Welcome to Josef Chladek’s virtual bookshelf — a personal archive of photobooks, art books, and printed matter built since 2012. The shelf below holds more than 3,000 books, displayed as spines you can hover to reveal each cover. The collection ranges from contemporary photography to rare and vintage titles, with notes, scans, and details for every book.
Browsing is free; a one-time donation unlocks high-resolution spreads, larger reading views, and access to private shelves. Hover the spines below to start exploring, or scroll down for the cover grid and curated picks. Enjoy!
The Photobook: A History — Vol. 1
The Photobook: A History — Vol. 2
The Photobook: A History — Vol. 3
Most valuable
John Thomson & Adolphe Smith - Street Life in London with Permanent Photographic Illustrations
Walter Gropius & Karl Nierendorf - Staatliches Bauhaus Weimar 1919-1923
Yutaka Takanashi - Toshi-he & Tōkyōjin nōto (Towards the city & Notebook People of Tokyo, 高梨 豊 都市へ, 東京人ノート)
Nobuyoshi Araki - Xerox Photobook #15 (荒木経惟 ゼロックス写真帳 #15)