History and theory

Bury, Stephen. Artists' Books: The Book as a Work of Art, 1963-1995. Aldershot, England: Scholar Press, 1995.

This resource is primarily a well-illustrated (albeit in black and white), chronological "Selective Bibliography of Artists' Books" from 1963. Bury, a librarian at Chelsea College of Art & Design in London, supplements his bibliography with a short history of artists' books and essays on several of its sub-genres, including "Futurist," "Fluxus," "Minimalist and Conceptual" and "Women's." The book concludes with a general reference bibliography, a glossary, and an idiosyncratic timeline of "making text" which begins with the invention of the typewriter in 1714.

Drucker, Johanna. The Century of Artists' Books. New York: Granary Books, 1995.

Johanna Drucker is a writer, printer and producer of artists' books and--at the time of this book's writing--professor of contemporary art at Yale University. In its introduction Drucker describes her book as providing "an overview of the development of this artform by mapping a history of major areas of activity in artists' books over the last 100 years and offering a critical structure for looking at work in this field." It is an often-cited survey, as significant to the genre as the Lyons Anthology was exactly a decade before it. Together the books provide a thorough treatment of the history and theory of the movement, its practitioners, and of the artworks themselves.

Klima, Stefan. Artists Books: A Critical Survey of the Literature. New York: Granary Books, 1998.

This concise reference volume was written by the head of Fine and Performing Arts at the Beverly Hills Public Library. Klima's five provocative essays offer important perspectives on key topics in the artists' book field. One essay evaluates current critical writing; another chronicles the tireless (and tiresome) "What is an artists' book?" argument. Most notably, however, he acknowledges the role of librarians as advocates, often "grounding" the genre when distracting debates threatened to derail it, and contributing to its recognition and longevity through focused collection development efforts. Klima's thorough bibliography lists theoretical and historical texts. Along with Drucker he represents a relatively current and optimistic view of artists' books.

Lauf, Cornelia and Clive Phillpot. Artist/Author: Contemporary Artists' Books. New York: D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers Inc., 1998.

Lauf is an independent curator and art historian, and Phillpot an art librarian and critic known for acquiring the Franklin Furnace Archive of artists' books for the Museum of Modern Art in the mid-1990s. They co-edited this full-color catalog to accompany Artist/Author, a traveling exhibit about books as an art form, organized by the American Federation of the Arts in New York City. Their book is the most comprehensive recent survey of contemporary artists' books and includes essays and an interview with Martha Wilson, founder of Franklin Furnace. For students of books-as-art, Artist/Author is an inspiring, international look inside (and outside) many contemporary works. Supplementary materials include a checklist of the exhibition, a list of artists' book publishers and a selected bibliography.

Lyons, Joan. Artists' Books: A Critical Anthology and Sourcebook. Rochester, NY: Visual Studies Workshop Press, 1985.

Joan Lyons is founder of the Visual Studies Workshop Press, for 30 years a publisher of artists' books. Her anthology focuses on artists' books as a time-based medium that reached "critical mass" in the late 1960s and early '70s as an exhibition-space alternative to the art gallery establishment. Lyons writes in her 1985 introduction, "Now, twenty years and thousands of artists' books later, it is clear that this...art form is here to stay." Since Lyons wrote that statement, nearly twenty more years have passed, and today it is true all over again. This collection includes essays by writer/critic Lucy Lippard and art librarian Clive Phillpot. The book's substantial directory of Artists' Book Collections begs to be updated, while its Bibliography of Secondary Sources can be supplemented with Stefan Klima's 1998 Artists Books: A Critical Survey of the Literature for a more complete collection of resources.

Rothenberg, Jerome and Steven Clay (editors). A Book of the Book: Some Works & Projections about the Book & Writing. New York: Granary Books, 2000.

The editorial collaboration of poet and anthologist Rothenberg and Clay, a publisher, curator and archivist, results in an imaginatively broad collection of perspectives on books, art and writing. The editors acknowledge that the narratives in A Book of the Book are disparate; the disparity, however, is evidence of the richness and diversity of the topic. Visual material in the book is spare but not sparse; indeed, that a work of this scope is so selectively illustrated adds to its depth. Essays by Keith Smith ("The Book as Physical Object"), and Johanna Drucker ("The Artist's Book as Idea and Form") are of particular interest to artists' book scholars and makers. A Book of the Book is an important entry in a bibliography about artists' books because it considers them in a literary--as well as visual-art--context.

Smith, Keith A. Structure of the Visual Book, Third Edition. Rochester, NY: Keith Smith Books, 1994.

Smith, an artist and teacher, makes artists' books about artists' books. His works are seminal in the field, widely cited and used. Libraries that support book art/visual studies programs typically hold copies of this and the author's other books (see Technique section below) in both circulating and special collections. Smith--who describes his own first book as a failure "held together only by its binding"--examines successful arrangements of text and/or images in the book format. He moves through considerations of concept, structure and production in chapters such as "Display," "Picture Relationships," "Movement" and "Syntactical Pages." Features include black and white illustrations and a glossary.

Technique

LaPlantz, Shereen. Cover to Cover: Creative Techniques for Making Beautiful Books, Journals & Albums. Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 2000.

Cover to Cover, written by a practicing book artist, is a basic how-to manual for handmaking books. Chapters are organized into broad categories according to structure--pamphlet, codex, stab binding and fold book, plus their many variations. Materials, tools and equipment, and basic techniques are discussed adequately, but the book's real strengths lie in the clarity of its step-by-step instructions and in the generous amount of inspirational color photographs of other artists' work. LaPlantz bypasses consideration of text and other book content, choosing instead to focus solely on the various book structures. For this reason students should supplement Cover to Cover with a more theoretical treatment of artists' books, such as Smith's Structure of the Visual Book (see History and Theory section above).

Smith, Keith A. Non-Adhesive Binding, Volume I: Books Without Paste or Glue, Third Edition. Rochester, NY: Keith Smith Books, 1993.
and
Non-Adhesive Binding, Volume II: 1- 2- & 3-Section Sewings. Rochester, NY: Keith Smith Books, 1995.

The first two books in artist Keith Smith's three-volume Non-Adhesive Binding series draw inspiration from established practitioners of contemporary artists' books; more importantly, however, they break new ground, and Smith's own contributions to the field cannot be overstated. For students of visual-media concept and creation, his volumes are classic texts/instruction manuals that foster a cumulative understanding of artists'-book making. The introduction to Volume I, titled Preparation for Binding, "suggest[s] an attitude in approaching hand-binding." Subsequent parts describe specific bindings (accompanied by meticulous sewing diagrams) and discuss materials, general techniques and terminology. Volume II features 122 innovative decorative spine sewings. In addition, while not the major focus of the series, Smith considers the relationship between format and content in artists' books. Each volume contains photographs of binding models and work by other artists.

Webberley, Marilyn and JoAn Forsyth. Books, Boxes & Wraps: Binding & Building Step-by-Step. Kirkland, WA: Bifocal Publishing, 1995.

University instructor Marilyn Webberley describes Books, Boxes & Wraps as a how-to manual about "simple book making." Her characterization, while true, threatens to diminish the true value of this book as a thick directory of imaginative book structures and enclosures presented with step-by-step, illustrated instructions. Like LaPlantz, Webberley does not address the text component of book art. It seems not to matter as much here, though, as the structures presented are themselves more suggestive of "containers" for text and image. Special features include sections on tools, general techniques, materials, suppliers, terms and a bibliography.

©2004 Louise Kulp, MA, MLIS
Department of Art and Art History
Franklin & Marshall College
http://edisk.fandm.edu/louise.kulp/annobiblio.html