To Have And To Hold #4 | Department Stores

Inside:

To Have And To Hold is a beautifully produced publication that presents the reader with selections of that most ephemeral of objects, the paper bag. 

Crying? No, i've just got something in my eye, that's all. Sad, about silly department stores, don't be daft. Ok..ok, I do miss the whirr of the escalators and those tinny tannoy announcements, and yes, of course i miss the kitchenware treasure trove of Habitat and, yeah, if I could click my fingers and be in Liberty's textile hall, i would do it right now. But, shopping, it's all online now isn't it? Easy, odourless, hassle-free and you don't even have to leave the house... Ok, yes, i'm crying because i miss department stores, happy now?

The fourth issue of To have & To Hold takes us back to the days of the rapidly disappearing department store. As editor Tim Summer mentions in the blurb, this was a time of the logotype rather than the ubiquitous brand, and of a more innocent design era. More innocent it may have been, but some of these logos are iconic and have outlasted the building fronts' they adorned - Miss Selfridge (now online at ASOS), Habitat (@Argos), Debenhams (now owned by BooHoo) - each one is etched into our consumer subconscious. Spanning over 100 years, representing the department store in all of it forms (from Harrod's to Lea's of Leicester), and introduced by cultural historian Annabel Pollen, this collection is, for us, the best yet. 

We love this zine, and yes, part of that is a nostalgic response, but largely, this beautifully assembled title acts as a permanent record of the ephemeral - and something we can return to.

Expect:

To Have & To Hold is a series of editions exploring a collection of paper bag ephemera from a bygone era.

Size: 148 x 210mm

Pages: 72

Edition: 500 (hand-numbered)