Book Arts / Artist's Books

What, exactly, is an artist’s book? You may not be able to tell just from looking at the object itself! The simple answer to someone not familiar with artists’ books might be: art in book form. But they are not quite so simple…

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. . . .What truly makes an artist’s book is the artist’s intent, and artists have used the book as inspiration in a myriad of ways and techniques, from traditional to the experimental. The book could be made through fine press printing or hand-crafted, the pages illustrated with computer-generated images or cheap photocopies; books became sculptures, tiny and gargantuan; books were sliced up and reconfigured, made from all kinds of materials with unconventional objects incorporated, in unique or limited editions, or produced in multiple copies. With all sorts of ideas behind them, artists continue to challenge the idea, content and structure of the traditional book.

                -Anne Evenhaugen, The Smithsonian Libraries Unbound blog 

• About the Baylor Book Arts Collection
• Browse all of the BBAC in the the library's online catalog
• click here to make an appointment
• BaylorBookArts on Instagram
• Images from the BBAC on Flickr
  • selected photos from the Baylor Book Arts Collection (photographer: Ben Johansen) NOTE: in Flickr, you can search within these photos by adding the keyword "baylorbookarts" to your search string. (ex. search: "baylorbookarts egypt")
• information about special collections in Moody Library

A rich and dynamic set of resources sponsored by College Book Art Association for artists, educators, and makers on topics like book and paper arts; printing and printmaking; digitized artist's books, online talks by artists, publishers, and designers; and much more!