Banksy Locations (and a Tour) Vol II

All photos: Shellshock

Remember Banksy Locations and Tours, a pocket size book produced in 2006 which detailed locations of Banksy street artwork? That was structured around around 3 tour routes of Banksy’s wall art in London that a lucky few experienced free of charge at the time, though a bit like the Sex Pistols at Manchester Free Trade the number that claim to have been on those tours now exceeds the population of the UK.

That was the work of Graffoto contributer Shellshock and we are pleased to announce he has done it again with the release this week of Banksy Locations (and a Tour) Vol II.

The significant difference between Vol I and Vol II is that Vol II addresses all the other areas in the UK where Banksy has been active EXCEPT the locations covered by Vol I. So that’s all “new” stuff then.

Vol II is a fascinating insight into some of the older and more provincial Banksy street art which London-locked folk like the rest of Graffoto don’t get to see. Though one or two of the London Banksys included in Vol II were only a couple of hundred yards off the routes of the original tours, they didn’t make Vol I simply because they involved too much of a route deviation to actually be included in Shellshock’s tours.

Stylistically it sticks faithfully to the blueprint established by Vol I, which is to say there are photographs, with locations, notes on relevant history and an update on condition – if it has any! Regard it as a kind of I-Spy guide to Banksy’s public works and the ideal sister publication to Vol I.

Vol II is published in hardback, making it harder wearing for those walking/cycling/charabanc tours.

This looks like a nice little stocking filler for any enthusiast of Banksy and street art in general.

Quoting from Shellshock’s own writing to add further colour and details on how to obtain a copy:

“It’s a whopping 380 pages of hardback book and includes his street work all the way up to this October. There was just so much more to write than Vol.1; there are more locations (over 135, of which almost half are still worth visiting), more news (especially on the more recent pieces), better photo ops, and a few flounces of creativity. There is obviously no hiding that it is very similar format to Vol.1, in that it is based on locations, my photos and info/history about the piece. BUT there is a little more leeway in Vol 2 because it is less tour based (the only tour is in Bristol, which is pretty good actually; a lot survives, including some very hidden gems), and although it rounds up a lot of locations in London that couldn’t be covered by Vol.1, a third of the locations actually come from Bristol, Brighton & the South Coast, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow, and the rural West Country.

• Over 135 detailed locations of Banksy’s street graffiti, past & present
• A full walking tour of his remaining work in Bristol
• Information, random facts & idle chit-chat on each location
• Over 220 colour photographs, on 380 pages
• Snippets of art/graffiti by Eine, Faile, Inkie, Kato, Mode 2, BA / DBZ, & Rowdy
• 12% of [the] sale price donated to charitable organisations (24% when sold directly by [Shellshock])
• ISBN = 978-0955471230 / R.R.P. = £12.50

If everything goes ok and this winter weather doesn’t wreck it, I should get it on 7th December. It will obviously take a short while to get into all the shops, so if you fancy it soon it might be best to get it via the ‘net.

It’s on Amazon here (where sample pages are also viewable for free).

If you prefer to buy direct, then I’ll be selling it through my eBay account once they arrive. I’ve been on eBay for over 7 years now and still have 100% positive feedback.

Any sales via myself will get a couple of postcard flyers thrown in for free.“

Shellshock is usually very approachable, so as a very nice inexpensive gift you could visit his eBay listing and ask him for a signed copy of Vol 2 with a dedication, all dispatched in time for Christmas [insert your religion/non religion’s alternative day here] if you order quickly enough.