Books on Books

Many full-bleed black & white illus. throughout. 260 pp. (incl. wrappers). 12mo (160 x 117 mm.), orig. printed semi-stiff wrappers, pictorial flaps, perfect-bound. Paris: C. Daviet-Thery, September 2011.

An exhibition catalogue mostly unrelated to the exhibition for which it was published. This volume originates from Christoph Schifferli’s show Books on Books (2009) which he curated at the invitation of gallerist Christophe Daviet-Thery. He displayed 26 artists’ books that concern books and their representation. Daviet-Thery then commissioned book designer Saint-Loubert Bié to create the show’s catalogue. The designer invited artists Yann (truncated) Sérandour and Jonathan Monk for a conversation about 12 artists’ books he selected. That conversation is reproduced here and interspersed with photographs of the books and the participants.

The books discussed include: Bruce Nauman’s Burning Small Fires, Richard Prince’s American English (published by Sadie Coles HQ & Walther König), Monk’s Cover Version, Sérandour’s Inside the White Cube: Overprinted Edition, Martin Kippenberger’s The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s ‘Amerika’, Batia Suter’s Parallel Encyclopedia, etc.

As new, this is a compelling work on contemporary book collectors and artists’ books. No stated edition size, but there were 40 copies produced with the printed signatures of Monk and Sérandour added to the inside of the pictorial flaps. Six A.P. and three H.C. copies were also printed.

❧ A. Desjardin, The Book on Books on Artists Books (2nd ed.: 2013) 600. (Inventory #: 9551)