A bound collection of photographs is a curious thing. Great photos, like great paintings, were created to be viewed, and sandwiching visual treats between two covers seems like the ultimate irony.

You would have thought that with high production costs and the widespread availability of images online, the photo-book would have been rendered obsolete, but surprisingly the demand is still there.

Essentially, photo-books document a time and place in the past, and nostalgia is a guaranteed seller, particularly when the time and place in question is filled with the faces of our icons.

Red Hot Chili Peppers' drummer, Chad Smith, has modestly trumpeted the arrival next month of Me and My Friends -- Red Hot Chili Peppers (Trinity Mirror, €16.49, due October) by accomplished photographer Tony Woolliscroft, who has snapped everyone from Anthrax to Madonna in his illustrious career so far, but served as the official photographer for the Chilis from 1990 to 2005. (www.tonywoolliscroft.co.uk)

"Most photographers are only allowed to shoot the first three songs of a show," writes Smith, in the press release for the forthcoming book. "We love Tony and his work so much that he is the only guy we give complete access to for an entire show."

Personally, I'd rather remove every rice crispy from a 600g box individually using a single chopstick than suffer a book of Red Hot Chili photos, but that is not to decry the brilliant work of Woolliscroft. His book will undoubtedly sell in droves. And if an artist like Damien Hirst can earn more than £70m in day one of a sale of animals petrified in formaldehyde, should we really be surprised at what people are willing to collect visually?

extensive

Documentary photo-books, particularly in this genre, work better when broader and more extensive, capturing an era rather than just one subject. And if you have never seen the work of photographer Janette Beckman (you most certainly have, but generally great photos become more famous than their creators) then you can look forward to Made in the UK: The Music of Attitude 1977-1983 (Powerhouse Cultural Entertainment Books, €11.99, due October 1).

We tend to associate the 1980s with fluff, skinny leather ties and electronica, but forget the period was book-ended by great towers of musical styles that have stood the test of time.

Here, at least, is one end of that great time in music, a time when Beckman worked for The Face and Melody Maker. Punks, Mods and the birth of those 'nutty boys' are all here, in a documentary photo-book which, although more concerned with the fashion of the times and focused on London, will still resonate with many this side of the pond.

I was only a wee lad then, small enough to receive a well-intended kick to the head from many a Doc Martin or Loafer. Fond memories that I look forward to reliving through Beckman's lens. (www.janettebeckman.com)

- Tom Galvin