Resources → Reading List
Reference Titles
Book Binding and Making
Japanese Bookbinding: Instructions from a Master Craftsman
Kojiro Ikegami; adapted by Barbara B. Stephan
REF.BB.0803
Guide to traditional Japanese bookbinding techniques. Discusses tools, materials, and procedures for creating a variety of books including accordion, four-hole, and butterfly. Also discusses book cases and the mending of Japanese books. Includes black-and-white photographs and illustrations.
Non-Adhesive Binding Volumes I-IV
Keith A. Smith
REF.BB.1823, REF.BB.0857, REF.BB.0833, REF.BB.0855
A series of books about binding without adhesives. IncludesNon-Adhesive Binding Volumes I: Books Without Paste or Glue; Non-Adhesive Binding Volume II: 1-2-& 3 Section Sewings; Non-Adhesive Binding Volume III: Exposed Spine Sewings; Non-Adhesive Binding Volume IV: Smith’s Sewing Single Sheets.
Leather Books: An Illustrated Handbook
Karli Frigge
REF.BB.1017
An illustrated handbook on simple and inexpensive bookbinding techniques for leather books. Intended for advanced bookbinders.
Creative Bookbinding
Pauline Johnson
REF.BB.1052
Presents techniques for note pads, scrapbooks, portfolios, sewn books, cloth and leather bindings. Includes tooling, stamping, embossing, inlaying and dyeing leather, preservation, repair and history of the book.
Basic Bookbinding
A.W. Lewis
REF.BB.1078
Requiring minimal equipment, the work presents modern, easy, and inexpensive techniques for binding new books and for rebinding old volumes. The guide starts with a listing of necessary equipment and tools. Step-by-step instructions with 261 illustrations to show how to collate a book, sew it, back it, trim it, and then create boards and attach them to the book. Also included are an appendix listing the sequence of bookbinding operations, a listing of suppliers of bookbinding materials, and an index.
The Pop-Up Book: Step-by-Step Instructions for Creating Over 100 Original Paper Projects
Paul Jackson
REF.BB.1210
Offers a clear and practical guide to the pop-up papercrafts for all levels of artist, from home hobbyists to professional graphic designers and architects. Includes specific projects with illustrated, easy-to-follow steps, general techniques for greater personal experimentation and creativity, and a gallery of designs created by some of today’s best pop-up artists for an inspirational finish.
Making Memory Boxes: Box Projects to Make, Give, and Keep
Barbara Mauriello
REF.BB.1649
This title is a step-by-step description of how to make boxes, including essential information about tools, materials, and adhesives. The basics of measuring and cutting, pasting and gluing, making the tray, corners and finishing the edges are also discussed and described. Includes instruction on multiple types of boxes and the supply sources that will assist the student in creating the box.
How To Make Books
Esther K. Smith
REF.BM.1821
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. Using foolproof illustrations and step-by-step instructions, Smith reveals her time-tested techniques in a fun, easy-to-understand way. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Woven and Interlocking Book Structures
Claire Van Vliet and Elizabeth Steiner
REF.BM.2042
A manual with directions for making basic models of 16 book structures designed for Janus, Steiner, and Gefn Press publications.
Bookforms: A Complete Guide to Designing and Crafting Hand-Bound Books
Alexander Campos, Anne Muntges, Celine Lombardi, Ana Paula Cordeiro, Sarah Smith, Elizabeth Sheehan
REF.BM.2265
In ‘Bookforms’, you will learn from some of the finest book-makers how to think like a binder and an artist and make books that will capture your ideas. These chapters will take you through every aspect of bookmaking–from handling a tool like a professional to understanding why specific materials are used to connect ideas to the perfect structure. Each technique is accompanied by step-by-step instructions and images.
The Art of the Fold: How to Make Innovative Books and Paper Structures
Hedi Kyle and Ulla Warchol
REF.BM.2371
The renowned and influential book artist Hedi Kyle shows you step-by-step how to create her unique designs, using folding techniques. Projects include flag books, blizzard books, the fishbone fold, and nesting boxes.
Theory and practice of bookbinding.
By United States. Government Printing Office
catalog.hathitrust.org
Originally published in 1961 for training apprentices at the United States Government Printing Office, this detailed textbook of bookbinding contains everything one needed to know for this craft, and includes for each of the 40 chapters bibliographical sections.
Periodicals
The Blue Notebook
Edited by Sarah Bodman
REF.SE.2378
The Blue Notebook is a journal containing scholarly writing on the topic of artists’ books.
Artists’ Book Yearbook
Edited by Sarah Bodman
REF.SE.0562
The Artist’s Book Yearbook was established in 1994 by contributing editors Tanya Peixoto, John Bently, Stephanie Brown and Stefan Szczelkun. The journal continues to be published on a biennial basis. The Yearbook’s focus is to offer book artists an opportunity to read critical essays by writers and artists, to gain an overview of artist’s book production, and to encourage greater discussion and awareness of book arts, particularly in the UK.
Matrix: A Review for Printers and Bibliophiles
Edited by John and Rosalind Randle
FA.SA1.1452a
Matrix is above all a good read, a visual treat, and a unique record of the renaissance of fine printing that was initiated by the foresight of William Morris, and that continues to this day. Edited, typeset, printed and distributed from its home at Whittington, there is nothing else quite like it, nor is there likely to be. From its premises in Gloucestershire (once described by one of our first American visitors as ‘a shack’, but who nevertheless seemed tempted to make us an offer for the whole thing) it has made great efforts over the years to see at first hand what the rest of the world is up to, and its coverage of the work of other presses around the globe has been unusual.
JAB: Journal of Artists’ Books
Edited by Brad Freeman
REF.SE.1397
JAB’s mission is to expand the audience for artists’ books and to engage with the many intersections that occur in the field of artists’ books. The journal was meant to showcase artists’ works by including small inserts and collaborative projects; sometimes entire issues are conceived by individual artists. JAB is published twice a year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall. “JAB- The Journal of Artists’ Books is dedicated to elevating the level of discourse in artists’ books by providing a critical forum for debate about theoretical and creative issues. Artists’ books exist at the intersections of photography, poetry, visual arts, experimental literature, and publishing. As a forum for the study of these works, JAB publishes critical and theoretical articles, reviews of books and exhibitions, documentation of current activity through interviews with artists and publishers, as well as commentary on conferences and other book art related activities.”
Book Arts Review
Center for Book Arts
AAR.B11.0352
Book Arts Review was a quarterly publication provided free to members of Center for Book Arts. It included articles on book arts techniques such as bookbinding, papermaking, and printing; interviews with artists; Center class offerings; and book arts exhibition and event listings. It was published from 1982 until 1990 and briefly revived in 1998. Koob Stra succeeded it in 1993.
Koob Stra
Center for Book Arts
AAR.B12.0593
A publication from Center for Book Arts that served as a newsletter for CBA and the book arts community at large provided information about activities, exhibitions, classes, and other opportunities and listings at CBA and elsewhere for artists.
Papermaking
The book of fine paper
Silvie Turner
REF.PA.2302
In-depth guide to fine paper, focusing on handmade but also covering mold-made and machine-made papers. The book covers the history of papers from various parts of the world, with descriptions of dozens of paper varieties and suggestions for specific uses.
Printing
Paper, Ink, and Roller: Print-Making for Beginners
Harvey Weiss
REF.PM.1653
From the simplest print to the cutting of a linoleum block, this works takes the beginning printmaker through easy, illustrated steps of six methods of the printing process: press prints, transfer prints, potato prints, stencil prints, cardboard prints, and linoleum prints.
Relief Printing: Basic Methods and New Directions
Michael Rothenstein
REF.PM.1637
This title covers the techniques of relief printmaking. It begins with a comprehensive description of the time-tested materials and methods for this craft, instructs on how to build one’s own workshop, and details techniques.
Ink on Paper
Edmund C. Arnold
REF.PM.0806
A handbook of the graphic arts, including chapters on: the history of written language, copyfitting, proofreading, layout, letterpress, plates, color, intaglio, offset lithography, paper, and ink.
Letterpress Printing: A Manual for Modern Fine Press Printers
Paul Maravelas
REF.PM.1613
Letterpress Printing’ is intended to serve as a source book for beginning and intermediate letterpress printers. The title uses more than 80 illustrations to describe presses, ink, paper, press operation, type, and photopolymer plates. Also included is a glossary of terms relating to paper, and another related to printing.
Typography
American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century
Mac McGrew
REF.TS.1766
The specimen book covers every known typeface designed and cast in metal in America during the twentieth century. It identifies the designer, foundry, and the date each face was issued. Includes 1600 black and white illustrations.
Encyclopaedia of Typefaces
Berry and Johnson Jaspert
REF.TS.2365
This collection features over 2,000 type faces arranged alphabetically and into three sections – Romans, Lineales and Scripts. Each entry also includes a specimen setting. Created with a broad audience in mind: printers, typographers, graphic designers, publishers, desktop publishers, website designers, and those interested in the right typographic finish.
The Elements of Typographic Style
Robert Bringhurst
REF.TY.1615
A style guide typographer and poet Robert Bringhurst that includes a brief history of typographic art, a compact encyclopedia of typographic symbols, a description of concepts and traditions, and a tour of the technologies employed, both old and new.
Printing Poetry : A workbook in Typographic Reification
Clifford Burke
REF.TY.2242
A handbook discussing tools, type design, printing, binding used to produce a finely printed book of poetry. Explains the mechanics of letterpress printing, design fundamentals, paper, ink, and binding. Illustrated with examples throughout.
Thinking With Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students
Ellen Lupton
REF.TY.2250
This work provides clear and focused guidance for those learning or brushing up on their typographic skills. Informative essays are followed by practical demonstrations that bring typography to life with direct, engaging commentary. Includes examples of work by influential practitioners.
Books about books
Artists’ Books: A Critical Anthology and Sourcebook
Joan Lyons
REF.AM.1974
This anthology presents critical writing, photographic documentation and research sources on artists’ books. Beginning with a definition and history of the medium, the essays then address issues and problems concerning the development, presentation, and distribution of bookworks. Includes biographical notes on the authors, an index and a list of artist’s book collections.
Artists Books: A Critical Survey of the Literature
Stefan Klima
monoskop.org
Artists Books: A Critical Survey of the Literature is the first published guide to writings on artists books, containing five lucid essays which chart the ongoing critical debates surrounding the medium, addressing issues such as definition and identity, disputed origins, and current status. With a carefully researched, thorough bibliography.
No Longer Innocent: Book Art in America, 1960-1980
Betty Bright
REF.BC.1316
In this history of the artists’ book, scholar and curator Betty Bright discusses its role in contemporary art, attempting to redress its marginalization. She examines three types of artist’s book: the fine press book, the deluxe book, and the bookwork. Bright also covers critical supporters of the form, including New York’s Center for Book Arts, Franklin Furnace, and the Visual Studies Workshop Press in Rochester, New York, along with key organizations and figures in Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Bright explores the ways in which artist’s books have responded to movements such as Pop, Fluxus, and Conceptualism. A timeline of the history of the artist’s book, a list of resources on book arts, a bibliography of books, catalogs, and articles on the artists’ book, and a detailed index are also included.
The Century of Artists’ Books
Johanna Drucker
REF.BC.1765
The first full-length study of the development of artists’ books as a twentieth century art form. This work situates artists’ books within the context of mainstream developments in the visual arts from Russian Futurism and Surrealism to Fluxus, Conceptual Art, to Postmodernism. Designed to raise critical and theoretical issues as well as provide a historical overview, Drucker explores more than two hundred individual books in relation to their structure, form, and conceptualization. Topics include the discussion of the poetics of the books, the book as metaphor, the conceptual space of the book, and books as narrative and non-narrative sequences. Each chapter uses these specific issues to examine the works of well-known book artists and publishers. The book provides a foundation for future work in the history and critical interpretation of artists’ books, as well as offering a structure for teaching artists’ books to practitioners, collectors, and curators.
Artists’ Books: the Book as a Work of Art 1963-2000
Stephen Bury
REF.BC.1817
A history of artists involvement with the book format between 1963 and 2000 that includes a range of artists and movements from Mallarme to the Piece of Paper Press via Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Fluxus and conceptual art. This second edition includes updated text with new bibliographic descriptions of 600 key artists books and over 130 new, full-page, color illustrations. An indispensable resource for the definition and classification of artists’ books.
Booktrek: Selected Essays on Artists’ Books (1972-2010)
Clive Phillpot
REF.BC.2284
This volume gathers together the essays written by Clive Phillpot from 1972 through 2010 on the definition and development of artists’ books. Having served as the Director of the Library at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from 1977 to 1994, Phillpot helped map out the field of artists’ books from an institutional point of view by raising awareness of these objects and elevating the form to give it necessary credentials to enter museums.
Artists and Their Books: Books and Their Artists
Marcia Reed and Glenn Phillips
REF.BM.2257
The history of the artist’s book touches nearly every contemporary movement and has influenced Pop art, Fluxus, Conceptual art, feminist art, and postmodernism. This selection of striking books from the Special Collections of the Getty Research Institute seeks to provoke new inquiry into the nature of art and books in contemporary culture.
The Book Art of Richard Minsky: My Life in Book Art
Richard Minsky
REF.AM.1068
Richard Minsky, Founder of Center for Book Arts, is known for his conceptual approach to the book as an art object. He combines a background in economics with an innovative use of traditional methods and new materials to create sculptural, often political, bookworks. Minsky’s blending of an eclectic mix of interests, from musical and theater performance to social issues and virtual worlds, remains a hallmark of his career.
Digital Media
Antiracist Bookwork”: A conversation between Tia Blassingame and Curtis Small, Jr.
Hosted by BookLab in the University of Maryland’s Dept. of English
The Artist Book and the Sailor Suit, Susan Viguers
Book Art Theory Blog, CBAA 2016-02-15
Artist’s Books Unshelved
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art
Beyond the Reading Room: Archives in the World with Book Artist Maureen Cummins
Bowdoin Special Collections & Archives
The Bibliographical Society of America-You Tube Channel
Videos about bibliography (includes some great book arts related talks).
Blue Notebook
Journal for artist’s books.
The Book and Paper Gathering
Free online resource for book and paper conservation techniques and information.
Book Art Theory Blog
Blog of the College Book Art Association.
Bookbinding Now
Biweekly audio series about all aspects of the book.
Bookness
A podcast series that wanders into the Bodleian Library’s collection of artists’ books, pokes around a bit and asks ‘what’s all this then?’
Books on Books
Reviews about book art, the book arts, history and future of the book, the acts of reading and looking and their relationship. The site also documents works in the Books On Books Collection.
CABC Archive
Online archive of past events of the Contemporary Artists’ Book Conference.
C4 Journal
Photobook review platform.
Center for Book Arts YouTube Channel
Artist talks, poetry readings, and more!
DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF ARTISTS’ PUBLISHING | DAAP
User-driven, searchable database of artists’ books.
Grolier Club Video Channel
Videos of lectures about bookish things.
Guild of Book Workers
Standards History and Handouts
iBookBinding
Online bookbinding resource with podcasts.
JCBA Video Channel
Short videos by artists about book art.
Opening Artists’ Books (OAB)
Website that provides definitions of terms used to describe binding styles/book structures and production techniques/media as well as visual exemplars and resources for further investigation.
Printed Matter Critical Essays
Texts by experts in the field of artists’ books.
Quarantine Public Library
Printable artist’s books for free.
Rare Book School Video Channel
Lectures about the study, care, and uses of written, printed, and born-digital materials.
Web Museum of Wood Type
Educating the general public, and the next generation, on the beauty of wood types and engraved blocks. Great type specimen collection.