“Every book is a metaphor, an object of associations and history, cultural meanings and productions values, spiritual possibilities and poetic spaces, and all of these are part of the field which the artist’s books derives its identity” (Johanna Drucker, The Century of Artists’ Books, 1995, quoted in Journal of Artist’s Books (Spring 2001), 4.

Artists’ books are, simply put, books made by artists. This definition does not, however, do justice to the enormous creativity and diversity of materials and objects that are used to create these works. Metal, paper, fabric, glass, and even edible elements are among the many materials that book artists experiment with. Artists have been playing with book like forms in their art for hundreds of years, but it become a special category of creative work in the last few decades. In comparison to some artists’ books, which are more sculptural or performative, such as Incatations by Ambar Post. The highlighted books in this project are fairly traditional.


Incantations by Ambar Past (1949-)
Image courtesy of Special Collections of the University of Miami Richter Library

They are printed on paper, include both text and images, and fold up into book-like forms. Every copy of the Letter of Columbus, however, is a unique work of art. Anthony Rice created different monotype images for each one of the books produced—no two examples are alike. The Codex Esplangliensis is, as the title suggests, in the form of a pre-Columbian codex form. Many artists today are experimenting with the codex form, as we see with this example, the Copernican Codex, printed on traditional amante paper, by book artist Petra Press.


Watch a video of the Copernican Codex
The Copernican Codex by Petra Press (2004)
Image courtesy of Special Collections at the University of Miami Richter Library