Pictured Books, exhibition catalogue from 1989.

Clearly the work of kindred spirits. 

Mail Art; Nigel Bents

We’re lucky enough, at my particular library, to have a special collection of artists’ books on the 3rd floor - annoyingly you can’t photocopy but at least I can still snap away.

Recently I’ve been doing some mail art related things, and I thought I’d turn to the library to offer some wisdom on the subject. Found this little thing and quite liked it. Bents sends things in the post without packaging them - stones, feathers - and deliberately addresses envelopes in an ambiguous way, which is something I’ve done for a while.

Coincidentally I got my first ever package ‘returned to sender’ today. Ironically it was simply because I forgot to include the house number and road.

Dieter Roth, Books and Multiples; Dirk Dobke, Edition Hansjorg Mayer, 2004.

Recently I’ve ditched efficiency and taken to floating around the library with no direction, picking up books on trolleys, left at the photocopier, shoved back onto shelves in the wrong place. All the best stuff I found today was by accident. This Dieter Roth book was lying in the middle of the floor in the exhibition catalogue section. 

A Century of Artists Books; Riva Castleman, The Museum of Modern Art, 1994.

Exhibition catalogue. Compare and contrast with previous post.

Wish I could photograph every page - amazing stuff here.