Glenview, IL: 1998. Hardcover. 3 of 20 copies. Signed and numbered by the artist. A collection of quotes and photographs of three generations of men reminisceing about hunting and fishing trips. Bound accordion style with marbled paper covered boards. Measures 6 inches by 30 inches by 3 inches when fully extended. Housed in an archival paper case with the artists' contact information and edition number on the front panel. Unpaginated. [10 pages.] ARTB/060111. Fine. More about Generations

Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2011. Hardcover. Number 17 of 30 (numbered on case). Vellum spine titled in gilt with illustrated paper covered boards. The cover illustration varies. This book features a full color reproduction of a painting that hung over the book artist's sofa when she was a child. The painting depicts a view of the island of Capri overlooking the Gulf of Naples. Hanmer has divided the painting into eight equal portions, each of which reads as a horizon and may also function as a metaphor for memory and the unanswered questions that elude memory. "With her latest project, Karen Hanmer has created an archetype of all the family oil paintings that hung above the couches of our childhood. Not a drop of irony stains the languid shorelines and gauzy, cloud-flecked skies that fill the pages of this inviting book. Hanmer instead chooses to treat her subject with a candid reverence that raises intriguing questions about how we assign value to the objects that circumscribe our lives and how memory impacts that process" (Vera Scekic, Chicago painter and curator). Housed in an archival paper case with the edition number and artist's contact information stamped on the front panel. Measures 5.5 x 8 x 5 inches. Unpaginated [16 pages.] ARTB/121415. More about Horizons ... Capri

Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2004. Number 20 or 20 copies, signed and numbered by the book artist. Karen's artist-made books are physical manifestations of personal essays intertwining history, culture, politics, science and technology. She utilizes both traditional and contemporary book structures, and the work is often playful in content or format. This is the last unsold copy of this thoughtful and nostalgic book by Karen. She uses the text of a young Navy wife’s letter written from Europe in the 1950s to her family on the farm along with her alternate personal thoughts. The book uses the flag book structure to juxtapose these texts with sections of an old photograph of her Midwestern relatives. This structure offers an effective medium for creating a visual as well as a textual experience. The full photograph of the family is revealed when the book is fully opened. The photograph and text were created using pigment inkjet prints. The covers reproduce a black and white photo of the young Navy wife with an Italian city view behind her. The back of the book opens in accordion style and shows another black and white photo from Italy. Book is 4.5 x 9 inches closed and 8 x 19 inches when fully open. Housed in an archival stiff paper storage box with Velcro closures. In fine condition. Fine. More about Letter Home

Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2010. Hardcover. Number 21 of 30 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist. This book was one of six winners of the “Building by the Book” competition sponsored by the Philadelphia Athenaeum and Philadelphia Center for the Book. This work by noted book artist Karen Hanmer is based on Samuel Sloan's 1852 collection of house plans and instructions to contractors titled The Model Architect. Hanmer juxtaposes Sloan's historical text and illustrations with modern text from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's online "Guide to Avoiding Foreclosure." The artist provides commentary in the colophon reflecting on the effects of the 2008 financial collapse in her own neighborhood. She states: "Samuel Sloan's The Model Architect was published at the mid point of a century marked by cycles of rampant speculation followed by financial collapse. The Panic of 1857 came on the heels of publication of Sloan's work, and put a halt to the most active portion of his career. This milieu mirrors what has happened in my own neighborhood of modest homes over the past fifteen years. The transformation began with some owners remodeling their kitchen, or adding a family room or bedroom. Then larger additions came. Ultimately, the houses commanded high prices to be sold as teardowns. Huge new houses were built in their places. The construction proceeded with increasingly grandiose features; portions of the facade faced with thin sheets of stone, wooden garage doors with cast iron-like fittings, decorative copper accents on the roofs, turrets, lions flanking the brick driveways. Now the house across the street, the house next door, and the house next door to that are all in foreclosure, and soon will be uninhabitable. The lawns grow without interruption. Without electricity and heat the basements fill with water, the pipes burst, the mechanicals are destroyed. Few modest, affordable homes remain in the neighborhood." Bound in marbled paper covered boards with black leather spine and red leather title label, titled and ruled in gilt. Bound using the modern drum leaf structure but replicating the look of a 19th century book. Housed in an archival paper case with the edition number and artist's contact information stamped on the front panel. Measures 14 x 11 x .5 inches. 48 pages. ARTB/121212. Fine. More about The Model Architect: The Panic of '09

Glenview, IL: 2008. Hardcover. 1 of 100 copies. Each page depicts the outline of a couple from a romance novel cover. The translucent paper allows the images to interact and form new combinations. According to Sarah Bodman of the University of West England "That shameful temptress Karen Hanmer has really done it this time! Under that tantalizing red cover is a heady series of swooning ladies and masterful men. In a whirlwind of passion, dozens of romance novels have been condensed into one steamy artist’s book of multiple outlines emerging through transparent papers." Fine in red velvet covered boards with gilt title to front cover. The interior is laser printed on vellum paper. Unpaginated [16 pages]. ARTB/060111. Fine. More about Random Passions

Glenview, IL: Karen Hamner, 2003. Number 16 of 20 copies. Signed and numbered by the book artist. An engaging tunnel book by Karen Hamner who is well known for her expertise with various book structures. "Her artist-made books are physical manifestations of personal essays intertwining history, culture, politics, science and technology. She utilizes both traditional and contemporary book structures, and the work is often playful in content or format" (from online biography). For this playful work she created paper cut-outs of the letters of the alphabet that were colored using pigment inkjet prints to run through the color spectrum and back. Book is 5 x 5 x 18 inches when expanded; 5 x 5 x 1 inch when closed. Housed in an archival square grey box with title label giving book artist address and number of this copy. In fine condition. ARTISTSBOOK/080119. Fine. More about The Spectrum A to Z

Glenview, IL: 2002. Hardcover. Number 8 of 20 copies. “Chicago binder, book and installation artist Karen Hanmer’s intimate, playful works fragment and layer text and image to intertwine memory, cultural history, and the history of science. Her work weds the ancient act of book binding with the high tech use of the computer to aid her process. The intimate scale and the gestures of exploration required to travel through each piece evoke the experience of looking through an album, a diary, or the belongings of a loved one. However, her works often take the forms of games or puzzles, and many include witty text” (Karen Hanmer). This work is a history of an immigrant farming family told through photographs. The family is depicted on both inside covers with one picture dating from the 1920s and the other from the 1960s. Connecting the pictures is a flowing field of corn, which is blurred on one side and detailed on the other. As you open the book the interlocking pages and imagery create a flowing movement that simulates the passage of time. The result is an engaging book that tells a story despite the lack of text. Housed in an archival paper case with the artist’s contact information and edition number on the front panel. In fine condition. Unpaginated. ARTB/060111. Fine. More about Succession

Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer, 2011. Hardcover. Chicago binder, book, and installation artist Karen Hanmer’s intimate, playful works fragment and layer text and image to intertwine memory, cultural history, and the history of science. Her work weds the ancient art of book binding with the high tech use of the computer to aid her process. The intimate scale and the gestures of exploration required to travel through each piece evoke the experience of looking through an album, a diary, or the belongings of a loved one. However, her works often take the forms of games or puzzles, and many include witty text. Number 2 of 3 copies. A sculptural book featuring text from Jane Austen’s archetypal romance, Pride and Prejudice, with heart shaped cut outs to reveal illustrations clipped from the covers of modern day romance novels. This book can be displayed in a star format using two included cloth clips or as an accordion. According to the book artist: The “background pattern references Regency era roller-printed textiles. This piece was created from a minimum quantity of recycled and already-purchased materials and with limited use of electricity for Sustainable Book and Paper Arts, a 2011 exhibition curated by Shawn Sheehy and Melissa Jay Craig.” Inkjet printed with found images. It is housed in an archival grey folding case with artist’s contact information stamped to front panel. Size: 6.75 x 4.25 x 3 inches, closed; 6.75 x 8.5 x 8.5 inches, open. Fine. Fine. More about Whirlwind Romance. Pride, Prejudice, Passion

Basel, Switzerland: Romano Hänni, 2005. Hard Cover. Number 34 of 40. Each book is unique. Second Edition. This book includes a selection of proof pages from various early handprinted books by Romano. The pages include handwritten notes and marks for corrections. Because each proof sheet is different, each illustration and also each book is unique. The poems, which are interspersed with the proof sheets, are written by Romano's father. The typographic pictures and cover are letterpress printed and the poems are inkjet printed. The text is in German with no English translation. (56 pages) ARTB/011713. Fine. More about Die Lösung: Makulatur Typobilder or The Solution: 6 Waste Paper Typographic Pictures

Basel, Switzerland: Romano Hänni, 1988 / 89. Hardcover. Number 74 of 81. Six artist proofs were also printed. Signs from the Stone Age consists of symbols (primarily comprised of lines and dots) reproduced from imagery found in the cave of Lascaux in Dordogne, France. Also includes photographic reproductions of the original cave paintings, excerpts from literature about the people of the Stone Age, and text by the book artist giving his interpretations of the imagery. Fine in off-white paper covered boards with black title to spine and front cover. There is a flaw in the paper on the first page of the text resulting in a discolored marking; otherwise, the interior is very clean and bright. Handcomposed and handprinted in red and black ink with five photographs printed in offset. Text in German. Includes a one page English explanation of the book and its design. 20 pages. ARTB/011713. Fine. More about Glyphen aus der Steinzeit: Entdeckt in der Höhle von Lascaux or Signs from the Stone Age: Found...

Basel: Romano Hänni, 2011. Hard Cover. Number 21 of 180 copies. This is the second part of a three part series. This part covers the years 1992 - 2010. The articles included were originally published in the Swiss Typographic Magazine. Includes three sections: an interview with Romano, information about six of his books (Typographic Notes I, Typographic Notes II, It is so far / It is about Time, The Solution, Merciless Execution: Friendly Pardon, and Words Make the Infinite Finite), and projects completed during a class he taught. The text is in German and English. Bound in white paper covered boards with white linen spine and illustration to front board. The interior is printed in color with many photographic illustrations. Includes a supplemental poster which is laid in and folds out. 98 pages. Fine. More about 2nd part, Handprinted Books 1992 - 2010

Basel: Romano Hänni, 2010. Hardcover. Number 98 of 175 copies. A commentary on various aspects of life, some of which are illustrated with design elements. For example "with ritalin" shows a series of small, numbered pill shaped designs. It faces "without ritalin" which shows a variety of animals and other creatures. One unillustrated quote from the jacket reads "The daily misconduct: It is not the large catastrophes, it is he daily mistakes in the details that cause the global problems." Bound accordion style in boards with white illustrated dust jacket. Handcomposed and handprinted in black, red, blue, and gold. The text is printed in German; however, a pictorial booklet supplement with English translation is included. An thought provoking, well designed book. ARTB/060111. Fine. More about Typographic Notes II; (Typografische Notizen II