| Artist's Books Library
While important precedents can be found for the artist’s book in numerous Futurist, Dada, Surrealist and Situationist publications, the book as a medium equivalent to painting or sculpture was consolidated in the early 1960s, its leading exponents being Ed Ruscha, Sol Lewitt and Dieter Roth. In her seminal history of the form, The Century of Artist’s Books, Johanna Drucker writes: “In the 1960s books as an artist’s medium took off in the United States and Europe. They fit the sensibility of the 1960s alternative scene, whether produced independently by artists or by galleries as an extension of an exhibition, also giving rise to the hybrid genre of the catalogue as artist’s book.” In the 70s, artist’s books gained further hybridity in the uses of print for feminist art and activism, punk (and zine culture generally) and the early mergings of comic books with “high art.” Today, though no reliable definition of the parameters of an artist’s book exists, the ubiquity of the term and such events as Printed Matter’s New York Artist’s Book Fair attests to its massive international expansion as a practice at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Featured images are from Ray Johnson's Book About Death, September 10, 1963 and May 8, 1964 issues, respectively. They are reproduced from In Numbers: Serial Publications by Artists Since 1955, edited by Andrew Roth and Philip Aarons.
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| | Artists' Books: Recommended Reading & Exhibition CatalogsWALTHER KöNIG, KöLN  Pbk, 6.75 x 9 in. / 128 pgs / 111 color / 4 b&w. | 3/31/2012 | In stock ISBN 9788896501795 | $35.00 SIGLIO  Pbk, 7 x 7 in. / 44 pgs / 16 b&w. | 4/30/2012 | In stock ISBN 9780979956287 | $24.95 EVIL TWIN PUBLICATIONS  Slip Hbk, 5 vols., 5.25 x 7 in. / 130 pgs / 75 color / 75 b&w / ltd ed of 300. | 1/15/2012 | Awaiting stock ISBN 9780976335559 | $65.00 HATJE CANTZ  Hbk, 6 x 9 in. / 332 pgs / 272 color. | 8/31/2011 | In stock ISBN 9783775728331 | $45.00 GRANARY BOOKS  Hbk, 7 x 5.25 in. / 122 pgs / 112 color / 10 b&w. | 1/31/2011 | In stock ISBN 9781887123792 | $20.00 WALTHER KöNIG, KöLN  Hbk, 10.25 x 12.5 in. / 116 pgs / illustrated / limited edition of 800 copies. | 3/31/2011 | Not available ISBN 9783865608192 | $200.00 KERBER  Slip Clth, 9 x 12 in. / 552 pgs / 725 color. | 2/28/2011 | In stock ISBN 9783866783720 | $175.00 WALTHER KöNIG, KöLN  Pbk, 8.5 x 11 in. / 96 pgs / 39 color. | 3/31/2011 | In stock ISBN 9783865607966 | $35.00 WALTHER KöNIG, KöLN  Pbk, 6 x 8.5 in. / 180 pgs / illustrated throughout. | 6/30/2011 | In stock ISBN 9783865608802 | $19.95 6 DECADES BOOKS  Pbk, 5.5 x 7 in. / 104 pgs. | 1/31/2011 | Awaiting stock ISBN 9780982969403 | $20.00 WALTHER KöNIG, KöLN  Pbk, 8.5 x 11 in. / 172 pgs / 40 color. | 4/30/2011 | Awaiting stock ISBN 9783865608703 | $39.95 GLENN HOROWITZ BOOKSELLER  Pbk, 5.5 x 7 in. / 454 pgs. | 7/31/2010 | Awaiting stock ISBN 9780982074787 | $25.00 PRIMARY INFORMATION  Pbk, 8.5 x 10.75 in. / 224 pgs / 108 b&w. | 4/30/2010 | Not available ISBN 9780978869762 | $24.00 PREROMANBRITAIN & MONITOR GALLERY  Clth, 5.25 x 7.75 in. / 1208 pgs / 18 color / 2008 b&w. | 2/28/2010 | In stock ISBN 9780982139509 | $57.00 JRP|RINGIER  Spiralbound, 8.75 x 11.25 in. / 192 pgs / 105 color / 60 b&w. | 1/31/2010 | Not available ISBN 9783037640647 | $59.00 EDIZIONI CORRAINI  Pbk, 6.25 x 7.5 in. / 144 pgs / 105 color / 150 b&w. | 2/28/2010 | In stock ISBN 9788890345920 | $40.00 WALTHER KöNIG, KöLN  Pbk, 8 x 10 in. / 142 pgs / 100 color. | 2/28/2010 | Not available ISBN 9783865607003 | $49.95 WALTHER KöNIG, KöLN  Pbk, 4.25 x 6.5 in. / 265 pgs / 800 b&w. | 3/31/2010 | Not available ISBN 9783865606587 | $19.95 EDIZIONI PERIFERIA  Pbk, 4.5 x 8 in. / 280 pgs / illustrated throughout. | 3/31/2010 | Awaiting stock ISBN 9783907474778 | $19.00 JRP|RINGIER  Slip Hbk, 8.75 x 12.25 in. / 504 pgs / 300 color. | 3/31/2010 | In stock ISBN 9783037640852 | $90.00 CHARTA/WUNTERNAUM PRESS  Clth 5.5 x 5.5 in. / 252 pgs. | 1/31/2010 | In stock ISBN 9788881587551 | $39.95 JRP|RINGIER  Pbk, 6 x 8.25 in. / 344 pgs / 70 color / 115 b&w. | 3/31/2010 | In stock ISBN 9783037640753 | $55.00 ASPEN ART PRESS  Flexi, 4.25 x 5.75 in. / 1,496 pgs. | 11/30/2009 | In stock ISBN 9780934324458 | $15.00 EVIL TWIN PUBLICATIONS  Clth, 8.5 x 8.5 in. / 380 pgs / 800 color / 90 b&w. Limited edition of 500 copie | 7/31/2009 | In stock ISBN 9780976335511 | $150.00 ONESTAR PRESS  Pbk, 6 x 8 in. / 224 pgs / 224 color. | 12/31/2009 | Not available ISBN 9782915359305 | $40.00 BLIND PONY BOOKS  Paperback, 5.5 x 6.5 in. / 217 pgs / 25 color / 1 b&w. | 3/1/2008 | In stock ISBN 9780979972607 | $30.00 ONESTAR PRESS  Paperback, 5.5 x 9 in. / 160 pgs / 1 color. | 3/1/2008 | In stock ISBN 9782915359312 | $45.00 JRP|RINGIER  Boxed, 32 volumes, 7 x 10.5 in. / 480 pgs / 32 color / 480 b&w. | 3/1/2008 | Not available ISBN 9783905770940 | $135.00 WALTHER KöNIG, KöLN  Hardcover, 9.75 x 12.50 in. / 240 pgs. | 3/1/2008 | Awaiting stock ISBN 9783865602336 | $299.00 WALTHER KöNIG, KöLN  Paperback, 8.25 x 8.25 in. / 64 pgs / 25 b&w. | 1/15/2008 | In stock ISBN 9783865602466 | $16.00 JRP|RINGIER/CHRISTOPH KELLER EDITIONS  Hardcover, 5 x 7.5 in. / 304 pgs. | 7/1/2007 | In stock ISBN 9783905770179 | $45.00 GRANARY BOOKS  Paperback, 5.5 x 8.5 in. / 176 pgs / 72 color / 24 b&w. | 6/1/2007 | In stock ISBN 9781887123754 | $25.00 APERTURE  Boxed Set of Cards, 7 x 4.75 in. / 75 pgs / 75 color. | 6/1/2007 | Awaiting stock ISBN 9781597110389 | $29.95 JRP|RINGIER/VANCOUVER SPECIAL SERIES  Hardcover, 9.5 x 11.75 in. / 172 pgs / 40 color / 15 b&w / with CD. | 3/1/2007 | In stock ISBN 9783905770025 | $39.00 JRP|RINGIER  Other, 6 x 8.5 in. / 196 pgs / 120 color. | 8/15/2006 | In stock ISBN 9783905701456 | $38.00 GRANARY BOOKS  Paperback, 7 x 10 in. / 350 pgs / 20 color / 95 b&w. | 7/15/2005 | In stock ISBN 9781887123716 | $39.95 GRANARY BOOKS/CORACLE  Clothbound, 9 x 8.5 in. / 48 pgs / 50 b&w. | 11/2/2004 | In stock ISBN 9781887123686 | $35.00 GRANARY BOOKS  Paperback, 6 x 9 in. / 378 pgs / 200 b&w. | 11/2/2004 | In stock ISBN 9781887123693 | $29.95 D.A.P./DISTRIBUTED ART PUBLISHERS, INC.  Clothbound, 8.25 x 11 in. / 368 pgs / 150 color / 46 b&w. | 3/2/2003 | Awaiting stock ISBN 9781891024658 | $55.00 GRANARY BOOKS  Paperback, 7 x 10 in. / 48 pgs / 40 color. | 5/2/2002 | In stock ISBN 9781887123563 | $24.95 |
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