New York, New York

Bob Eckstein clearly loves books, this illustrative sequence is a commission by The New Yorker to basically draw his favourite bookstores, with each he creates a dialogue; often with a star attraction. They are composed of a typical street scene with urbanites and traffic drifting past, and some people stopping to look in as you do. All showing the colourful array of books reflecting in the large plate glass double fronted windows with the slightest suggestion of the layout inside. The narratives feature many recorded frank and funny moments. He’s chosen famous people worth mentioning like Madonna and Sean Penn, Robin Williams, Philip Roth and Liza Minnelli who collide with punk kid fans, blackouts and explosions and daggers, daggers in the visual sense of the word. However, what touches mostly is the kindness of strangers. After a nearby asbestos explosion, customers exited the store in a panic without paying for their books. A few days later some customers returned and paid for the books they had fled with. I hope you enjoy this series as much as I did.

Bob Eckstein The New Yorker