Bookarts Calligraphy Type

Artists and Their Books / Books and Their Artists

Artists and Their Books / Books and Their Artists

$49.95
More Info

This stunning volume illuminates the current moment of artists' engagement with books, revealing them as an essential medium in contemporary art.

Ever innovative and predictably diverse in their physical formats, artists' books occupy a creative space between the familiar four-cornered object and challenging works of art that effectively question every preconception of what a book can be. Many artists specialize in producing self-contained art projects in the form of books, like Ken Campbell and Susan King, or they establish small presses, like Simon Cutts and Erica Van Horn's Coracle Press or Harry and Sandra Reese's Turkey Press. Countless others who are primarily known as sculptors, painters, or performance artists carry on a parallel practice in artists' books, including Anselm Kiefer, Annette Messager, Ed Ruscha, and Richard Tuttle. Artists and Their Books / Books and Their Artists includes over one hundred important examples selected from the Getty Research Institute's Special Collections of more than six thousand editions and unique artists' books.

This volume also presents precursors to the artist's book, such as Joris Hoefnagel's sixteenth-century calligraphy masterpiece; single-sheet episodes from Albrecht Dürer's Life of Mary, designed to be either broadsides or a book; early illustrated scientific works; and avant-garde publications. Twentieth-century works reveal the impact of artists' books on Pop Art, Fluxus, Conceptualism, feminist art, and postmodernism. The selection of books by an international range of artists who have chosen to work with texts and images on paper provokes new inquiry into the nature of art and books in contemporary culture.

Beginning Illumination: Learning the Ancient Art, Step by Step

Beginning Illumination: Learning the Ancient Art, Step by Step

$24.99
More Info
A short history of the art, including photos of some of the world's great medieval masterpieces, gives you context, and then you're introduced to the materials and basic techniques.
  • First learn the proper ways of preparing your parchment, selecting pigments, gilding, and using color.
  • Next, the five steps of illuminating are clearly taught in detail.
  • By learning to create friezes, detailed human faces, flourishes, creatures such as dragons and elephants, and much more, you'll discover a skill that has crossed the centuries.
  • Today, illumination can be used to add a special flair to diplomas, invitations, family trees, or a memorable event like a wedding, a birthday, or an anniversary.

    Book Curses

    Book Curses

    $25.00
    More Info

    Featuring some of the most ferocious and humorous book curses ever inscribed, this is a lively, engaging introduction to the history and development of bookish maledictions.

    Have you ever wanted to protect your books from forgetful borrowers, merciless page-folders, or outright thieves? Perhaps you have even wished harm on those who have damaged your books--but would you threaten them with hellfire, hanging, or the plague?

    This book contains a collection of some of the most ferocious and humorous book curses ever inscribed--from fearsome threats discovered emblazoned on stone monuments from the ancient Near East to elaborate manuscript maledictions and chilling warnings scribbled in printed books. Book curses are entertaining writings in themselves, but they also offer a tantalizing insight into how passionately texts and books have been valued by their owners and readers over the centuries. Here you will find an engaging introduction to the history and development of the book curse and perhaps some inspiration to pen a few of your own.

    Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

    Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

    $32.00
    More Info
    An Economist Book of the Year

    A five-hundred-year history of printed books, told through the people who created them.

    "Almost every page--almost every paragraph--fizzes with facts, allusions, speculations, tidbits of etymology and gems of historical interest." --Wall Street Journal

    Books have transformed humankind, yet we know little about the individuals who brought these fascinating objects into existence. Who were these renegade book-makers who changed the course of history through their experiments in the arts of printing, paper making, type designing, binding, advertising, and selling?

    The Book-Makers offers a new way to understand the story of Western culture's most important object through a series of dynamic portraits of eighteen men and women who helped to define the book. From Wynkyn de Worde's cheap bestsellers produced in fifteenth-century London, to Nancy Cunard's avant-garde pamphlets made on her small press in Normandy; from Benjamin Franklin's inky entrepreneurialism, to the radical culture of contemporary zines, this is a celebration of the book with the people put back in.

    Bookbindings: An Illustrated History

    Bookbindings: An Illustrated History

    $75.00
    More Info

    An extravagantly illustrated history of the development of bookbindings, from antiquity to modern day.

    Bindings have been an essential--and often beautiful--component of books since the codex form was invented 2,000 years ago. They make books work, but they also provide an opportunity for binders to display their skills. Until book trade processes were industrialized in the nineteenth century, every binding was a unique handcrafted object, no matter how simple or elaborate. Bindings have been made of all kinds of materials--calfskin, parchment, vellum, ivory, even silver--and embellished using many different techniques to satisfy the wishes of owners, ranging from students to kings. How they were produced and decorated has evolved, and many countries have their own distinctive traditions. Bindings may testify to the taste and social status of wealthy connoisseurs, or to the economic necessities of ordinary households. Because they can often be dated and localized, they also give us information about the histories of individual volumes.

    This lavishly illustrated book provides a fascinating history of the development of bookbindings from Roman times to the present day. Almost all the examples are chosen from the shelves of the Bodleian Library, showcasing the outstanding collection of historic bindings to be found there.

    Bookish Words & Their Surprising Stories

    Bookish Words & Their Surprising Stories

    $25.00
    More Info

    Travel through time with words that have shaped the trajectory of the English language across centuries.

    The world of books has played a striking role in the history of English vocabulary. "Book" itself is one of the oldest words in the language, originating from "boc" in Old English, and appears in many commonly used expressions today, including by the book, bring to book, and bookworm, to name a few.

    With the arrival of printing and typesetting, and the development of the newspaper industry came terminology that birthed commonly used phrases such as "stop the press," "front-page news," and "hit the headlines." The emergence of the internet generated even more.

    This anthology presents a selection of more than one hundred words that show the influence of writing, reading, and publishing books on our everyday vocabulary over the centuries, telling the stories behind their linguistic origins and uncovering some surprising twists in the development of their meaning through time.

    Books: A Living History

    Books: A Living History

    $34.95
    More Info

    From papyrus scrolls to the iPad, this engaging history explores every iteration of the book

    From the first scribbling on papyrus to the emergence of the e-book, this wide-ranging overview of the history of the book provides a fascinating look at one of the most efficient, versatile, and enduring technologies ever developed. The author traces the evolution of the book from the rarefied world of the hand-copied and illuminated volume in ancient and medieval times, through the revolutionary impact of Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, to the rise of a publishing culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the subsequent impact of new technologies on this culture.

    Many of the great individual titles of the past two millennia are discussed as well as the range of book types and formats that have emerged in the last few hundred years, from serial and dime novels to paperbacks, children's books, and Japanese manga. The volume ends with a discussion of the digital revolution in book production and distribution and the ramifications for book lovers, who can't help but wonder whether the book will thrive--or even survive--in a form they recognize.

    Color: A Natural History of the Palette

    Color: A Natural History of the Palette

    $23.00
    More Info
    In this vivid and captivating journey through the colors of an artist's palette, Victoria Finlay takes us on an enthralling adventure around the world and through the ages, illuminating how the colors we choose to value have determined the history of culture itself.

    How did the most precious color blue travel all the way from remote lapis mines in Afghanistan to Michelangelo's brush? What is the connection between brown paint and ancient Egyptian mummies? Why did Robin Hood wear Lincoln green? In Color, Finlay explores the physical materials that color our world, such as precious minerals and insect blood, as well as the social and political meanings that color has carried through time.

    Roman emperors used to wear togas dyed with a purple color that was made from an odorous Lebanese shellfish-which probably meant their scent preceded them. In the eighteenth century, black dye was called logwood and grew along the Spanish Main. Some of the first indigo plantations were started in America, amazingly enough, by a seventeen-year-old girl named Eliza. And the popular van Gogh painting White Roses at Washington's National Gallery had to be renamed after a researcher discovered that the flowers were originally done in a pink paint that had faded nearly a century ago. Color is full of extraordinary people, events, and anecdotes-painted all the more dazzling by Finlay's engaging style.

    Embark upon a thrilling adventure with this intrepid journalist as she travels on a donkey along ancient silk trade routes; with the Phoenicians sailing the Mediterranean in search of a special purple shell that garners wealth, sustenance, and prestige; with modern Chilean farmers breeding and bleeding insects for their viscous red blood. The colors that craft our world have never looked so bright.

    Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-Racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers

    Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-Racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers

    $29.95
    More Info
    "This work empowers readers with theory, historical precedent, and practical information while encouraging everyone to 'amplify other voices and disrupt patterns of inequity.' Don't pass on this singular resource." --Library Journal Starred Review

    Extra Bold is the inclusive, practical, and informative (design) career guide for everyone!

    Part textbook, part comic book, zine, manifesto, survival guide, and self-help manual, Extra Bold is filled with stories and ideas that don't show up in other career books or design overviews. Both pragmatic and inquisitive, the book explores power structures in the workplace and how to navigate them.

  • Interviews showcase people at different stages of their careers.
  • Biographical sketches explore individuals marginalized by sexism, racism, and ableism.
  • Practical guides cover everything from starting out to wage gaps, coming out at work, cover letters, mentoring, and more.

  • Written collaboratively by design luminary Ellen Lupton (Thinking with Type) and a diverse team of designers coming to the profession from a range of backgrounds: Farah Kafei, Jennifer Tobias, Josh A. Halstead, Kaleena Sales, Leslie Xia, and Valentina Vergara. Original, handcrafted illustrations by Jennifer Tobias throughout bring warmth, humor, and narrative depth to the book.

    A NEW TAKE ON THE DESIGN CANON: Critical essays rethink design principles and practices through theories of feminism, anti-racism, inclusion, and nonbinary thinking.

    ADDS NEW VOICES: The book is packed with interviews, essays, typefaces, and projects from dozens of contributors with a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, abilities, gender identities, and positions of economic and social privilege.

    FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS & PROFESSIONALS: This is an eye-opening and empowering resource for navigating a creative career today. It is for anyone in a creative field, from graphic design and type design to marketing and advertising, as well as anyone who works with creative teams.

    Extra Bold is the inclusive, practical, and informative (design) career guide for everyone!

    Part textbook and part comic book, zine, manifesto, survival guide, and self-help manual, Extra Bold is filled with stories and ideas that don't show up in other career books or design overviews.


    • Both pragmatic and inquisitive, the book explores power structures in the workplace and how to navigate them.
    • Interviews showcase people at different stages of their careers.
    • Biographical sketches explore individuals marginalized by sexism, racism, and ableism.
    • Practical guides cover everything from starting out, to wage gaps, coming out at work, cover letters, mentoring, and more.

    A new take on the design canon.
    • Opens with critical essays that rethink design principles and practices through theories of feminism, anti-racism, inclusion, and nonbinary thinking.
    • Features interviews, essays, typefaces, and projects from dozens of contributors with a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, abilities, gender identities, and positions of economic and social privilege.
    • Adds new voices to the dominant design canon.

    Written collaboratively by a diverse team of authors, with original, handcrafted illustrations by Jennifer Tobias that bring warmth, happiness, humor, and narrative depth to the book.Extra Bold is written by Ellen Lupton (Thinking with Type), Farah Kafei, Jennifer Tobias, Josh A. Halstead, Kaleena Sales, Leslie Xia, and Valentina Vergara.

    Illuminated Letters sketchbook

    Illuminated Letters sketchbook

    $14.99
    More Info

    Embellish your letters in the medieval style with the Peter Pauper illuminated letters sketchbook. This art journal provides detailed tips and tutorials to help you enhance and bring your letters to life with floral motifs, Gothic patterns, or the Celtic knot-work. You can use this art notebook to practice and improve your calligraphy skills. 160 pages 6.25 in x 8.25 in Designed by Jane Sullivan .