Artists' Books
This professional artist's books collection is housed in the Fleet Library Special Collections department. Special Collections includes nearly 18,000 important and rare printed books and periodicals that date from as early as the 16th century to present. Historical as well as contemporary materials cover the fine arts, architecture, photography, decorative arts, and design and provide supplemental and inspirational resources for students, faculty, and outside researchers.
The physical Artists’ Books Collection includes nearly 2,000 multiples, hand-made book objects, limited edition books, and zines dating from the mid-1960’s to present. The collection also includes numerous related book arts references and artists’ ephemera files. Featured collections include bookmaking process archives of internationally known book artists Carol Barton, Ruth Laxson and Angela Lorenz. This digital collection presents an abridged preview of each book. Visit 2nd Floor, Rm. 201 of the Fleet Library or contact risdspecial@risd.edu to view the collection in its entirety.
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Freedom: A Fable
Kara Elizabeth Walker, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
1 volume, 19 pages. "A Curious interpretation of the wit of a negree in troubled times, with illustrations.. Presented to you this Christmas '97 by the Peter Norton Family, benefactors." "The Future vision of a soon-to-be emancipated 19th century Negress"--Preliminary leaf. Edition of 4000. Pop-up design by David Eisen, Architects, Inc. Boston, MA ; Laser cutting by Lasercraft, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA ; Text designed by Timothy Silverlake, Valencia, CA ; Printed by Typecraft, Inc. Pasadena, CA. ; Binding by Roswell Book Binders, Phoenix, AZ.
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Martha
Shu-Ju Wang, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
1 volume, 26 pages. Cover title. "Gocco printed from original text and design by Shu-Ju Wang. Individual prints by Martha Pomeranz."--Colophon. "Relay Replay Press is dedicated to working with seniors with dementia to create artist's books that illuminate the creative lives of the elderly."--Artist's statement at Vamp & Tramp Booksellers website. Limited ed. of 20 copies. "Martha designed and Gocco printed the individual prints; I designed and Gocco printed the envelopes and the cover. The cover was also dyed with a very diluted acrylic paint; on Rives Lightweight, Nepal Light, and Nepal Heavyweight. Martha took to the Print Gocco like fish to water. She created 18 prints, each full of wonderful little observations about her daily life and sage advice. I thought her prints were like letters to her friends and family, and therefore chose a page format that referenced an envelope form. The book has extra pockets for her to add photographs or keepsakes, and the wrap around cover keeps everything together."--Artist's statement at Vamp & Tramp Booksellers website. Consists of 9 envelope pages to house two prints each. Gocco printed on Rives Lightweight; Nepal Light & Heavyweight. Back cover is extended flap that wraps around to the front with a ribbon and button closure. Blanket stitch around the cover edges. Binding is "Blizzard books", and structure invented by Hedi Kyle.
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Diary of a Sparrow
Kazuko Watanabe, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
accordion variation with sections that pull out to create "rooms"; cover; interior pages. Diaries of the artist's grandfather are translated and reproduced as chapters. These chapters, illustrated with abstract imagery, combine with an unfolding structure to create 3 rooms and a sense of place.
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Superstition Highway
Marshall Weber, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
case bound with cloth spine, paper covered boards, hand painted; cover; interior spreads. Reading almost like a drug-induced trip, Marshall Weber writes of a tough patch of road somewhere in the desert West where strange folk appear. Images and text all hand painted by Fred Rinne.
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Fabrik
Linda Welch, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
84 unnumbered pages : color illustrations. Title from book cover. Unique artist book, signed by artist on page [3] of cover. Coptic binding. Pages incorporate acrylic painting, screen print ink, found papers, book board. "A visual flipbook of text, color and pattern," this one-of-a-kind painted book is by Linda Welch. Her abstract, layered, mixed media books incorporate oil painting, collage, screen printing, found book pages and wax."--23 Sandy Gallery website. Curated title for Fleet Library Special Collections exhibition Stacked & Altered, summer 2022.
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Night Vision
Anne West, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
French fold pages, perfect bound in hard cover, enclosed in slipcase with magnetic flap closure. Box cover; cover; title page; interior pages and spreads. Anne West's poetry is lushly illustrated with images of night blooming flowers drawn by Deborah Wieder. The rich, fertile, earthy feminine side of life is embodied in the night garden.
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A Dictionary Story
Sam Winston, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
accordion fold with hard cover, housed in cloth covered slipcase. Slipcase cover; title page; interior pages; colophon. A dictionary longs to be a book of stories, not just a list of words and definitions. She gets into trouble when she lets her words run about, creating meaningless havoc. The alphabet comes to the rescue and restores order.
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Reading Closed Books
Sam Winston, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
3 volumes. Title from slipcase cover. "This is the first printing.. in an edition of 34 copies with 5 artist's proofs"--Colophon. "This book is printed using a HP Indigo press with GRACoL and Fogra certified HP Indigo Ink.. Hand binding by Haein Song.. Body text is set in Dante MT Pro and Pitch Sans. Book design by Matthew Appleton at Modern Activity with additional design assistance from Pietro Martini. Photography by Andy Sewell and Sam Winston"--Absorbing Light colophon. "Each book has a unique handwritten colophon and title page -- whilst these words were being written the sound of a printer was humbing [sic] away in the studio"--Absorbing Space colophon. "This book is archival inkjet printed onto 54gsm Tosa Shi sheet.. Handbinding by Haein Song in Colorado Seine bookcloth. Body text is set in Dante MT Pro. Book fore-edge photography by Pietro Martini"--Becoming Dust colophon. Issued in a cloth-covered slipcase; each volume signed by the artist. Becoming Dust is bound in an accordion fold format.
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Counting: a book of lists
Janine Wong, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
accordion, dos à dos, uncovered spine with two cloth covered boards; a cloth covered board folder wraps around the book and all enclosed in a cloth covered slipcase, with foil stamped title. Cover; interior pages. Taking bits of information found in old journal entries, calendars, shopping and to-do lists, the artist notes the roles she plays as wife, mother, professor, administrator, architect, and book artist. Found lists are digitally reproduced with letterpress.
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Hybrid Cartographies: Seoul's Consuming Spaces
Jeannie Meejin Yoon, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
1 folded sheet. "Text/ photographs/ concept/ design, Jeannie Meejin Yoon" Accordion fold, printed both sides of single sheet. Artists' statement: like my experience of the city, this detour/map is not linear. it has been laid out on the front and back of a 60 cm x 60 cm flat surface. A 12 cm by 12 cm module was inscribed to create a 25 square grid on both sides. the surface was in turn cut along the module line, beginning on the bottom right hand corner and spiralling inward the center module. the manipulate surface was then folded in on itself in such a way as to connect the center-front module to the corner-back module -- an obtuse way of arriving at a moebius strip. when completely unfolded, it has no beginning and no end, no front and no back, no inside and no outside. This was my experience of Seoul. Hybrid cartographie, about three building projects in the modern city of Seoul, Korea is a maze book-- made up of complex folds as in an accordion book but twisting and moving in multiple directions as it is unfolded. When completely unfolded the book's pages formthe shape of a mobius strip. Directions for unfolding the book are found on each page in the form of arrows and instructions, but the reader is warned at the beginning that the book is both a map and a detour. Includes bibliographical references.
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Memories of Science
Dorothy A. Yule, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
Limited edition of fifty copies, signed and numbered by the artist. "Typeset in Garamond, Latin Condensed and Copperplate, designed with Adobe CS5 and letterpress printed on Mohawk Superfine. Engravings are from the Dover Pictorial Archives and 'The complete encyclopedia of illustration' by Johann Georg Heck. Star maps.. by Susan Hunt Yule. Music.. by Doug Yule. lyrics.. by Dorothy A. Yule"--Colophon. "Recorded, mixed and mastered at: Avast! Studio, Seattle, Washington. Engineer: Jonny Mendoza; Produced by Doug Yule and Jonny Mendoza. Performed by Big Red Dog. Doug Yule: Guitar, Vox, Shakers. Cary Lung: Mandolins. Tom Collicott: Guitar. Dan Yule: Violin, Bass"--Audio disc. Accordion folded structure held by paper sleeves on both sides; includes five pop-ups. Accordion is fitted into a glass topped box with tray on the bottom holding 3" audio disc. Full size audio disc included separately. Also includes a booklet titled "Serving suggestions: practical considerations for enjoying your book", with illustrations by Susan Hunt Yule. Accordion and 3" audio disc have copyright date 2011. 4 3/4" audio disc is dated 2012. "Serving suggestions" booklet dated 2014.
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A Single {frame}
Liya Zhu, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
1 volume, 6 pages. Numbered edition of 12 copies. "printed in Caslon Old Style on French paper with watercolor and lino-cuts"--colophon. ".. [Produced] spring 2019 [for] Art 136: The Artist's Book course, taught by Tia Blassingame"--colophon. Combines handset letterpress, linocuts, watercolor, papercutting and an interactive element to express the significance of self."--Scripts Press.
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Cacaform Birds
Yingchun Zhu, Special Collections, and Fleet Library
Third chapter (Key) is sealed. "The book contains three parts, the first containing doctored photographs that show these birds interacting with sepia cityscapes, alternately goggled at and overlooked by the passers-by. The second introduces us to each individual species through poetic verse, while the third section must be carefully unsealed by the reader in order to reveal how the Cacaform Birds came into being."--Publisher's description. Step into the world of Cacaform Birds - a world that exists a half-pace to one side of our own, at the confluence of imagination, art and reality. Within these pages we meet the 'Glowerspite' (often dozes in a supine position; converts its tail to a head when startled) and the 'Mare-away' (who carries a small black troll on its back and rouses dreamers from night terrors), along with many more: a fantastical aviary brought to life by Zhu Yingchun's art. The book contains three parts, the first containing doctored photographs that show these birds interacting with sepia cityscapes, alternately goggled at and overlooked by the passers-by. The second introduces us to each individual species through poetic verse, while the third section must be carefully unsealed by the reader in order to reveal how the Cacaform Birds came into being. A blend of bestiary, spotter's guide and poetic anthology, this book demonstrates that art and amusement can be found everywhere, if you only care to look.