Livre d’artiste, artists' books, book arts, book works, or book objects – including exhibition catalogs, magazines, pamphlets, manifestos? Historically, these terms have been used interchangeably, resulting in ambiguous definitions and arbitrary categories.
The Artists’ Book and Book Arts Collection is defined by two sub-collections:
The Artist Books (AB) subcollection aligns with Lucy Lippard definition of artists’ books "as a work of art on its own, conceived specifically for the book form and often published by the artist.”
The Book Arts (BA) subcollection reflects the traditional definition of livre d’artiste – finely bound books published in small editions, often studied by the members of Typophiles, The Grolier Club, and The Limited Editions Club.
The Artist Book (AB) subcollection actively acquires contemporary artists’ books based on,
Form: illustrates a variety of approaches to the book form, unusual formats or construction, and innovative use of materials.
Subject: engages in concepts or subjects of interest to students, faculty, and Cooper Union’s community.
Printmaking Techniques: demonstrates printing techniques accessible to students in Cooper Union’s print shop or media labs.
Geographical Breadth: prioritizing the work of Cooper Union students, alumni, faculty, and New York City-based artists; and international artists, multi-lingual, translated, or contextualized texts.
Through routine library functions, proactive identification processes, and in accordance with the collection criteria—circulating items can and have been transferred to ABBA. Because these items were historically processed for circulation, some items have institutional markings, such as ink or blind stamps, handwritten accession numbers, adhesive labels, barcodes, and security strips. These markings are retained, so as not to further damage or alter the work.
The AB subcollection includes catalogs and publications produced by institutions if the book was designed by the artist or by the instruction of the artist.
Search Artists' Books in the Catalog.
A Performance
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Thirty-Four Parking Lots in Los Angeles
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Carpoolers #4
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The Shadow
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Find other issues for Martha's Quarterly in the catalog.
The Book Arts (BA) subcollection does not actively acquire; however, the subcollection receives donations and transfers from other collections or archives.
The former Cooper Union Provost, Ed Colker, donated his collection of Limited Editions Club (LEC), Heritage Press, and Haybarn Press.
In 2024, Hejduk’s collection of LEC was added to the Book Arts collection, after being held by the Architecture Archives for School of Architecture’s Study Collection. Dean of the School of Architecture, John Hejduk, was also a member of the Limited Editions Club and an illustrator for LEC’s edition of Thomas Mann’s The Black Swan.
Search Book Arts in the catalog.
The Sonnets to Orpheus
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For My People
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The worlds of Kafka & Cuevas : an unsettling flight to the fantasy world of Franz Kafka by the Mexican artist, José Luis Cuevas
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