Cassell scoops 'definitive' portrait of Joy Division by Cummins

Cassell will publish Joy Division: Juvenes, the “definitive portrait” of the band, by photographer Kevin Cummins.

Joe Cottington, editorial director at Octopus Publishing Group, acquired world rights in all languages from Carrie Kania at C&W Agency. It will be published on 7th October in hardback at £30.  

A special boxed edition, limited to 100 copies, will publish on the same day at £495, including a photographic print signed by Cummins and available exclusively from website Special Edition Books. 

Cassell said: "The photographs of Joy Division captured by Kevin Cummins are some of the most iconic in music history. From snowy bridges and dark rehearsal rooms to electrifying live performances, Cummins’ images helped to define the band and cement their place in popular culture."

Juvenes was originally published as an ultra-limited run of just 226 copies by independent press To Hell With Publishing in 2007. A collection of Cummins’ photographs feature alongside essays from memebers of Joy Division’s family, contemporaries and fans, including novelists Ian Rankin and David Peace.

The earlier edition has now been updated with new material including interviews with band members, rare photographs and contact sheets that have never been seen before, providing “a definitive collection of Cummins’ photographs of Joy Division,” according to the publisher.  

Chief photographer at the NME for over ten years, Manchester-born Cummins is one of the world's leading photographers and known for portraits of musicians including David Bowie, Nick Cave, Mick Jagger, the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, Patti Smith and Oasis among others.  

Cottington said of the announcement “Kevin’s photographs of Joy Division in the snowy streets of Manchester are intrinsically linked to their music: you only need to see these incredible images to know exactly how the band sounds. Across rehearsals, live performances and those snowy portrait sessions Kevin captured the essence of Joy Division. It’s a real honour to be publishing Juvenes, and I can’t wait for people to see and read it.”   

Cummins revealed how he had always wanted the book to reach more readers. “I always felt that Juvenes deserved to reach a larger audience, it was a typically perverse decision back in 2007 to limit it to 226 copies," he said. "Many buyers and collectors still haven’t opened their copies. It was important to me to make this expanded version of Juvenes as complete an edit as possible. Many of these photographs have become the pictures that define the band, and it was crucial to work with a publisher who understood the significance of these images. It was also important to talk to former band members to understand how they now perceive the importance of Joy Division and what impact it’s had on their lives since Ian Curtis’ tragic death in 1980. I’m delighted with the finished book, which has surpassed my expectations.”