Denim books

[Duke Mantee]

Ta-daaaa!

[Maynard Friedman]

[MJF9]

@Duke Mantee you mean you never got it free too? 

Edited October 13, 2020 by MJF9

[buler]

Seems my 558 may be a 1961, since it has the "Every Garment Guaranteed".

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by buler

[MJF9]

My freebies landed this week

Glad the blue outweighs the red on derby day

[Duke Mantee]

You won’t have time for football young man - you need to get the head down and get studying

[MJF9]

I'll be ready for the open book quiz today Duke

Any time apart from 12.30 to 14.15 when I need to focus on royal blue

[Dr_Heech]

So, for those of us who decided to purchase a copy of the new Levis denim jackets book, what are your thoughts?

And for those of you who have got hold of the reprint 501XX book, again l would love to know the same 

[Fooleo]

I got the jacket book + 501 book reprint, and am thrilled with them. Though they were not cheap, I would say the price is fair considered there is quite possibly millions of dollars worth of denim in there that would be nearly impossible to see in such detail, short of traveling across the world to Japan. In that sense they are just as much an art book as it is reference guide/text book for vintage denim. I also think the fact that they both have full english captions/translations makes them totally worth it

[Dr_Heech]

Thankyou @Fooleo - yes agreed worth it for the sheer volume of rare pieces which are clearly photographed, and the info on factories and associated numbers is an added gem. 

[Duke Mantee]

I’m very happy with both books Doc, I’m glad I have them.

I did say earlier that I find them a bit ‘lightweight’ (lacking detail in both pics and words) and I stick by that, however they are still great reference manuals.

[Dr_Heech]

I agree to an extent. I tend to read in between the lines as much as the info provided. Adding/updating existing knowledge with visual references is always helpful and the jackets book is certainly more lnsightful than its jean predecessor. 

[Chris T]

18 hours ago, Dr_Heech said:

So, for those of us who decided to purchase a copy of the new Levis denim jackets book, what are your thoughts?

And for those of you who have got hold of the reprint 501XX book, again l would love to know the same 

I did get the jeans book - thanks for sticking your neck out a little and recommending it despite the price @Dr_Heech.

Its a lovely book - and it really is fantastic to have the collection of old jeans' pictures in a book as opposed to seeing them online and then them vanishing into the ether again...

I have an old Lightning mag of vintage jeans (also was pretty pricey actually)... and that I found brilliant for showing the details and the blues and shades of whites and wear - and I still look back to those. It was also looking at some old pictures of chore coats and their colours from threads on here - posted by Mr Broark and Mr Bartleby and others (thank you very much) that also persuaded me to order the book, as I find the look of some old denim so amazingly good - wabisabi eh..

Agree the info is brief but still nice to have - (and in English too..) I'd not opened it when it arrived (saved it for the weekend after busy workweek) so I'm still to look at it more closely - really looking forward to that.

[Flash]

Not really denim related but not bad for £1 

 

[Dr_Heech]

How many blank pages does it have?

(If it's anything like that last little book)

 

Edited December 1, 2020 by Dr_Heech
..

[Flash]

@Dr_Heech Lol , none .... I've fell for that trick before 

Edited December 1, 2020 by Flash

[Foxy2]

A special edition from Avant.

[suchislife]

 

The Denim Manual, it's actually a really cool book. I wish it was bigger in size, there is a lot of information on some of the pages and nice artwork too.
https://fashionary.org/products/denim-manual

Edited May 1, 2022 by suchislife

[MJF9]

@suchislife thanks for posting... would you mind adding a pic of the table of contents so we can see what's included?  Cheers

[lance]

It does look like a cool read, thanks suchislife!

[beautiful_FrEaK]

39 minutes ago, MJF9 said:

@suchislife thanks for posting... would you mind adding a pic of the table of contents so we can see what's included?  Cheers

Just click the link, plenty to see about the content (more than you usually would see)

[MJF9]

Ahhhhh yes but it's not just a click... it's click and then also scroll bringing increased complexity 

 

[unders]

Picked this up a few days ago and I highly recommend it. 3 chapters in. Obviously it’s focussed on the blue stuff rather than denim or jeans, and it’s fascinating. I’ve learnt about indigo in the ancient world (as the second most sought after dye, following purple shellfish) through its journey West on the Silk Road. Now covering the decline of woad as the East India shipping companies monopolised the trade routes. 

It’s been around for ages so you’re probably already aware of it, but thought worth sharing. 

Anyway, it’s great. Some pics:

[Talan]

By the way, does anyone know any examples of fiction books whose characters are denimheads? Definitely can't be courtroom dramas like Grisham's, where the characters are lawyers wearing sharp tailored suits.

[Maynard Friedman]

^ William Gibson’s ‘Pattern Recognition’.

[indigoeagle]

What was the initial reason for dyeing the cloth of Nimes?
So that stains can't be seen?
Or to designate the wearer to a certain social class?
Religious or auspicious reasons?

[AnOldFolkSong]

My Library

[Dr_Heech]

I spy some denim books in amongst that lot 

[Dr_Heech]

I'm sure there was another denim books/magazines thread, one that had more pages/more contributions?

Well anyway here's my little lot, mostly Levis/vintage denim related but a couple of flight jacket books too ( l also have the John Chapman flight jacket CD). Feel free to ask away if there's anything you want to see more of - FYI the top one is The researchers guide to the 501XX (all in Japanese) and the third one down is 501XX - The evolution of the jean, which was a freebie when you purchased a pair of lvc back in 2009/2010.

Edit: I've added another pic - a top shot showing the front covers.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by Dr_Heech
To add a pic

[Maynard Friedman]

Good denim library there Charlie. I got that 501 - Evolution of the Jean free from The Three Threads in Shoreditch just before it closed down (and reopened as an Edwin shop), no Levi’s purchase required!

Is the Ed Cray book good, I’ve been mulling over buying it for a while?