Somewhere, in a remote corner of the book arts, lies artists books. Of the three, the work to establish an acceptable definition consumed the greatest effort. If it is deemed necessary, it has yet to be established. I examine where and how the debate began, how the principle issues were discussed, and what were failures and successes.
Concentration is on writings published in Western Europe and the United States.
The Artists Books exhibition, and two accompanying reviews, mark a beginning. It is for this reason I adopt the spelling artists books, without the apostrophe, unless quoting other sources. Over 300 exhibitions and 700 published works are recorded. The quantitative picture, however, clouds the qualitative perspective. One-third of all the published works are, indeed, reviews of exhibitions or books.