I just got back from the New York Book Fair, an event which is part library, part bazaar, part archive, part museum, part gala, part prom. It is also a business convention. Book dealing is a business. You can talk about the art of bookselling. The art of the deal. The art of opening and establishing markets. The art of making relationships. The art of finding material. In a similar vein, the economics of the art market is well documented on these points. I increasingly find this aspect of book collecting and book dealing fascinating.
Yet as Division Leap shows there are other ways to look at the art of book selling. For example as a work of art. Adam and Kate's latest catalog is full of artist's magazines, little mags, ephemera from art scenes (like stills and flyers). Yet the catalog itself is that which it sells. With its sandpaper cover (Jorn, Debord, Situationists), its supplemental Warhol cover (Fuck You, C) and limited edition, the catalog is a piece of art. This idea draws on conceptual art exhibition catalogs which were works of art in themselves, and I see Ed Sanders' book catalogs as another inspiration.
What makes this catalog even more interesting besides the format is that as Olson and Creeley dictate: Form is never more than an extension of content. The form and format of the catalog provide a context for and enhance the items Kate and Adam are selling. The items in the catalog tie together as in-your-face, confrontational, abrasive, rough-around-the-edges.
I also see this catalog as a de facto issue of Division Leap, the magazine. Both the magazine and the catalog creatively present concepts related to archiving, cataloging, institutionalizing, filing, gathering, assembling etc.
Did I mention that the items in the catalog are kick ass as well? Kate and Adam back up the catalog by actually showcasing items you want to buy. They blow your mind, open your eyes, and hit you in the wallet. That is the core of the business of bookselling.
Place your copy of Division Leap 13 in your bookself next to your more blue blood book catalogs. It will tear them just another asshole.
Get a copy if you can, if not http://www.divisionleap.com/akd52/images/pdfs/catalog13.pdf
JB
MIMEO MIMEO #8: CURATORS' CHOICE features 16 bibliophiles on 6 highlights from their personal or institutional collections. Contributors include Steve Clay, Wendy Burk, Tony White, Brian Cassidy, Thurston Moore, J.A. Lee, Michelle Strizever, Adam Davis, Michael Basinski, Joseph Newland, Alastair Johnston, Tate Shaw, Michael Kasper, Steve Woodall, Molly Schwartzberg, Nancy Kuhl, James Maynard, and the Utah posse (Becky Thomas, Marnie Powers-Torrey, Craig Dworkin, Emily Tipps, Luise Poulton, & David Wolske)
MIMEO MIMEO #7: THE LEWIS WARSH ISSUE is the first magazine ever devoted in its entirety to poet, novelist, publisher, teacher, and collage artist Lewis Warsh. Warsh was born in 1944 in the Bronx, co-founded Angel Hair Magazine and Books with Anne Waldman in 1966, and went on to co-found United Artists Magazine and Books with Bernadette Mayer in 1977. He is the author of over thirty books of poetry, fiction and autobiography, the Director of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Long Island University in Brooklyn, and as you’ll soon discover, so much more. Includes an introduction by Daniel Kane, an interview conducted by Steve Clay, 10 new stories, 5 new poems, dozens of photographs and collages, and an anecdotal bibliography.
OUT OF PRINT
MIMEO MIMEO #6: THE POETRY ISSUE is devoted to new work by eight poets who have consistently composed quality writing that has influenced and inspired generations since the golden era of the mimeo revolution. Contributors include Bill Berkson, John Godfrey, Ted Greenwald, Joanne Kyger, Kit Robinson, Rosmarie Waldrop, Lewis Warsh, and Geoffrey Young. Cover art by George Schneeman.
OUT OF PRINT
MIMEO MIMEO #3: THE DANNY SNELSON ISSUE examines the relationship between structuralism and the poetries of the mimeo era by presenting a detailed analysis of Form (a Cambridge-UK magazine published in 1966) and Alcheringa (a journal published by Boston University in 1975), two exemplary gatherings that illuminate the historical, material and social circumstances under which theory informed art (and vice versa) in the early works of some of today's most celebrated experimental writers. Also includes a special insert, The Infernal Method, written, designed and printed by Aaron Cohick (NewLights Press).
OUT OF PRINT
MIMEO MIMEO #2: features Emily McVarish on her artist's book Flicker; James Maynard on poet Robert Duncan's early experiences as an editor and typesetter; Derek Beaulieu on the relationship between the influential Canadian poetry journal Tish and Black Mountain College; and an extensive interview with Australian poet and typographer Alan Loney conducted by Kyle Schlesinger. Cover is by Emily McVarish.
OUT OF PRINT
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