Rare books on fashion, architecture, design, art
and original material from the early years of Maison Martin Margiela

Late in 2013, a new feed appeared on Instagram. The first post was an image from a rare photobook by Dutch photographer and choreographer Hans van Manen. Subsequent posts featured an eclectic mix of printed material on architecture, fashion and interior design, artists’ books, magazines, lookbooks, art catalogues, and other ephemera: offbeat and imaginative, it was clearly the product of a singular vision. Started as a personal project, rarebooksparis is now a full-time concern for its owner. The Instagram feed has over 30,000 followers, and a growing reputation as a go-to site for exquisitely crafted, hard-to-find books and ephemera, most of it fashion related. The owner’s identity isn’t a huge secret, but nor is he interested in making it public. He runs rarebooksparis from his flat in Paris’s 19th arondissement, in an as-yet ungentrified neighbourhood. This will be the first public presentation of Rare Books Paris.