Beyond Words was a very special photographic bookshop where one could spend hours browsing (let's face it, I have never managed to leave empty handed...) through the latest photo publications of classics like b&w Paris by Doisneau but also the same Doisneau book full of colour photographs from his road trip through America. If I have not flicked throuth that book I would have never known that he took brilliant colour pictures as well!
And I think that is the point - flicking through first 5 pages of a publication on Amazon does not give you the same flavour for it as it would if you were doing it in a bookshop. Simon and I, we actually made a conscious effort to buy our photography books from this particular bookshop, not from Amazon or big highstreet retailers. They were 10 £ more expensive there than on line, so what? You got the pleasure of seeing them all in real life, appreciating the quality of paper and print, comparing them with the other publications, having a reason for a little trip into town, to be dragged out from in front of our computers.
Pity that even people who worked for BW could not sometimes understand what is the purpose of such business. When I asked a guy who worked for them if he buys his books from BW after being able to browse through them at work (well, I was secretly hoping that maybe he has some kind of dicount I would be able to join in) he replied that no, he gets them from Amazon as even with his work discount they are still cheaper on line. Yes, but you would not have even known about them you fool, without having a place like Beyond Words as a reference point!
Our last buy at Cockburn Street shop premises was a beautiful book of Jeff Wall's work, now Beyond Words could be accessed on line, HERE.
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