Pitchfork

Whether through 24 Hour Party People, the magical interweb, or that guy at the record shop, you probably know a thing or two about Factory Records, the legendary Manchester label/collective that gave the world Joy Division, New Order, the Happy Mondays, A Certain Ratio, the Durutti Column, the Hacienda club-- and one of rock history's more colorful stories.

Factory lives on today as F4 Records, but those eager to explore the original label's rich visual legacy need look no further than Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Novel, a 224-page book and future staple of hipper coffee tables everywhere. It finally hits the States in soft- and hardcover formats on November 30.

Originally released in June in the UK, the tome boasts reprints of every album cover, gig poster, and unique article the label-- notorious for assigning catalogue numbers to everything from posters to buildings to websites to a cat-- ever released. The book itself even gets a number: FAC 461.

Factory nut Matthew Robertson put the collection together, and many of the iconic images therein were dreamt up by Factory's resident graphic designer, Peter Saville. Label co-founder and current F4 chief Tony Wilson provides the foreword.

So gather round a holiday tree of your choosing this winter, toast some egg nog and dive into Factory Records with the whole family-- then toss that Anne Geddes shit into the fire.