Thursday, November 7, 2013

Thursday's Three on Art

Today's post spotlights three purveyors of fine artist books.

Joshua Heller Rare Books, Washington, D.C. ~ I try never to miss an issue of an online catalogue from Joshua Heller Rare Books, a promoter of book arts for years whose clients include The Library of Congress, Harvard University, Yale University Library, The British Library, and many other institutions around the world. The selection of items for purchase is outstanding (I enjoy just reading the information that accompanies each one). You'll find marvelous limited-edition artist books by Susan Allix, Kristin Gudbrandsdottir, Ilse Schreiber-NollClaire Van Vliet, and numerous other artists and illustrators, as well as poets and authors, including Pablo Neruda and Rainer Maria Rilke. The list of works from private presses is impressive. A recent addition is a collection of 30 books containing or inspired by the work of artist Ed Ruscha. I've made purchases from Joshua Heller for my own collection and can attest to the quality of the books available and the excellent customer service.

Granary Books, New York City ~ Word and image come together so beautifully at Granary Books. An independent publisher, Granary offers both trade and limited-edition artist books, poetry collections, and artist-writer collaborations, which are a joy to hold in the hand. (I have purchased a number of books from Granary.) Granary's limited-edition catalogue includes Faster Than Birds Can Fly, by John Ashbery and Trevor Winkfield; Some of These Daze, by Charles Bernstein and Mimi Gross; The Dickinson Composites, by Jen Bervin; and The Gorgeous Nothings: Emily Dickinson's Envelope-Poems, by Jen Bervin and Marta Werner. Those who collect titles by scholar, book artist, and experimental visual poet Johanna Drucker will want to be sure to browse Granary's offerings.

Charles Hobson's Pacific Editions, Stinson Beach, California ~ Artist Charles Hobson has been publishing limited-edition artist books since 1986, when he released Quartet: Essays by Lewis Thomas, with etchings by Joseph Goldyne. (Stanford University Library's now owns Hobson's design archive.) Hobson has collaborated with poet W.S. Merwin (Trees, 2010), short story writer Barry Lopez (The Mappist, 2005), and essayist and New Yorker senior editor Roger Angell (Ancient Mariner, 2009). In 2002, Hobson published Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes, which takes as inspiration Billy Collins's poem of the same name. All of Hobson's books (I own a couple) are beautifully conceived, designed, and printed; some editions are now out of print. Among recent work is Degas in Rome, a fictional diary of Edgar Degas; and Quarantine, an accordian-fold containing Eavan Boland's poem

Artist Book Foundation

No comments: