A–Z of Record Shop Bags: 1940s to 1990s

Review\nTrunk has unwrapped the creativity of a forgotten industry. Often candy-striped pink or grey, these bags, that protected precious LP records, were often repurposed from sweet shops. Others are stamped with bubbly 70s fonts or punchy graphics. Each individually recalls a forgotten independent business and in turn the changing face of our shops and society. ― GreyScape\nJonny Trunk’s extensive collection of record shop bags weaves together a less conventional history of British music, celebrating the shops where musicians and fans bought and sold their first LPs...His new book is a love letter to these forgotten spaces, accompanied by a juicy selection of anecdotes and little known facts about the record shops and their bags. -- Elfie Thomas ― It's Nice That\nA–Z Record Shop Bags doesn’t make any grand pseudo-theoretical claims about hauntology or lost culture but it doesn’t need to; it constructs its world entirely through practice. Consequently, as well as being a lot of fun, it is a much more useful document of pop culture than other works which take themselves more seriously. -- Tessa Norton ― The Wire\nWeirdly nostalgic, these seemingly throwaway things access Proustian memories (at least for certain generations) of Saturday mornings browsing in the record shop bins. -- Edwin Heathcote ― Financial Times\nFeaturing over 550 graphically arresting record-shop bags, plus informative, humorous histories of the stores and their famous staff, this book reveals a previously undocumented side of British popular culture
This exhaustive collection of record-store bags provides a unique perspective on record shopping in the UK over the last century, bringing together over 500 incredible bags (some possibly the only surviving examples) to document the fascinating story of British high street record shopping. Bags from famous chains such as NEMS (where the Beatles were customers), Our Price and Virgin (the amazingly rare Roger Dean bags) sit alongside designs from independent stores run by eccentric enthusiasts. Packed with stories such as the first Jewish ska retailer, the record sellers who started Britain’s premier soccer league, famous staff (David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Morrissey) and equally infamous owners, these anecdotes of mythical vinyl entrepreneurs will entertain and delight.
With vinyl record sales at their highest for decades (outselling CDs in the US), this publication acts as an amazing insight into the history, culture and visual language of record collecting. Following Own Label, Wrappers Delight and Auto Erotica, A–Z of Record Shop Bags is the next book in the series by Jonny Trunk and FUEL, examining overlooked aspects of our collective past. Jon Savage, author of the classic 1981 punk history England’s Dreaming, provides a foreword.
Nostalgia enthusiast Jonny Trunk founded his record label Trunk Records in 1995, which specializes in releasing lost and archived recordings. He compiled and wrote The Music Library, documenting the hidden world of library music. His other books include Own Label, Wrappers Delight and Auto Erotica. Trunk also writes for a number of magazines and broadcasts every week on Resonance FM, London’s art broadcasting station.