Extremely preliminary notes - November 2021
Use in conjunction with our Art Book Cataloging workflow for now.
Dueling definitions
“Books that are produced by artists and intended as visual art objects.”--Library of Congress Genre/Form Headings
“Books, whether unique items or multiples, made or conceived by artists, including commercial
publications (usually in limited editions), as well as unique items formed or arranged by the
artist.”--Getty Research Institute
“An artist’s book is a medium of artistic expression that uses the form or function of “book” as inspiration. It is the artistic initiative seen in the illustration, choice of materials, creation process, layout and design that makes it an art object.” --Anne Evenhaugen, What is an artist’s book? (Unbound (Smithsonian), June 1, 2012).
“Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects.”--Wikipedia, accessed November 30, 2021.
“The field of artists’ books includes work that spans the full spectrum of cultural objects, handmade originals, calligraphic and typographic experimentation, conceptual productions, and works produced in the traditions of fine printing and independent publishing.”--Rare Books School, accessed November 30, 2021.
“Artists' books are books made or conceived by artists. There are fine artists who make books and book artists who produce work exclusively in that medium, as well as illustrators, typographers, writers, poets, book binders, printers and many others who work collaboratively or alone to produce artists' books. Many artists' books are self-published, or are produced by small presses or by artists' groups or collectives, usually in limited editions.”--Victoria and Albert Museum, Artists' Books.
Whether or not item does or doesn’t match the above, catalog according to the artist’s intention: if an artist states that the item is an Artist’s Book, then it is an Artist’s Book.
See also our attempt to further pin Artists' Books (and their near relatives) below (Artist’s book, Private press, Small press, or Livre d’artiste?)
Draft Workflow
Fixed Fields : most commonly cataloged as Monographic Book or Visual Materials format
Book format:
The item’s primary content is textual (or wordless with relatively flat pictures)
The item’s format is that of a “regular” book (has page(s) of some kind)
Visual Materials format:
The item’s primary content is non-textual
The item is a deck of cards, kit, 3D object, or other non-book format
These categories are fluid:
Use cataloger’s judgment
Also, don’t completely redo another catalogers judgement in format when copy cataloging
050/090 LC call numbers:
N7433.4.A-Z (Special artists), A-Z
Under each artist:
.xA7-.xZ6 Individual artists' books. By title, A-Zor N7433.3 (general works) for several artists working together or artist unknown?
100 and 700 artists and other creators:
Common relationship designators include:
Work-level:
$e book artist
$e artist
$e author
Manifestation-level:
$e engraver
$e lithographer
$e papermaker
$e printer
$e publisher
Item-level:
$e binder
3xx Description and format fields
Artists' books can be difficult to describe concisely, especially more the more unusual items. The unusual aspects of the Artist’s book can be obscured by brief 300’s. So, give lots of detail in the 500 Artefactual details notes (see below). Often dealer’s websites or publisher’s description sheets are a useful source for 500 artefactual notes which can be quoted in full or part.
300 Concise physical description
Specific example:
245 10 Biosphere.
300 1 volume (unpaged) ; ǂc 12 x 9 x 3 cm + ǂe 4 sphere books + custom box (24 x 11 x 6 cm)
500 "Box divided into two sections by wooden piece. Sections contain coptic bound book on left side and four wooden spheres with accordion books on right side ... Spheres measure 1.5" diameter with each a different color. Each sphere is halved to contain an accordion structure book and has a magnetic closure"--Vamp & Tramp website, viewed on September 30, 2019.
336/337/338 fields format/type - add more 33x terms for other formats, as needed. In many cases text is minimal and the content is driven more by the illustrations. And other types might be enclosed such as sound or video discs.
Specific example:
245 10 Celsius 233 / ǂc Philip Zimmermann.
300 40 unnumbered pages : ǂb illustrations, ǂc 17 x 23 cm ǂe 1 Blu-ray HD DVD in box.
336 text ǂb txt ǂ2 rdacontent
336 still image ǂb sti ǂ2 rdacontent
336 two-dimensional moving image ǂb tdi ǂ2 rdacontent
337 unmediated ǂb n ǂ2 rdamedia
337 video ǂb v ǂ2 rdamedia
338 volume ǂb nc ǂ2 rdacarrier
338 video disc ǂb vd ǂ2 rdacarrier
500 "[H]andbound using a multi-needle coptic stitch with sewn-on hard covers made of acid-free solid-core black museum board. The paper is acid-free Pop-Tone French Paper. The images are printed using archival inkjet ink with three-color foil stamping on the cover, the title page and back cover. The interior flame sheets are loose-inserted in a slot in each interior folio. It is printed in a signed and numbered edition of 50 and comes in an acid-free phase box. A DVD is included with a one-channel video that can be used to create a viewing environment"--Publication information sheet
500 Artefactual details
Often dealer’s websites or publisher’s description sheets are a useful source for 500 artefactual notes which can be quoted in full or part. But briefer notes may be all that is needed.
500 Leaves bound together with brass wire.
500 Printed on double leaves; sewn to boards
500 One-of-a-kind artist’s book.
Specific example:
245 10 Spring opens the mountain green : ǂb a poem for Yosemite ; with a quote by John Muir / ǂc Peter and Donna Thomas.
500 Four original watercolor paintings of named locations in Yosemite on handmade paper, mounted on double leaves, accompanied by text or maps on alternating leaves. Lettering in black, with illumination in blue and green.
500 Nested double-leaved accordion-fold book; endpapers attached to bound covers, double leaves not attached to spine; marbled paper strips woven into page edges. Covers bound in brown leather with colored leather inlays depicting mountain landscape, front and back. Issued in blue-grey paper-covered clamshell box with watercolor title label mounted on top.
500 Number in/of edition
500 “Limited edition of 50 copies, signed by artist.”–Colophon.
500 Sphere books signed and dated. Coptic bound book signed and numbered by the artist.
590 Number our library owns:
590 Utah State University Library has number #
590 Library has copy 26.
590 Utah State University Special Collections and Archives has number 12. ←for SCA items.
Subject and Genre
Artist’s book, Private press, Small press, or Livre d’artiste?
Artists books are produced by artists and intended as visual art objects; they often play with the form or idea of a book.
Small press are put out by a small press and finely produced (handmade paper, etc.) with runs of less than 500 (but can at same time be an Artist’s book)
Private press is a “guy in a garage” (but can also be used to produce an Artist’s book)
Privately printed is something printed for an individual (old rare books, not usually a 20th century thing).
Livre d’artiste is an overlapping term for books containing collections of original works of art, usually printed directly from a source created by the artist themselves, rather than from a source that was created by a technician from the artist's design. Originated in France around the turn of the 20th century.
However: if an artist states that the item is an Artist’s Book, then catalog it as an Artist’s Book
650 Library of Congress Subject Headings:
When using LCSH to describe what the item is, always follow the a genre term by Specimens to distinguish it from a book on the topic of a term.
650 0 Letterpress printing |z United States |v Specimens.
650 0 Paper, Handmade |z United States |v Specimens.
650 0 Fine bindings |z United States |v Specimens.
650 0 Toy and movable books |v Specimens.
655 Genre and Format terms:
In the past we have used Rare Books Binding & Genre Thesaurus (for SCA) https://rbms.info/vocabularies/index.shtml or the Art and Architecture Thesaurus, but there are many newer sources available, such as Library of Congress Genre and Format Terms (available in Classification Web) https://classweb.org/ or in OCLC authority files (sca ge: artists' books)
On occasion, we have used our own Local lists of genre terms, usually for SCA items.
Artists' books genre terms (just a few):
655 7 Artists’ books. |2 lcgft ←in general, prefer lcgft for non-SCA items, if the term exists in there
655 7 Artists' books. |2 rbgenr ← Rare Books Genre Thesaurus
655 7 artists' books (books) |2 aat ← Art and Architecture Thesaurus
We don’t need three identical 655 fields for the same term, but we can have 650/655 combos in the same record. Also, leave in all OCLC fast subject headings even though they often duplicate the 650 text (by their very nature being LCSH-derived)
650 0 Artists' books |v Specimens.
650 7 Artists' books. ǂ2 fast ǂ0 (OCoLC)fst00817660
655 7 Specimens. ǂ2 fast ǂ0 (OCoLC)fst01423861
655 7 Artists' books |y 20th century. |2 lcgft
Feel free to add more narrowly defined terms as well if such would be useful to patrons. And, if familiar with the Rare Books genre/form terms, feel free to add more detailed genre/form terms.
655 7 Broadsides (Posters) |y 20th century. |2 lcgft
655 7 Accordion fold format (Binding) |z United States |y 20th century. |2 rbbin
655 7 Private press books (Publishing) |z United States |y 20th century. |2 rbpub
655 7 Livres d’artistes |2 rbgenr
655 7 Coptic bindings (Binding) ǂz United States ǂy 20th century. ǂ2 rbbin
710 Name of the Press/Publisher
The name of the producer of the Artists book is useful to add to records, if missing. Sometimes it is difficult to find. If there is no publisher information on or with the item, check the title in dealer’s catalogs; they will often have the publisher/press and other useful details listed.
710 2 Midnight Moon Press, |e publisher. ← check for authorized form, if available
Selection of training resources
Lewis, N., McCormack, A., Skeen, B., Wiederhold, R. (2019, May 15). Beyond Books: Cataloging Special
Format Items [Pre-conference training workshop]. Utah Library Association Annual Conference, Sandy, UT
USU Digital Commons copy here: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1143&context=lib_present – see slides 36-66 for Cataloging Artists’ Books by Allison McCormack.
Opening Artists' Books to the User: an example with potential approaches / Ann K.D. Myers and William Andrews Myers, 2014.
Cataloging Artists Books / Nina Schneider. 47th Annual RBMS PreConference, June 21, 2006. Still useful and very detailed, downloadable PDF here: https://ninaschneider.com/Nina-Schneider-Cataloging-Artists-Books.pdf and online reading version here: https://ninaschneider.com/presentation.html
Artists' books : a cataloguers' manual / by Maria White, Patrick Perratt and Liz Lawes ; on behalf of ARLIS/UK & Ireland Cataloguing and Classification Committee. London : ARLIS/UK and Ireland, 2006/reprinted 2012. Dated (no RDA), but still has a good workflow to adapt.
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