Animalphabet (1996)

Animalphabet (1996)
Department of Special Publications, The Museum of Metropolitan Art
Hardcover, casebound sewn. H120 x W150 mm, 60 unnumbered pages. Acquired from Aardvark Books, 1 August 2021.
Photos: Books On Books Collection.

Animalphabet is a reminder of the close connection between animals and alphabet books. Think of the several same-titled works, e.g., Julia Donaldson’s Animalphabet (2018) or Sharon Werner and Sharon Forss’ AlphaBeasties (2009) or Alan James Robinson and Suzanne Moore’s A Fowl Alphabet (1986). It also highlights an aspect of book art.

Although the museum’s little book does not rise to the level of art, its self-reflective textual/visual puns are a hallmark of much book art. In it, the museum staff selects an ink scroll depiction of donkeys by Huang Chou for “Ass-embly”, François Pompon’s Polar Bear for “Bear Minimum”, and a 10th-11th-century bookcover carving of the emblem of Luke the Evangelist for “Holy Cow”. The Met’s choice of Pompon’s Minimalist bear to pun on the art movement comes closest to the rampant punning of homages to Ed Ruscha’s “various” iconic works of book art, distilled in Various Small Books (MIT Press, 2013).

Because it is hard to think of a textual/visual/genre pun among artists’ books that is more multilevel than the Met’s final letter, the little book should have the last word.

© Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.

Further Reading

“Abecedaries I (in progress)“. Books On Books Collection.

“Buzz Spector“. 24 September 2021. Books On Books Collection.

“Ximena Pérez Grobet“. 7 July 2021. Books On Books Collection.

“Ron King“. 1 March 2021. Books On Books Collection.

“Alan James Robinson“. 9 June 2023. Books On Books Collection.

“Sharon Werner & Sharon Forss“.

Brouws, Jeffrey T., Wendy Burton, Hermann Zschiegner, Phil Taylor, Mark Rawlinson and Edward Ruscha. 2013. Various Small Books : Referencing Various Small Books by Ed Ruscha. Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Donaldson Julia. 2018. Animalphabet. London: Pan Macmillan.