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Artists' Books are books made by artists, a simple explanation but is it as simple as that? A regular book has been through several processes from the author it goes to a layout department and finally to a printer with as final result a book printed in big volumes in a form as we know it very well. The author is not involved in the complete production process of the book.

In case of the artists' books it is completely different, in most cases the artists' book maker is present from the idea of the book till the production of the book. This makes the philosophy that hangs around the idea of artists' books. The form is more important then its contents, for an artists' book maker the book is an object, a work of art that has the form of a book. A sculptor use clay to create an object, the artists' book maker uses paper, or several other materials to create an object that is called a book. This makes that artists' books are produced in low editions and sometimes there exist only 1 unique specimen of the artists' book. The form, use of material and the low edition makes from the artists' book an esthetical and intimate piece of art.

The idea of artists' books can go very far, sometimes they even do not look like books (large or small size, odd shapes, …) or is it even impossible to see its contents and yet they are called artists' books. Therefore you do not need to read an artists' book, it is its artistic form that makes it unique from a regular book. There are several artists who explores the idea of artists' books and all did not work specific with paper or hand-made paper also wood, iron, stone, … and several other materials has been used. It is not surprising that these books are not available in the regular bookshops but only available in galleries, art bookshops, museums, … And that they are also spread through specific channels.

Artists' books can be called a new media in the art, it is in its eccentric form practiced the past forty years. In medieval times each book was almost an artists' book, knowing how long a few monks were working on one single book, full of magnificent miniatures. Back to today then we see that within Fluxus Dieter Roth was a well know artists' bookmaker and that some of the publications of Dick Higgins and George Maciunas products can be called artists' books. In the international network of Mail-Art we find several archives of artists' books and from time to time there are Mail-Art projects about artists' books that result mostly in unique specimens.

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