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Artists’ books extend the limits of the conventional book. They take liberties with its form, content and configuration; they include subjects that might be considered insignificant, risqué, abstract or obscure. Their print run is too limited for ordinary publishing and marketing procedures. This thesis engages with the artists’ book in terms of its various moods as suggested by the bodily humours of Hippocrates and Galen. It argues that humour (in its embodied sense) takes many forms in the artists’ book: from the angry, the despairing or the melancholic to the comic or the joyful. In building a foundation for this approach to the artists’ book the thesis also connects with crucial moments in the evolution of twentieth century conceptual thought about art. Chapter One introduces the idea of humour as a strategy used by book artists to negotiate an art world in which the aesthetic canon is under scrutiny. Up to this point a characteristic feature of this negotiation has been a search for a consistent definition of artists’ book. My concerns are not so much with a fetishization of the book in a digitally challenging age, but, rather with the focus on the artists’ book’s ironic techniques that are employed to oversee the nature of the form relative to changes in its context, both technological and cultural. In the second chapter, I connect the artists’ book to some of its experimental origins within the literature of humour. I discuss a number of artists’ books that exemplify the sharpness of wit, the use of irony, the depth of melancholy and the place of nonsense among other forms within the spectrum of humorous possibility. The “anatomy” of humour is dissected in the third chapter, according to the way in which it embodies the creative process. The concepts of appropriation and détournement are basic tools, for the collection of subject matter. Every one of the books discussed use “wit” to carve a direct channel to the core of the idea it expresses. The diverse manifestations of irony enable the artists’ book in its various guises to mislead, riddle, surprise and seduce its reader. “Nonsense” keeps rationality honest by arguing a case for a productive form of “uselessness” that reflects upon an art world burdened by the weight of “usefulness” and overproduction. The fourth chapter examines a number of artists’ books and writers who, in various ways tap the rich field of the mundane: here is a source that like a compost heap, nurtures and produces those species of humorous surprise that also rejuvenate. The fifth chapter looks at larger aspects of the world, which shape our consciousness through spectacular images and the media. How these pressures permeate and influence the creative activities of the book artist is mapped in Chapter Six, which examines the shared internal space of the reader and the creator of the artwork. This internal space is the workshop of the book artist. Here the tactics are honed and the dynamics of the exterior world are in effect moulded and shaped into the subject matter and forms of artists’ books. In a culture in which “success” is commensurate with the accumulation of wealth, to be unsuccessful is to belong to an under-class, to be invisible. Chapter Seven makes use of an ironic sense of failure as a strategy to support the main objective of the thesis, which is to test the limits for the possibility of an art practice that continues to thrive as it ducks and weaves its way through and under the radar of contemporary cultural conditions. It argues a case for a fugitive practice that even as it is on the move is congruent, and in its selfreflexivity, accountable for its political and aesthetic stance. There has been a considerable resurgence of interest in the artists’ book since the late twentieth century with an increase in small press publications, the development of significant public and private collections of artists’ books and a growing body of critical commentary on them. Digital technology and desk top publishing have enabled many artists to produce books rapidly, cheaply and with qualities ranging in quality from the photocopy through to slick high-end productions. From the 1970s until the present, however, the commentary on artists’ books has been preoccupied with a search for a definition of the genre. Underpinning this endeavour has been a yearning for “consecration” (in Pierre Bourdieu’s sense) where acceptance would elevate the artists’ book to the same level as the “legitimate” art forms – painting, sculpture, photography and the finely crafted art object. By contrast, this thesis considers the artists’ book as an alternative art form and explores its ability to evade the constraints of consecration, to remain fresh and mischievous in creative and subversive ways / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This project has been a study of selected graphic media and their relationship to the production of a limited edition printing of a fine book. The scope of the study was limited to the relationship of the graphic image to that of the printed contents of the book. No attempt was made to survey all of the varied possibilities of pictorial or typographical processes. The book contains eight recipes and twelve prints. All the prints were cut and printed in the traditional woodcut process. The type was hand printed and the book was hand bound. The paper, which is included in this project, gives a description and discussion of the project, historical precedents, technical history, contemporary methods and conclusions.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1931. / Autographic reproduction of type-written copy. "Private edition, distributed by the University of Chicago libraries." "A list of the contributors and their contributions": leaves 86-94. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-97).

Inaug.-Diss.--Göttingen.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, August 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-293).

"Arthur Rackham was selected as the subject for this study because of the writer's interest in his unique drawings and because of a feeling that others may find of some use a paper which treats of the artist of fairyland. The attempt has been made to assemble from the writings of Rackham's contemporaries and his modern critics representative reviews, opinions and reactions to the illustrations for children's books. Since many of the books Rackham illustrated were reprints, the critics were influenced by previous illustrators and in such writings are found the best comparisons of Rackham's work to that of other artists"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1958." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Agnes Gregory, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-62).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 182-189). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Collage, as a verbal and visual medium, epitomises the heterogeneity, indeterminacy and fragmentation of the postmodern moment. In this thesis I argue that visual collage - in the context of book illustration - presents an ideal form with which to illustrate the state of contemporary (postmodern) narrative. Postmodernism, as a term or concept, evades any form of absolute or definitive account. Hence, in my discussion of the postmodern condition I move towards an understanding of this complex theoretical and cultural phenomenon. Postmodern cultural artifacts reflect the state of a modernised, Western-orientated, globalised consciousness, which resists arborescent structures in past and contemporary texts. In both postmodern narratives and in literary fictional narratives the condition of artifice is amplified. Thus, this thesis explores various characteristics evident in postmodern fiction in order to understand and demonstrate the changes manifest in contemporary narratives in general. Many of the stylistic and figurative devices employed in the postmodern novel foreground the excessive appropriation and self-reflexive textualism of contemporary texts - these literary devices often reflect particular collage-like tendencies or characteristics. Contemporary literary theory, in addition, provides many useful terms and concepts with which to describe visual texts and, for the purposes of this discussion, narrative illustration. This thesis is centred primarily on an analysis of the practical component completed as part of the Master of Arts degree in Fine Arts. The discussion of the practical work is embedded in the wider fields of book art - particularly the postmodern artist's book (livre detourne) - and in contentious debates around the role of visual narrative illustration. In both the thesis and the illustrated book objects, I challenge the secondary and supplementary position traditionally held by illustration in the context of the book. I argue for a form of visual narrative that is not required to function as a mere translation of the primary verbal text. Instead - working within the context of the artist's book and through the utilisation of collage as a visual (and verbal) medium - I demonstrate that illustration may complement, supplement or subvert the written text. Furthermore, I show that illustration may assume the role of the primary text in the context of the codex. Finally, this study creates a space for a creative and participatory reader who, through the intertextual processes made evident in the book objects, becomes an active 'reader-writer' of the visual and verbal narratives under discussion. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Collage, as beide 'n verbale en visuele medium, verpersoonlik die onbesliste, gefragmenteerde, heterogene moment van postmodemisme. In hierdie tesis voer ek aan dat visuele collage, binne die konteks van boekillustrasie, 'n ideale vorm van uitbeelding hied om die toestand van kontemporere (postmodeme) narratief te illustreer. Postmodemisme, as 'n term of konsep, ontwyk enige volslae of beslissende betekenis. Gevolglik poog ek in my bespreking van die postmodeme toestand om nader aan 'n begrip van hierdie komplekse teoretiese en kulturele , fenoneem te beweeg. Postmodeme kulturele artefakte reflekteer die toestand van 'n gemodemiseerde, Westers-georienteerde, geglobaliseerde bewustheid wat liniere strukture in tekste uit die verlede en die hede weerstaan. In beide postmodeme narratiewe en fiktiewe literere narratiewe word die gesteldheid van kunsskepping toegelig. Dus ondersoek hierdie tesis verskeie opvallende eienskappe van postmodeme fiksie ten einde die veranderinge wat in die algemeen in kontemporere narratiewe manifesteer te verstaan en te demonstreer. Vele van die stilistiese en figuratiewe tegnieke van die postmodemistiese roman plaas die oormatige toe-eining en selfrefleksiewe tekstualisme van konteporere tekste op die voorgrond; die literere gebruikswyses reflekteer dikwels bepaalde collage-agtige tendense of eienskappe. Hierbenewens, bied kontemporere literereteorie vele nuttige terme en konsepte waarmee visuele tekste sowel as, vir die doe] van hierdie ondersoek, visuele narratiewe, beskryf kan word. Hierdie tesis is hoofsaaklik gevestig op 'n analise van die praktiese werk wat dee) van die Magister Artuim-graad in Beeldende Kunste uitmaak. Die bespreking van die praktiese werk is veranker in die wyer terreine van boekkuns - spesifiek die postmodeme kunstenaarsboek (livre detourne) - en in kontensieuse debatte oor die rol van visuelenarratief-illustrasie. In beide die tesis en die gelllustreerde boekobjekte bevraagteken ek die tradisionele siening dat illustrasie binne boekkontekse 'n sekondere of aanvullende posisie inneem. Ek argumenteer ten gunste van 'n vorm van visuele narratief waarvan daar nie bloot verwagword om as 'n beskrywing van die primere verbale teks te funksioneer nie. In plaas daarvan, deur binne die konteks van die kunstenaarsboek te werk en deur collage as 'n visuele (en verbale) medium te benut, demonstreer ek dat illustrasie die geskrewe teks kan aanvul, daartoe kan toevoeg of dit kan ondergrawe. Verder toon ek dat illustrasie die rol van die primere teks in die konteks van die kodeks kan inneem. Laastens skep hierdie studie die geleentheid vir 'n kreatiewe en bydraende leser - vanwee 'n intertekstuele proses wat in die boekobjekte aan die Jig kom - om as 'n aktiewe 'leser-skrywer' van die visuele en verbale tekste onder bespreking op te tree.