markrich

Eugène’s photography collection of Paris is an absolute gem. This title came to us only today, although to be fair it’s been out a little while. Thank the stars for second hand book shops!

There are a few good concert festival seasons in Europe. The BBC Proms in London during the summer is one of the best.

The later part of the year, however, belongs to the Strings of Autumn festival in Prague.

It would seem the rivalry between the German sportswear providers Adidas an Puma was brought onto the football field today in a friendly match to heal the wounds of an historical rift between the two firms founded as a single family business and then split between two rival brothers.

There’s not much to love about the mystique of train travel across unknown lands, soaking in the atmosphere, enjoying conversation with new people and sharing a meal while watching the countryside zip by.

It would seem wonderful photo books are coming our way quite often now and this is clearly the best we’ve had so far.

Berlin is not so much a coffee table book, but a book which could be the coffee table. It’s truly is huge, heavy and a joy to have.

This one has been a long time coming, but as usual there are always some ostriches around with their heads in the sand suddenly surprised by the news. This time its the EU wide ban on the old fashioned incandescent light bulbs that have lit our homes for a few generations but are hopelessly inefficient, and expensive to keep replacing.

Leica isn’t a firm which releases new models often. It’s usually content to sit on the fringe of the camera owning crowds with a dedicated and fearlessly loyal bunch of users and with much justification too. Optically their lenses are among the finest around and their expensive camera bodies don’t drop in value as much as their other brands. Once upon a time before Japanese firms became dominant it was German cameras which the world wanted and Leica is one of the few which have survived.