try, and much more.

“A collection of glamorous lodgings offering what Scarabeo Camp in Morocco calls “dusty luxury.” — Remodelista

“Celebrates the solitude of the desert and extraordinary places to stay.” — Wallpaper
The desert offers the great benefits of silence, slowness and space. These startling landscapes and awe-inspiring vistas can only be found in a few places in the world. Accompanied by stunning photography, this book bundles together 40 dreamy locations in one volume and shows the most luxurious and special overnight stays the desert has to offer. Get insider tips on travel to the Sahara in Morocco, the salt flats (Salar de Uyuni) in Bolivia or the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, among others.