Brutus No. 999 – Ideal Bookshelves, Bookstore Culture & the Aesthetics of Reading

In its milestone 999th issue, Brutus turns its focus to books—not just what we read, but how we live among them. From perfectly curated home shelves to niche bookstores and archival spaces, this edition is a love letter to the aesthetics, stories, and spaces shaped by books.

The main feature, Ideal Bookshelves, invites an eclectic cast of contributors—Tadanori Yokoo, Shigeki Hattori, Hitoshi Daikon, Takashi Homma, Shohei Higashide, and many others—to open up their shelves and share how books have influenced their personal and creative worlds. Alongside visual features on bookshelf architecture and editorial craft, the issue explores Japan’s literary subculture through vintage bookstores, public libraries, and rare collections.

Also included is a “book-in-book” segment where writers and creatives choose one title they could never part with—offering a deeply personal lens into the emotional life of reading.

A beautifully assembled volume for readers, designers, collectors, and anyone who understands that a bookshelf is never just a shelf—it’s a reflection of a life in progress.

Japanese, Softcover
Dimensions: B5 (approx. 18.2 x 25.7 cm)
Pages: 130
Publisher: Magazine House
Language: Japanese
Release date: 2024
Issue Number: 999