There is a mythical peasant market in the Luberon, a sublime region of southeastern France. It’s Coustellet where every Sunday morning and Wednesday afternoon, 40 local farmers bring their products, each of which can give rise to a real culinary orgasm. More surprising still, on the other side of the main street; a bookstore of provocatively named: John Doe Books. A place of wonders with a rare character. Hans Silvester made the portrait of the owner, Olivier Techer. He introduced himself:
“More than thirty years ago I opened my first bookshop in Bonnieux, in agreement with the La Gare gallery created by Françoise and Marc Bucchianeri. At that time, running constantly after the great papers and artists’ books, I was little concerned by photography books. Apart from the clearly identified books that crossed the field of avant-gardes. And that was enough to experience beautiful emotions by finding for a few francs a copy of “Easy” Man Ray in an obscure Catholic bookstore, or “Metal” Germaine Krull in a country Emmaus , or in a lot of books in bulk brought by a second-hand dealer, the “Paris” of Moï Ver. But nothing exciting finally. I needed more curiosity, a fresh look, to clear new territories …
The trigger came ten years later when I met Dirk Bakker in Paris. He was then one of the few booksellers specialized in this field and he constantly brought back from the Netherlands many books not found in France. We became friens and opened together a small library-gallery, in the basement, near the Bastille. In addition to photography books, there was a large section dedicated to Beat and psychedelic culture. And this rather secret place played, at that time, a non-negligible role in the world of photography. On the occasion of some exhibitions (and some amazing openings), Antoine d’Agata, Max Pam, Danny Lyons, Paulo Nozolino, Machiel Botman, René Groebli and many others. And also some hard-working customers like Michèle and Michel Auer, tireless and always on the lookout for a book they would not have known. For all the interest was there: to search, among all the books that have used photography, and in all fields of publishing, the most remarkable works and, for many, still ignored. In this perspective, then appeared many tools for amateurs and collectors. The publications (by Martin Parr, Horacio Fernandez, Manfred Heiting …), have really initiated a new bibliophile with multiple lines of research and opened a market with, obviously, its fragilities and its uncertainties …
With Dirk, the adventure continued for a few years. Then, driven by other desires, we both went elsewhere … After a few zigzags and a long stay in Berlin, never abandoning the bookstore, back to Provence. In Coustellet this time, a few steps from Gordes and Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, and under the name of John Doe Books. A small shop that will soon expand with a gallery space and that offers a collection of documentation on the history of photography and photographers, with new books and used books, to which is added a selection of rare books and signed books (in particular there is the complete catalog of Pierre Bessard who published printed works in small numbers and accompanied by original prints, with Joan Fontcuberta, Bill Henson, Zhipeng Lin, Guy Tillim, Michael Kenna Liu Bolin, Pieter Hugo , Alain Laboile, Xu Yong …). ”
Olivier Techer
John Doe Books is visible on the net. You can visit the shop at this address: https://www.ebay.fr/str/johndoebooks
For any contact, please write to [email protected]
