WAD 23

A set of posters released in 1986.

XAD 23

Another set of posters, from 1990.

PAD 23

A set of postcards (released in 1986, re-released in 1992)

PAD 905 / WAD 905

A set of eight Pixies postcards (PAD) and posters (WAD) of the photos from Doolittle.

XAD 0001

A 1990 calendar.

FAD 23

1993 poster set.

XAD2020

A 1993 calendar.

Minty 23

Modern calendar.

Exhibition/Exposition: 249 x 249 mm, 80 pages, 140 color pictures, with text in French and English (not very long, 5000 words or so, but very interesting). Includes interviews with bands. Sleeve in 4-color printing tracing paper. Note that the first edition is less comprehensive than the second.

Laurent Lapierre compares the two books: "I used to hear that the recent This Rimy River was far better, but it's only a part of the reality: I found too much color in This Rimy River - the style of Exhibition is sober, but some illustrations seem better printed - and This Rimy River shows nothing from before 1988."

The normal edition of This Rimy River contains Vaughan Oliver's graphic works spanning 88-94. It features lots of colour pictures on various 4AD sleeves that include: Pixies, Pale Saints, Breeders, Michael Brook, Heidi Berry, etc; as well as other designs made by Chris Bigg and Paul McMenamin who, together with Vaughan, are v23. The book also has short interviews with artists that comment their feelings and reactions to v23's work.

There's also a super-limited 400 copy edition; the artbooks site says "The original page designs have been overprinted with two new layers of artwork. The first overprint, in black, utilises enlarged details of archival artwork which virtually obliterate the existing illustrations and text. This, in turn, is overlaid with one large word per page, running bottom to top in a translucent bronze ink."

This Rimy River - Limited Edition

I believe the standard This Rimy River book is now out-of-print but can still be obtained ex-stock from some places: try amazon in the US and Dillons arts bookstore in Covent Garden, London, UK (8 Long Acre, London, WC2E 9LH, +44 171 836 1359). Walzner Artbooks might have a good supply since they specialize in Shinro Otake. 4AD mailorder will also have copies (see Mail Addresses). Arcana Books in California keeps a nice supply of 4AD-related books (see Mail Addresses). First-hand copies are priced around £30 or $50. In London, Shipleys on Charring Cross Road might be worth trying.

The limited edition This Rimy River was been selling rather slowly; copies might be available firsthand for around $200. Try Artbooks or 4AD mail order for copies of this. Someone recently wanted to sell his secondhand copy for $400. However, he said he'd only ever looked at the book with rubber gloves on so that price may be worth it to all you SM'ers.

Exhibition/Exposition was available in two editions. Get the second edition if possible. No sources on that one, but again shouldn't be too difficult to find. I got mine for £20 but might be more expensive now.

Tokyo Salamander and other Shinro Ohtake books are available from artbooks. Price on application, but in November 1997 it was $180.

The offical line from 4AD's Richard Holtzman is that they "are simply moving into their own space. They will continue to work on 4AD material and they will continue to do their own outside work. Over the years as the popularity of v23 grew so has the amount of work they have done on the outside". But it's noticable that 4AD are increasingly working with other designers now, a trend that will probably continue.

The fantastic Creative Review magazine included the following paragraph in their December 1998 edition:

"Despite splitting from record label 4AD recently, Vaughan Oliver and Chris Bigg's V23 studio continues to create beautiful, ethereal CD covers: 12 Rounds' Pleasant Smell (shown) is due out at Christmas. Oliver and Bigg had to leave the in-house studio at 4AD after the company was forced to "downsize", although Oliver had always worked there on a freelance basis. Now set up on its own, V23 is working on books, CDs and, showing there's no hard feelings, a 4AD catalogue."

"A lot of words about the history of 23 envelope/v23 and the guys who work there and some interesting info about: 'Oliver's most recent venture, with the Los Angeles production company Satellite Films, has resulted in v23's first television commercials for clients Microsoft, Converse and Sony."

Nigel Grierson

Was the photography half of the "23 Envelope" label with Vaughan Oliver; now works for see Tomboy Films as a director for corporate customers.

Beverley Carruthers

The photograph on the cover of His Name is Alive's Livonia. Aside from a few appearances in v23 calendars, her only other album cover is for Area's Agate Lines, an Italian best-of that was designed by Chris Biggs of v23. Andrew Massey said in May 1998: "I've found one article on her in a magazine called Image (I think) which is either the RPS (Royal Photographic Society) or George Eastman House magazine from years back. I can't remember which one it was - I think it was an RPS magazine but I know I read the only copy I managed to locate at George Eastman House (hence my confusion - I typically have to cross the Atlantic to read a British magazine). There was also a couple of pictures by her in Vogue many years ago too - Madonna with child pictures...but they are not up to the standard/quality of Livonia."

Kevin Westerberg

Gertrude Kasebier

[19th Century Photographer]

Melodie McDaniel

Michelle Turrani

Mike Folliot

Mojave 3 Ask me Tomorrow

Terry Dowling

Clan Of Xymox and Lonely as an Eyesore limited edition prints.

Shinro Ohtake

Throwing Muses House Tornado. Kristin Hersh's Hips and Makers. See artbooks for more information and articles on Shinro. He's also done a book with Vaughan Oliver called Toyko Salamander.

Simon Larbalestier

Simon Larbalestier took photographs for the Pixies covers; he's got a monograph called The Art and Craft of Collage. Simon sells his prints through his web site.

Jason Love

Breeders covers

Jim Friedman

Lush covers