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A 17th-century
vellum scroll of the book of Esther
Irish codex,
Aureus, 8th century
In a vertical
scroll the writing was continuous, but as horizontal scrolls were
developed they began writing
in columns.
Later these sheets were folded back and forth and kept flat with
a board on the top and bottom. Illustration by Pauline Johnson.
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A brief history
of artists books
Finding a context
So what we have is a form which is not, per se new, but
whose "time has come." - Dick Higgins, founder, Something
Else Press
The point I'm trying to make is that all of us who love books
are operating on an historical continuum. The structure that we
call a book has changed drastically from what it was in the past,
and it will change drastically in the future. [Others] have pointed
out that our word "book" pre-dates the codex, our word "library"
predates the introduction of papyrus, ... "volume" is derived
from "roll," as in a scroll. Rather than being locked in time,
I've found it productive to be aware of historical models and
to embrace them in my development as a book artist. It's not an
either/or situation. There's room on my library shelves for all
kinds of books.
- Edward H. Hutchins, Proprietor of Editions
Where does one
begin when looking at the history of artists books? With the medieval
Irish scribes painstakingly illuminating the Book of Kells?
With William Blake or Sonia Deluanay and their innovative ideas of
merging text and image? With Ed Ruscha's, groundbreaking work, Twenty-Six
Gasoline Stations, in 1962? Or even with the 1973 Moore College
of Art (Philadelphia) exhibit which was the first to categorize the
medium as artists books?
In this chapter, I am
seeking to set the stage for the ones that follow on current book
artists and book arts issues. To do this I will look briefly at various
historical works and artists that have shown a vision for the book
as a work of art. These visions still inspire artists to explore new
directions and continually redefine the artists book.
For many reasons one could
say that artists books is one of the most ancient of art forms. In
the introduction to Creative Bookbinding, Pauline Johnson writes
in reference to the Middle Ages: "At one time well-constructed and
beautifully embellished books were regarded as a major art form."1
The book as an art form did not begin with the coining of a term and
we owe much to the explorations of early book artists.
From the beginning
Many people who write about the history of artists
books begin with William Blake, suggesting that his innovative printing
techniques and merging of type and image, both in proximity and
concept, were the first examples of artists books. I propose that
there are many influences prior to Blake that have shaped and continue
to shape the artists books being produced today.
Any historical figure,
(possibly not even considered an artist in his lifetime), who has
pushed the notion of a book to a new or higher level, influences
and encourages book artists to continue their investigations - to
experiment and to innovate. Each of these small steps in the alteration
of the book structure, content or design brings us to where we are
today.
In the 1990s there was
considerable emphasis placed on book artists to challenge the codex
form and to develop and perfect new structures. Is not the redefinition
of the vertical scroll, to first read horizontally in a series of
columns, and then to take the scroll and fold it back and forth,
thus establishing a page, one of the most fundamentally innovative
structures? This innovation with added covers for protection and
hinges for stability - a codex - has been the primary bearer of
knowledge for the last 2000 years. Christian scholars of the 7th
century A.D. are said to have secured the longevity of the codex
format because the codex made it possible to have several books
open at once for comparative study. With scrolls this would have
been impossible.2
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