Recent Books

Abstract

Artists and Others. The Imaginative French Book in the zist Century: Koopman Collection, National Library of the Netherlands. By Paul van Capelleveen. Nijmegen: Vantilt Publishers. 2016. 216 pp. €29.50. isbn 978 9 46004 268 3. The Dutch engineer Louis Koopman's collection of livres d'artiste and special editions of French literature is one of the major collections of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague. By the time of Koopman's death in 1968 it comprised some 6000 books, and a fund to enable its continued development has allowed it to grow to 10,000 today. This book celebrates some of the more recent additions to the collection, in the various forms of artist's book to have emerged from France since 2000. Profusely illustrated throughout, the book is divided into four sections by nature of collaboration: close collaboration between printers and artists, artists who print their own books, publishers who create books with authors and artists, and artists who collaborate with many others to produce books. The conceptual bases for these creations are highly varied, and this guide includes some reflections on the theoretical background to the work.