About the collection
Special Collections holds a significant collection of artists books, dating from the 1960s to the present. Many well-known book artists and publishers are represented as are a variety of styles and materials.
Related online exhibitions
Suggested searches
To locate materials in the print collection including books, periodicals, and some printed ephemera, search DELCAT by location in the Advanced Search option and limit your search to “Special Collections.”
In addition to author, title, and publisher it is often useful to search by subject. Use LC subject terms such as those below to search for material related to printing and the bookarts:
- artists books
- toy and movable books
Search by name of the press
- From DELCAT > Advanced Search > Search Keyword in Publisher [i.e. Bird and Bull Press]
It is also possible to search for more specific terms such as "altered books," "accordian," "miniature books," etc.
Many copy specific details related to printing history and book-making do not receive LC subject terms and are instead recorded in the "Notes" fields in DELCAT. To search for these items, do a search of the "Keyword in notes" tab in the Advanced Search option on DELCAT. Please note that many of the notes fields have not yet been uploaded to Worldcat Local, and can only be found via DELCAT. Also, please note that many items in the collection were cataloged according to earlier standards which did not call for recording copy-specific details; please ask a librarian for further assistance if you need help finding items.
Try call number browsing, such as Z250.3 to browse sources about type ornaments and printing specimens.
Select bibliographies
Listed here are bibliographies of resources in Special Collections pertaining to artists' books. Please note that the items listed in the bibliographies represent only a small portion of materials on artists' books held in Special Collections.