The book as object, as content, as idea, as interface. What is the book in a digital age? Is it a physical object containing pages encased in covers? Is it a portable device that gives us access to entire libraries? The codex, the book as bound paper sheets, emerged around 150 CE. It was preceded by clay tablets and papyrus scrolls. Are those books? In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Amaranth Borsuk considers the history of the book, the future of the book, and the idea of the book. Tracing the interrelationship of form and content in the book's development, she bridges book history, book arts, and electronic literature to expand our definition of an object we thought we knew intimately. Contrary to the many reports of its death (which has been blamed at various times on newspapers, television, and e-readers), the book is alive. Despite nostalgic paeans to the codex and its printed pages, Borsuk reminds us, the term “book” commonly refers to both medium and content. And the medium has proved to be malleable. Rather than pinning our notion of the book to a single form, Borsuk argues, we should remember its long history of transformation. Considering the book as object, content, idea, and interface, she shows that the physical form of the book has always been the site of experimentation and play. Rather than creating a false dichotomy between print and digital media, we should appreciate their continuities.

Catalog of an exhibition held Feb. 13-June 24, 2013.

Demonstrates how McLuhan extended insights derived from advances in physics and artistic experimentation into a theory of acoustic space which he then used to challenge the assumptions of visual space that had been produced through print culture.

By Betty Bright.

Sculptor, poet, diarist, graphic designer, pioneer artist's book maker, performer, publisher, musician, and, most of all, provocateur, Dieter Roth has long been beloved as an artist's artist. Known for his mistrust of all art institutions and commercial galleries--he once referred to museums as funeral homes--he was also known for his generosity to friends, his collaborative spirit, and for including his family in his art making. Much to the frustration of any gallery that tried to exhibit his work (supposedly none more than once), Roth thumbed his nose at those who valued high purpose and permanence in art. Constantly trying to undo his art education, he would set up systems that discouraged the conventional and the consistent: he drew with both hands at once, preserved the discarded, and reveled in the transitory. Grease stains, mold formations, insect borings, and rotting foodstuffs were just some of the materials used, both out of a fascination with their painterly, textural aspects and for their innate ability to make time visible and play to chance. "More is better," he once said, and more there always was. Roth never stopped working, and he believed that everything could be art, from his sketch pad to the table he sat at, the telephone he talked on, or his friend's kitchen (the kitchen was later sold to a museum). Roth Time: A Dieter Roth Retrospective is published to mark the first major survey exhibition of the artist's work since his death in 1998. Five decades of drawings, graphics, books, paintings, objects, installations, films and video works are represented. The publication offers a window into Roth's creative world, reflecting him and his era. The exhibition is organized by the Schaulager with The Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne.

Something Else Press is credited with being among the first publishers of an entirely new genre: integral artworks designed for publication, now widely known as "artists' books." From 1963 to 1974 Dick Higgins & associates presented over sixty publications, including major non-traditional works by John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Claes Oldenburg, Emmett Williams, & Allan Kaprow, among many others. The press also issued anthologies of concrete poetry, artists' unrealizable architectural projects, & many long-out-of-print works by Gertrude Stein. This illustrated critical history features Peter Frank's annotation provides an overview of the operation as well as salient descriptions of each publication, complete with press runs, co-editions, cancellations, & ephemera. There are photographs of each book jacket or cover, & many interior pages. We published this book originally in 1983; it has been out-of-print for a number of years. Last year we discovered about 100 book blocks of the original edition whose covers had been slightly spoiled. These we were able to arrange for a superb rebinding, & now offer the remaining 80 copies for sale, which will be of particular interest for scholars & academic libraries.

This new edition of Antique Trader Book Collector's Price Guide provides readers with the information and values to carve a niche for themselves in a market where rare first editions of Jane Austen's Emma and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone recently sold at auction for 254,610 dollars and 40,355 dollars respectively. Organized in 13 categories, including Americana, banned, paranormal and mystery, this guide discusses identifying and grading books, and provides collectors with details for identifying and assessing books in 8,000 listings.

Nearly three decades after its first printing, Book as Artwork 1960-1972 remains a widely-cited landmark in the critical literature on artists' books. Penned by the critic and curator Germano Celant to accompany an exhibition at Nigel Greenwood Gallery in London, it was the first critical consideration of the artist's book. A bibliography lists over 300 historic artist-produced publications from this golden age of the medium.