Arts Libris

This international book art fair is held annually in Barcelona and I got two days off of school to go to it! (Bookbinding school rocks).

Here is some of the work I saw there:

Kollektiv Tod Verlag makes large scale wood cuts that get plastered around Berlin and Barcelona. Whatever prints don't become street art are bound into really sweet screen- and woodblock printed books. They are bound with a simple Japanese stab binding but then the pages all fold out.

I loved the everything that Editions Collodion had at the fair, but especially a book called Fable. They tear down the paper by hand (deckles and fake deckles galore!). I envy all their wood type.

Francois Righi prints engraved plastic plates on Japanese paper to make images with rich, deep black fields of color and delicate linework.

Eva Mengual, of La Seis Cuatro, has editioned some lovely artists' books. She is inspired by the work of Emilio Sdun.

This was the only contemporary letterpress printed book (bound, not loose sheets) I saw at the whole fair. 

Javiera's work was the coolest thing ever.

And, of course, Maria was there, too, with her latest books.

Also I want to buy the whole contents of El Astillero, a bookshop in Barcelona that specializes in works on paper by latin american modernists. Stuff like this:

I felt like the selection of work was wasn't representative of the Spanish letterpress printing scene: no Spanish presses showed up, although at this point most of those presses are doing jobbing, not making books. However, overall, Spanish fine printmakers were well represented. I wish the Imprenta Municipal could have been there with a selection of the beautiful editions it has done.

There was also a lot of independent, small-scale publishing on display, not necessarily remarkable for the quality of their paper product (simple pamphlets, etc) but still cool. Most my favorite stuff along those lines was done by Bside Books.

Image credits: each image is from the respective site it links to.