Taschen puts out world-class books and Ron Robinson knows how to throw a really cool celebration, so it was a fantastic signing party for the new “Surfing: 1778-2015” book at the Ron Robinson store in Santa Monica, California on June 9th. The giant Taschen “Surfing” tome is unreal, with over 900 incredible images and 592 monumental pages, featuring 200+ years of surf history, legendary watermen, surf culture and good times. The people at Taschen really did a great job on the book, along with author, Jim Heimann, who spent over three and a half years researching and compiling this powerful collection of essays and photos. The book launch turned into a great reunion party, and I saw a bunch of people that I haven’t seen in a while like Rory Russell, Bob Milner, Andy Moses, Anthony Friedkin, Don Miller and Craig Stecyk III. Thank you to the Robinson family for hosting such an outstanding event. Get a look at “Surfing” and grab one for your collection. Much love to everybody. Peace out.”
Words by Jeff Ho
Photos by Dan Levy and Terri Craft
About “Surfing”
“SURFING”
The sport of kings
This platinum tome is the most comprehensive visual history of surfing to date, marking a major cultural event as much as a publication. Following three and a half years of meticulous research, it brings together more than 900 images to chart the evolution of surfing as a sport, a lifestyle, and a philosophy.
The book is arranged into five chronological chapters, tracing surfing culture from the first recorded European contact in 1778 by Captain James Cook to the global and multi-platform phenomenon of today. Utilizing institutions, collections, and photographic archives from around the world, and with accompanying essays by the world’s top surf journalists, it celebrates the sport on and off the water, as a community of 20 million practitioners and countless more devotees, and as a leading influence on fashion, film, art, and music.
An unrivaled tribute to the breadth, complexity, and richness of surfing, this book is a must-have for any serious player on the surfing scene and anybody who aspires to the surfing lifestyle. As one surfing scribe has declared, “There has never been a book like this, and there will never be another one again.”
The Editor
Cultural anthropologist and graphic design historian Jim Heimann is Executive Editor for TASCHEN America, and author of numerous books on architecture, pop culture, and the history of the West Coast, Los Angeles, and Hollywood. His unrivaled private collection of ephemera has been featured in museum exhibitions around the world and in dozens of books.
https://www.taschen.com
