never mind the press | recommended books

Recommended Books:
BOOK ART AND BINDING

Japanese Bookbinding: Instructions from a Master Craftsman by Kojiro Ikegami

New York; Tokyo: John Weatherhill, Inc., 1986. xi, 127 pp. illustrated, hardbound. Photographs of each step of each binding structure. The best book describing traditional stab bound books, scrolls, and other primarily Japanese structures.

A Book of One's Own by Paul Johnson

New Hampshire: Heinemann, 1992. Includes the Accordion with Tunnel structure and other great books.

Literacy Through the Book Arts by Paul Johnson

New Hampshire: Heinemann, 1993. Creative ways to make books with kids focusing on form and content.

Creative Bookbinding by Pauline Johnson

University of Washington Press, 1963. 263 pp. illustrated, oversized paper bound. 7 3/4" x 10 1/2". New edition: 272 pp. Uses more traditional methods, more complicated tools, distinctive 1960's patterns.

Creative Cards: Wrap a Message with a Personal Touch by Yoshiko Kitagawa

New York; Japan: Kodansha International, Ltd., 1987. Emphasizing paper-folding techniques for special occasions.

Cover to Cover: Creative Techniques for Making Beautiful Books, Journals and Albums by Shereen LaPlantz

North Carolina: Lark Books, 1995. illustrated, hardbound. 139 pp. Full color and glossy pages. Packed with photographs of book art made by many different people. Step-by-step, easy-to-follow directions and diagrams for making books at home. Inspirational structures.

Reference Catalog, The Catalog of Artists' Materials Daniel Smith, Inc.

Seattle, Washington. Lists types, weights and other information regarding paper.

Non-adhesive binding: Books without Paste or Glue by Keith A. Smith

New York Sigma Foundation, Inc., 1992. 320 pp. illustrated, paper bound (Smythe-sewn). Complex, good for the more advanced or serious bookmaker or those who are good at reading and following intense directions. Describes many variations.

Books, Boxes and Wraps by Marilyn Webberley

Washington: Bifocal Press, 1995. Illustrated with line drawings. A very thick, home grown, offset printed manual of instruction from her many years of teaching. Contains lots of good examples and diagrams, this book is helpful to teachers and others interested in learning some simple and non-traditional book structures. The dimensions are described proportionally, so that you have to calculate measurements according to the size of each book.

Books, Boxes, and Portfolios: Binding, Construction, and Design, Step by Step by Franz Zeier

New York: Design Press, imprint of TAB books, division of McGraw-Hill Inc., 1990 304 pp. illustrated, hardbound. Meticulous and clear, contains mostly traditional structures. He has very strict notions regarding materials and design of books. Chapter on 3-D shapes.

DESIGN AND HISTORY

Books & Bookends by Carol Barton and Henry Barrow

Maryland: Popular Kinetics Press, 1990. 73 pp. spiral bound. Catalogue of book art exhibition of the same name. Color illustrations.

The Coming of the Book: the impact of printing, 1450-1800by Lucien Paul Victor Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin

London; New York: Verso modern classics, 1990. 378 pp. First published in English, 1976. Clear, accessible reading about the history of the book.

The Art and History of Books by Norma Levarie

New York: Plenum Publishing Corp., Da Capo Press:1982. Reprint of 1968 edition; New York: Heineman, Inc..315 pp. illustrated. paperbound.

Artists' Books: A Critical Anthology & Sourcebook by Joan Lyons, editor

Utah and New York: Gibbs M. Smith Inc., Peregrine Smith Books in association with the Visual Studies Workshop Press, 1987. 269 pp. illustrated, softcover.

The Design of Books by Adrian Wilson

Utah: Gibbs M. Smith, Inc., Peregrine Smith, 1982. 159 pp. Fourth printing.

CREATIVE WRITING

Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life by Natalie Goldberg (author of Writing Down the Bones).

Bantam Books, 1990. 238 pp. Softcover. Anecdotes regarding how a writer thinks, what exercises she uses. Inspiring stories that relate to writing.

A Life in Hand: Creating the Illuminated Journal by Hannah Hinchman

Utah: Gibbs M. Smith, Inc., Peregrine Smith Books, 1991. 144 pp. Softcover, one edition comes with blank book. With beautiful black and white drawings and some color illustrations. Good writing exercises, encourages you to experiment with letterforms and design, nice examples of merging words and images on a page.

Writing the Natural Way: Using Right-Brain Techniques to Release Your Expressive Powers by Gabriele Lusser Rico

J.P. Tarcher, Inc. distributed by St. Martin's Press, 1983. 287 pp. Softcover. Writing techniques, especially focussing on "clustering", a way to generate words without worrying if they are the "right" ones.

poemcrazy: freeing your life with words by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge

New York: Three Rivers Press (member of the Crown publishing group. www.randomhouse.com), 1996. 210 pp. Softcover. Inspiring and entertaining anecdotes and stories about the process of writing. Ideas for exercises and things to try at the end of each chapter. Also samples of some excellent student writing.

OTHER BOOKS OF INTEREST

Fabric Photos by Marjorie Croner

Colorado: Interweave Press, 1989. Sixth Printing. Paperback. 92 pp. Glossy color photos, hand drawn instructions. Detailed instructions how to make photocopy-based transfers onto cloth and paper.

The Art of Origami by Gay Merrill Gross

Thunder Bay Press, 1995. ; ISBN: 0792458419. Currently out-of-print. Beautiful photographs by Nancy Palubniak. Interesting projects and easy-to-follow instructions. Of special interest: origami wallet, origami shirt and pants

The Complete Encyclopedia of Illustration by Johann Georg Heck

New York: Park Lane, 1979. Edition of 1851 book Iconographic Encyclopaedia of Science, Literature, and Art. Reprint of two volumes originally published by R. Garrigue, New York. These copyright-free illustrations are widely used in photocopied artwork and rubberstamps. Parts of this mammoth book appear in various thin Dover books.

Papermaking by Jules Heller

New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1978. Very thorough examination of papermaking processes and the history of paper. Includes detailed technical information regarding problems you might encounter making paper as well as illustrations of inspiring paper pieces by many different artists.

The Autobiography of Surrealism: The Documents of 20th Century Art by Marcel Jean, editor

New York: The Viking Press, 1980. Automatic writing and "Exquisite Corpse" composite writing appear in this history of the Surrealist art movement, including examples by Louis Aragon, Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Pablo Picasso. Inspiration for loosening up your own creative processes.

Paul Klee: The Berggruen Klee Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Sabine Rewald

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 1988. Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. Contains an interview with Klee's son. Meticulous notes on each plate by Klee himself, who was a compulsive organizer (he was also a bookkeeper). This book does not have his strongest work but it does describe and illustrate a fascinating ink-transfer technique that I have seen nowhere else.

Henri Matisse: Paper Cut-Outs by Jack Cowart, Jack D. Flam, Dominique Fourcade, John Hallmark Neff

The St. Louis Art Museum and the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1977. Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 304 pp. Hardcover. Photographs and descriptions of Matisse's paper cut-out projects, his methods and history. Interesting story of how his book Jazz was created and why he chose to hand-letter the text.

Japanese Ink Painting: the art of Sumi-e by Naomi Okamoto

New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 1995. Step-by-step painting in the traditional Japanese style with a slight Western flavor. Simple exercises to more complex paintings.

The Arts of Hon'Ami Koetsu, Japanese Renaissance Master by Felice Fischer (with essays and catalogue entries by Edwin A. Cranston, Fumiko E. Cranston, Kumakura Isao, Kyoko Kinoshita, Saito Takamasa, and Yamazaki Tsuyoshi)

Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2000. 220 pp. Hardcover. Detailed history of this fascinating artist/impressario. Scrolls, lacquer trays, ceramics and calligraphy are only some of the media with which this artist worked. He often layered calligraphy on top of other artists images for a dynamic effect. He also used inks mixed with mica so that the viewer would have to tilt the piece to catch the light and read the text or see the image.

Writer's Market

Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, published annually by F & A Publications. See also Artist's Market and Poet's Market.

ARTICLE

"An Introduction to Scratchboard" by Norman Gaddini from Inksmith: Information for Artists from Daniel Smith, Daniel Smith, the Catalog of Artists' Materials, Winter 1997.