Teresa Pankratz, Chicago, IL. The Wardrobe, 1988, letterpress, etchings, mahogany case, 12 x 10.75", 148" long fully extended

         Johanna Drucker, in her recent book, The Century of Artists' Books, is able to blend these two groups of definitions together giving importance to the "bookness" of a work - how the artist integrates the specific features of the book form into their artists book, but with emphasis also placed on "explorations of the book as an artistic concept." She also states that without the attention to concept, a work cannot be considered an artists book.¹¹ I would like to close this debate using a statement from an essay by Ed Hutchins entitled "Defining the Book in the Electronic Age."

"When I define books for myself, I chose not to look at what a book is, what it is made out of, or what it looks like. Instead, I chose to consider how a book is used and what purpose it serves. For me a book is a structure for storing and sharing information. ... I told this definition to an audience and someone exclaimed, 'But that describes a refrigerator.' I replied, 'Wow, what a great idea for a book.'"¹²

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