Take Ivy - Take Two

In the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge...

is a book publisher I wish I knew a year ago.

They've been busy working on a translated re-issue of, Take Ivy.

Their version is $24.95. I paid $200. Some paid more.

I can't read mine but I can read theirs.

And it's an amazing read. (click on images to read)

I was asked to review the book. I thought of scanning it.

But it's cheap and it's out there. Or will be soon.

I sat down this afternoon with Wes Del Val and Craig Cohen of powerHouse Books in their Brooklyn offices. They're the guys behind the re-issue of Take Ivy and they're hero's stars in my book. The first printing is 10,000 copies of which 6,000 have been pre-sold. In my business we call that selling to a narrow but deep niche. You get that Assouline?

It's hard to go wrong at $24.95 (16.47 on Amazon) and I take my hat off to Wes and Craig for not slapping a $100 price tag on this. I tried to take some of the mystery out of Take Ivy by scanning all of the images back in December of 2008. Some fashion folks were critical of this. They couldn't believe I would go to the trouble of getting the book and then sharing it - for free - with anyone. I guess I'm a Socialist at heart but this book brought The Trad out of an Ivy backwater to readers around the world. I'm damned proud of that.

There is nothing like holding this little book and flipping through the pictures but that's only half of it. The translation adds a charming and insightful description of how we Americans dressed at one time. With taste and style. Maybe, God willing, this book will help bring taste and style back home where they belong.