Guides: Artists' Books @ Frick Fine Arts Library: Resources on Artists' Books

Resources for Further Research

This page aims to support your research into artists' books and book arts. Consider this assortment of resources a jumping-off point rather than a definitive list of secondary sources. If you have questions about navigating the research process, please email us.

Online Journals & Collections

The Getty Research Institute
An online exhibition featuring works from the Research Library at the Getty Research Institute, which holds over 5,000 artists' books and several artists' archives.
Journal of artists' books (JAB) - Online
A forum for critical dialogue & review of contemporary & historical artists' books. Published by Columbia College Chicago Center for Book & Paper Arts.
Smithsonian Libraries Artists' Books
The Smithsonian Libraries’ collection of artists’ books is extensive and deep. This website allows you to browse the collection and includes useful links to blogs and other resources on the medium.
Umbrella Editions Online Quarterly
Umbrella is the most comprehensive online quarterly covering the arena of artists’ books, art books and other multiple editions, including audio and new media.
The Directory of Artists' Book Collections
An online directory of artists' book collections across the United States and Canada.

Books on Artists' Books

This curated list includes books on artists' books as a distinct art form, theoretical examinations of the book, and how to-guides for making your own paper and book art. Click on a title to open the PittCat listing for each item.

(eBook) The Book by Amaranth Borsuk
ISBN: 0262535416
Publication Date: 2018-05-04
In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Amaranth Borsuk considers the history of the book, the future of the book, and the idea of the book. Tracing the interrelationship of form and content in the book's development, she bridges book history, book arts, and electronic literature to expand our definition of an object we thought we knew intimately.
Speaking of Book Art by Cathy Courtney
Publication Date: 1999-01-01
A collection of interviews with British and American book artists including Betsy Davids, Sas Colby, Johanna Drucker, Susan Johanknecht, and others.
Bookforms by Center for Book Arts (Compiled by); Ana Cordeiro (Contribution by); Celine Lombardi (Contribution by); Sarah Smith (Contribution by); Elizabeth Sheehan (Contribution by)
Publication Date: 2019-01-22
With Bookforms, learn an array of traditional and contemporary hand-bookbinding methods from around the world from the instructors at the Center for Book Arts.
Artist - Author by Cornelia Lauf; Clive Phillpot
Publication Date: 1998-01-01
Catalog of a traveling exhibition held at the Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, N.C., Feb. 8-Aug. 12, 1998; and five other art museums, Aug. 31, 1998-Dec. 18, 1999. Includes bibliographical references and index.
How to Make Books by Esther K. Smith
Publication Date: 2007-11-06
From zines you can fold in a minute to luxurious leather journals and sumptuous sketchbooks, How to Make Books will walk you through the easy basics of bookmaking.
Bookwork by Garrett Stewart
Publication Date: 2011-06-01
Bookwork surveys and illustrates a stunning variety of appropriated and fabricated books alike, ranging from hacksawed discards to the giant lead folios of Anselm Kiefer.
Various Small Books by Jeff Brouws (Editor); Wendy Burton (Editor); Hermann Zschiegner (Editor); Phil Taylor (Contribution by); Mark Rawlinson (Contribution by)
Publication Date: 2013-02-01
Riffs, revisions, knockoffs, and homages- artists pay tribute to Ed Ruscha's famous photo-conceptual small books.With VARIOUS SMALL BOOKS, various artists pay tribute to Ed Ruscha and extend the legacy of his books.
Artists' Books by Joan Lyons (Editor); Dick Higgins (Preface by)
Publication Date: 1993-01-01
This anthology is the first in-depth look at artists' bookworks. A series of essays, written by longtime participants in and observers of the field, address the following questions: what are the origins, attributes, and what is the potential of artsists' books; what are their historical precedents; what issues are they addressing; who is making and publishing them? The essays are supplemented by extensive bibliographies and a list of collections
The Century of Artists' Books by Johanna Drucker
Publication Date: 2004-11-02
This seminal full-length study considers the development of artists' books as a twentieth-century art form. By situating artists' books within the context of mainstream developments in the visual arts, Drucker raises critical and theoretical issues as well as providing a historical overview of the medium. Within its pages, she explores more than two hundred individual books in relation to their structure, form, and conceptualization.
Artists and Their Books / Books and Their Artists by Marcia Reed; Glenn Phillips
Publication Date: 2018-07-10
This stunning volume illuminates the current moment of artists' engagement with books, revealing them as an essential medium in contemporary art.
(e-Book) Binding Space: the Book As Spatial Practice by Marian Macken
Publication Date: 2018-04-17
Binding Space: The Book as Spatial Practice explores the role of the book form within the realm of architectural representation. It proposes the book itself as another three-dimensional, complementary architectural representation with a generational and propositional role within the design process. Artists' books in particular - that is, a book made as an original work of art, with an artist, designer or architect as author - have certain qualities and characteristics, quite different from the conventional presentation and documentation of architecture.
Blurred Library by Tate Shaw
Publication Date: 2017-02-01
BLURRED LIBRARY is an indispensible contribution to the field of artists' books, essential reading for emerging and seasoned artists and scholars alike. Lavishly illustrated throughout by photographer Doug Manchee.

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Artists' Books @ Frick Fine Arts Library

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Resources for Further Research

Online Journals & Collections

Books on Artists' Books