Keith A. Smith~ New York

200 Books: An Annotated Bibliography
By Keith Smith
New York: Keith A Smith Books, 2003. Second printing, 1000 copies.

6 x 9.5"; 336 pages. Typeface is Adobe Garamond with captions in Garamond and Helvetica. Digital photographs and scans. Cover photo/drawing by by Smith. Cover typography by Scott McCarney. Printed offset on Finch Vellum 80 lb. text. Smythe sewn hard cover. Bound in Roxite B, Aqueous Acrylic-Impregnated Premium Cloth in Blue Green. Foil Stamped in Lusterfoil Simulated Dusted/Copper B43. With illustrated dust wrapper.

Dust jacket blurb: "an annotated bibliography of all the books Keith Smith made from Book 1, while a student at the Art Institute of Chicago, to Book 200 [this one]. Smith writes about how he makes images, why he makes books and places his process in the context of his personal experiences. The 200 books are represented here by over 500 photo illustrations.

"Smith's books range from artists books to poetry and textbooks to dictionaries. Most of his more than 150 one-of-a-kind artists books are in his own collection and have been seen by only a handful of people. Smith has published over two dozen small edition artist books and book-length poems and compiled ten small dictionaries to aid the structure and vocabulary of his poetry."
$35

Book Binding for Book Artists: Sewn and Pasted Cloth or Leather Bindings Requiring No Special Tools or Equipment
By Keith A. Smith and Fred Jordan.
Rochester, New York: Keith Smith Books, (2006).
Fifth printing, 1000 copies.

Preliminaries cover material and tools, proportion on the board, archival materials, paste, paper traits, sections, imposition and sewing preparation. Includes practical advice on grain of paper; how to mark, score, cut and tear paper; compiling folios and folding down a sheet; sewing stations, thread, knots and tension sewing. Three bindings are described in detail.

The first, Pamphlet Binding with Boards, is useful for a book of four to thirty-two pages. When only a few pages are needed, this hard cover binding with endsheets is a beautiful, substantial presentation.

Flat Back Cased-in Codex is ideal for a book of a few dozen pages or as many as a few hundred. This is the hardcover binding most often used by artists for one-of-a-kind or small production books. It is described with quarter, half or full cloth and an exposed cloth hinge. It is also described with the more traditional endsheets as pastedowns.

Tight Back and Hollow Back result in rounded and backed books of thirty-two to several hundred pages. It is described as a simple quarter, half or full leather binding with no paring of leather and no sewn endbands. Cloth covering can be substituted.

Book Binding for Book Artists also features over 400 elaborate illustrations to augment the text, plus 60 photo reproductions of books by nineteen contemporary binders and book artists. Sources for paper and leather are also listed.
$35

Text in the Book Format
By Keith Smith
New York: Keith A Smith Books, (1997). Second Edition, second printing, 2000 copies.

6 x 9", 128 pages. Printed offset on Mohawk Superfine 80 lb. text and cover. Smyth sewn. Softcover with cream and black wrappers.

Keith Smith: "This book is not about binding, computers, design, typography or the history of books, but the possibilities of conceiving text which utilizes the format not to distract, but assist the written word."

Book blurb: "The book format is movement. Rhythms of syllables and moving pictures of implied imagery flowing within text is akin to music and cinema. Events depicted in writing unfold through time in space, alongside the physical act of turning pages.

"Awareness of space of the page, and composing the pages as well as the text, revolutionizes writing styles because it is a departure from the concept of seamless writing of a running manuscript. The writer can take into consideration the demands and opportunities of the multiple page format via the computer.

"Pacing of the book is the synchronization or syncopation of the content with turning pages. The format can reinforce and even speak aside from the text. Writing specifically in the book format, as opposed to a running manuscript, brings to the reader a book experience."
$25