Home to three illustrated book imprints plus handling domestic and foreign distribution for over sixty art book publishers, Antique Collectors’ Club has established itself as home to a wide array of beautifully crafted tomes. Though diverse in the breadth of their subject matter as they span the globe with stories from all corners of the world, the books all share a deep reverence for the art of the printed page. Whether showcasing the striking portraiture of Terry O’Neill or a tongue-in-chic look at the best-dressed dogs of New York City, the books featured in every Antique Collectors’ Club catalogue share a joie de vivre that speaks all languages.
First established in 1966, Antique Collectors’ Club began with a print magazine, Antique Collecting, and as the demand for information grew, ACC published its first book, The Price Guide to Antique Furniture, in 1968. The book has since been completely revised three times, and remains in print to this day, serving a dedicated audience. With the success of the book and the magazine, ACC expanded into distribution and book publishing to provide its audience with the content they craved.
As a distributor, ACC handles an international list that represents every continent except Antarctica. With a wealth of content as diverse as humanity itself, ACC brings it all together under one roof. From jewelry and textiles to food and wine, from gardening and landscapes to interior design, from hotels and cars to masterpieces of indigenous art, for over 45 years, ACC has delivered high quality subjects in beautiful tomes. More recently ACC has launched tow imprints: ACC Editions, which is home to more modern titles that focus on fashion and photography; and Garden Art Press, which was created to house the ever-growing wealth of garden and plant focused books.
As John Brancati, Vice President of ACC Distribution North America, reveals, “Sales have increased every year since the recession began in 2009. We are continuing to grow and find new customers but getting to them is different. There aren’t bookstores any longer. We have to find them in different ways, through special markets such as garden centers in Westchester and the Hamptons. They take books on not just gardening, but on things like Tibetan art and interior design. Price is no object for these customers. What has changed is that merchants have realized they need to keep shoppers in the story. The books appeal to husbands as they wives shop the store, and they get to peruse books on subjects like Aston Martin and polo horses.”
It is just this ability to adapt to the changes in the marketplace that allow ACC to flourish at a time when the global economy is struggling to adjust to the massive shifts taking place. Knowing their market is essential to this, for it is in the ability to partner with likeminded companies that keeps ACC in the forefront of the public eye. This August, ACC Editions released Polo: Equine Warriors, a collection of portraits by Bob Tabor, which will be unveiled at the grand re-opening of the Ralph Lauren Polo store at Macy’s Herald Square, New York. Tabor will also publish a second book with ACC Editions this fall titled Horse Whisperings, which meet the subject on their terms and allow their souls to be transposed on to the photograph, which we may then contemplate in silence and privacy as we consider the photograph.
It is this meditative quality that marks the photography book as an objet d’art, whose value is only further enhanced by the digital divide. As people acclimate to the disposability of digital culture, the photography book stands taller and prouder as a lasting piece of the larger culture. As Brancati observes, “Digital capability is not there in an economic way for publishers or consumers. Apps works for things like cookbooks and kids books, but not for art and photography books. There are no double page spreads in a Nook. The people who want information may be happy with a reader, but for art books are for people looking for inspiration or to convey the status of the object. There are people who buy books to decorate according to size and color, while there are others who collect simply for the pleasure of it. The book is an object that says something about the people who live in the house.”
Indeed, it is the book in all its glory, a source of knowledge, of spirit and style, a place for quiet repose, which has allowed ACC to grow and flourish over the past five decades. It is now, at a time when so many move away from the printed page that ACC holds it place, a repository for the wide array of art, beauty, and culture that makes life worth celebrating.