Artists' Books
�Artists� Books� as a category is a hard one to nail down. Part of what is so wonderful about artists� books is the wide variety of forms they can assume and the limitless topics they can address. Artists� Books are books made by artists. They are works of art or art projects that are meant to be seen in book form, which is to say, sequentially, in a printed and bound format, usually by one person at a time at his or her own pace. Artists� books are portable, they are produced in multiple copies and they are considerably less expensive than works of art in other media. Artists� books often experiment with conventions of reading, writing, viewing and interpreting. The majority of our inventory falls under the category of Artists� Books. In order to see a more specific selection of books, try the thematically organized lists of recommendations, or use the Advanced Search function.
Source Books are resources for the study of the history of artists� books. Because this history is intimately bound up with the development of other art forms that questioned traditional modes of making and presenting artwork, Source Books also cover the history of Conceptual Art, Performance Art, and other at-one-time marginal or experimental practices. Source books present perspectives on artists� books in other countries and within particular historical or cultural contexts.
Small Books are books in our inventory that are literally smaller than five inches square. Because of their non-commercial format, small books are often books that have been hand crafted by artists. The books vary in shape and size and often use unusual binding techniques. They can be as small as a postage stamp or a book of matches and as big as a post card. Some small books actually open out into much larger maps, posters and three-dimensional paper structures.
Flip Books, like Small Books, are usually under five inches square, although there are also a few examples of full-sized Flip Books in our inventory. Flip Books are hand held, thumb-activated animations that take place on the rapidly fanned pages of a book. Drawings, photographs, or some combination of the two are slightly altered from page to page, creating the effect of fluid movement or change when viewed in quick succession. Reading a Flip Book is like watching a little movie, and there are as many approaches to making a flip book as there are to a making a short film. Some are narrative, some are surreal, some are self-referential, some experiment with formal conventions of the medium, and nearly all play with or to an audience�s expectations.
Catalogs are records of exhibitions by individual artists or groups of artists. Sometimes they document the entire career of a particular artist, and in some cases, list every single artwork an artist has ever made. These exhaustive inventories are known as catalogue raisonn�s, and you can search for them through the Advanced Search section of the site. The books in this section deal with more project-specific representations of artists� work and in fact oftenare artists� projects themselves. Designed by artists who treat the book as a medium through which to express and elaborate on their ideas, these catalogs are essentially artists� books. Although they may contain information about the specific exhibition for which they were produced, they stand alone as examples of the artists� work, work process, and creative concerns.
Bargain Books: 30, 40, 50, sometimes even 75% off the cover price. These are books you can�t afford not to have in your library.
