Walther König Art Books

Do you judge a city by the quality of its art book stores? Bill and I do.

Paris has the superb bookshop in the Centre Pompidou. But Berlin has Walther König, at Burgstrasse 27, an Aladdin's cave of art book treasures. König are also publishers.

This front window display promises good things within.

 And the promise is immediately kept with this floor to ceiling display of books about Gerhard Richter.

View on our left as we enter the shop. "Bill, I think we're going to be here awhile."

 A wall of new and highlighted photography books.

 This room behind a locked glass door contains their rarest, most expensive books -- always my favourite room in any bookstore.

 This looks like a display of Marion Goodman Gallery's catalogue of Gerhard Richter's latest abstract paintings -- the ones in Corinna Belz's recent documentary Gerhard Richter Painting. These look like they've been hand-painted by the artist.

 Floor to ceiling wall of books on painting. I had to climb a ladder to get my hands on a copy of Philip Guston's Roma. It is completely out of print. I'd given up expecting to find one for myself. But here it was!

 I could have spent the whole afternoon by this second wall of photography books,

but Bill and I had business elsewhere and he led me back toward the front door. We shall return!