Book of the world
By: Rosemarie Chiarlone, artist ; Susan Weiner, poet
Contributors: Weiner, Susan, poet; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Publisher: [publisher not identified]
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Miami Beach, Florida?]
Language: eng
Subjects: Violence; Pictorial works; Booksellers and bookselling; Bombings; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Protest movements; Books and reading in art; Intellectual life; Social conditions; Censorship; Terrorism in art; In art; War and civilization; Vehicle bombs; Visual literature; Specimens; Artists' books; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Description: This collection supports and promotes awareness to the important mission and framework of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition's focus on the lasting power of the written word and the arts in support of the free expression of ideas, the preservation of shared cultural spaces, and the importance of responding to attacks, both overt and subtle, on artists, writers, and academics working under oppressive regimes or in zones of conflict, despite the destruction of that literary/cultural content.

"The Book of the world edition consists of three different uniquely altered volumes of World book encyclopedias. The elegant gold trimmed leather bound books with gold trim pages are intact and undamaged externally. Yet, upon opening, extensively torn and burned pages with gaping internal holes are revealed. Ashes still fall from the books each time they are opened. The text is burnt into the front and back liners. There is different text for each volume ... Thematically the books address societal issues, especially the disrupted interface between literature and war. The undamaged, hardbound covers denote endurance of knowledge, literature and the human spirit. The poetry references the violence in Iraq, and the torn, burnt internal pages reflect the brutality and loss of war. The gold trim symbolises the importance of the book and the theme of overcoming the negativity of war through the power of literature and knowledge."--The Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.
Notes: Medium consists of leather bound books; scorched, cut, and engraved paper; ash, and graphite.

On March 5th, 2007, a car bomb exploded on al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad. Al-Mutanabbi Street is located in a mixed Shia-Sunni area. More than 30 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. Al-Mutanabbi Street, the historic center of Baghdad bookselling, holds bookstores and outdoor bookstalls, cafes, stationery shops, and even tea and tobacco shops. It has been the longstanding heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community for centuries. In response to the attack, a San Francisco poet and bookseller, Beau Beausoleil, rallied a community of international artists and writers to produce a collection of letterpress-printed broadsides (poster-like works on paper), artists' books (unique works of art in book form), and an anthology of writing, all focused on expressing solidarity with Iraqi booksellers, writers and readers. The coalition of contributing artists calls itself Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition.

Gift; Beau Beausoleil; 2019-2020.
Table of contents: title: [Vol. 1].; title: Book of the world : health & medical -- -- [v. 2].; title: Book of the world : year book 1998 -- -- [v. 3.]; title: Book of the world : E 6.