Books On Books aims to bookmark the evolution of the book — from the centuries-long movement of orality into literacy to tomorrow’s ongoing development of the codex offline and online. Its bookmarks range from the bibliographic to the paleo-webliographic, from incunabula to the e-incunabulum, from papyrus scrolls to scrolling screens and from the book arts to book art. You will also find items in the Books On Books Collection of book art documented here.
Links have a way breaking. Whenever you encounter an “Error 404” or “Page not found” message in response to a link provided by Books On Books, please use the Comments function to let your curator know.
Learn more about your curator here. Learn most about him at Books On Books. And more bookmarks here.
Legal Matters
1) Books On Books is a non-profit site offering postings and reviews about book art, the book arts, history and future of the book, the acts of reading and looking and their relationship. The site also documents works in the Books On Books Collection.
2) The copyright on all materials contained on this website remain with the individual authors, artists, photographers, printers or companies. Every attempt is made to credit the copyright holder whenever known. All articles stay well within fair use bounds, all photographs being included solely to add context to the posting and for educational purposes, with no commercial interest whatsoever. If you are the copyright holder and you are not credited in a manner you would like, or if you wish for removal of any images under your copyright, please let me know by writing to robert.bolick@gmail.com. I will immediately address any crediting issues and/or withdraw images from the relevant posting.
3) All images on Books On Books are provided, under fair use, to highlight and visualize the works and their contexts addressed in the postings. My hope is to bring exposure to the artists, craftspeople and institutions discussed. Other than ownership of works in the Books On Books Collection, I have no commercial stake or financial interest in any artist, author, publisher, retailer or supplier mentioned on this site and receive no commercial interest or compensation for Books On Books.
4) Note that any work photographed may be copyrighted by the artist, author, publisher, illustrator and/or institution owning the work as indicated in the postings. Permission to use contents from these works for anything outside of fair use purposes must come directly from the copyright owner, and no permission is granted or implied to use images or material found on Books On Books for any purpose that would infringe on the rights of the copyright owner.
5) You may link to posts on Books On Books. You may not re-post them or the images contained in them, nor may you use any images or content from Books On Books for commercial purposes, nor for any purpose that could in any way violate the rights of the copyright holder.
6) All opinions expressed herewithin are the authors’ alone, and not reflective of any employers, previous employers, family members, friends, or associates of the author.
Books On Books 
The presence of a book in a room is of the utmost importance. It invites one to read. The electronic device laying about is not inviting, rather it screams privacy: Please! DO NOT TOUCH I belong to my master.
I was given a Christmas present of a hard bound copy of “SHAKEDOWN exposing the real Jesse Jackson” by Kenneth R. Timmerman. Even when not open this book SHOUTS! pick me up and continue reading, I am a very important read. Not just to me by for all.
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Thanks for stopping by and reacting, Carlo. I have encased my iPad in a Twelvesouth cover that appears to be a leatherbound book, and it sits invitingly among the hardcovers and paperbacks. If you have the chance, take a look at The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – preferably with a child in your lap. The intertwining of our digital and paper worlds makes for fascinating tensions, differences and resolutions.
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Thank you for the recommendation, I will certainly get around to seeing it. Since coming to WP, as with most bIog sites, I came upon BooksOnBooks by chance and have been enjoying it ever since. Warm regards for a Happy New Year and more.
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Very much enjoying your posts on books and book art! Thank you for following St Brigid Press, as well. I am currently moving my website to a different host, and am endeavoring to transfer followers to the new newsletter format. If you like, please go to the St Brigid Press website and sign up for the newsletter (at the bottom/footer of each web page).
stbrigidpress.net
Thanks very much, and all best to you.
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Robert….wow, what a great site with excellent and insightful content (just read the article on Aldus Manutius), Also, excellent photographs. I will adding this site to my links. Thanks for your outstanding work here! Chris
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Dear Mr Bolick, thank you so much for appreciating and sharing my text, ‘Poetry, Image, Imagination’ about Gilberto Rolla’s Casket Books and book art. I feel very humbled. Especially as your website is such a wonderful shrine of precious gems. Thank you so much!
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Incredibly wonderful and useful. I am preparing a course on Artists’ Books and will send my students here first.
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Greetings from the Philippines. I would like to know the difference between book arts and book art. I know it’s more than plural and singular. We are planning for a new show and the former curator reminded me before to use book art not book arts.
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Thanks for asking. There are many more authoritative sources to consult. Many are listed here: https://books-on-books.com/resources-in-progress/ (apologies that it has not been fully edited and alphabetized). The term “the book arts” refers to all of the bookmaking crafts and techniques involved in creating physical and digital books, such as editorial and design work, typesetting, coding, printing (all methods), binding and so on. There is a Glossaries section under the Resources link, but Geoffrey Glaister’s “Encyclopedia of the Book” is an easier place to start. I use the generic term “book art” to refer to works of art that owe their status to the concept of “the book” in its broadest sense. The debate over terminology — bookwork, artist or artist’s or artists’ book, livre d’artiste, etc. — continues to interest some people, but it is more interesting to engage with the thing in front of you and ask how its relationship to “the book” and “the book arts” are at play in making the thing a work of art.
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Amazing resource! I have a quick question– I’m trying to research the history of the book as an exhibition space, and haven’t found anything that quite fits. I’ve found books as artworks, artworks about the archive, and historical exhibition catalogues. Do you by any chance have any ideas where I could start to look, or is the formalised idea of a curated, group exhibition so new that there just aren’t that many examples? Any pointers would be much appreciated! Thank you!
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Try Marian Macken’s “Binding Space” and David Dernie’s “Exhibition Design”. They have content and further references on the subject. Also look for “exhibition as a form of art” and, in whatever you find, substitute the word “book” for “exhibition” — that is, find where the analogies of “exhibition as book” and “book as exhibition” hold up. “Wunderkammers” would also work as a point of entry to the subject. If convenient, let me know how you get on. robert.bolick@gmail.com
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Just came across this: https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/1778/1/game_amanda_mphil_thesis_2016%20.pdf
INTIMATE
ECOLOGIES
Amanda Game
MPhil by Thesis
The Royal College of Art
September 2015
An exploration of the languages of
contemporary exhibitions and making
in museums and related cultural
spaces in the UK
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