Artists’ books and regional representation in the British Library
Name
artists-books-and-regional-representation-in-the-british-library.pdf
Description
visibility:open
Size
842.96 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (CRC64NVME)
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Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Isherwood-Wallace, Eva
Date published
March 18, 2025
Abstract
How can a major cultural institution ensure that its collecting practices reflect the diversity of the publishing landscapes of the UK and Ireland? In 2022, I undertook a PhD placement at the British Library investigating regional representation in its Contemporary British and Irish artists’ books and fine press collections. This placement was funded by the Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership, Arts & Humanities Research Council. This project examined the use of small publisher fairs across the UK and Ireland as an acquisition channel for works falling outside legal deposit. Here, I reflect upon my experience of using these small publisher fairs as data sources to analyse the diversity of this collection, building on a paper I presented at the ARLIS UK & Ireland Conference 2023 ( ). Using the Small Publishers Fair, London, and Dublin Art Book Fair as case studies, this article examines the British Library’s engagement with these fairs and the opportunities they provide to improve the regional diversity of their artists’ books and fine press collections.
My research was supervised by Jerry Jenkins and supported by curatorial staff in the Contemporary British and Irish department.
Contributor (person)
Jenkins, Jeremy
Project(s)
Investigating small publisher fairs across the UK to support collection development for artists’ books and fine press
Journal title
Art Libraries Journal
Volume
50
Issue
2-Mar
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
ISSN
0307-4722
eISSN
2059-7525
Official URL