Artist book, artist's book, artists' book...which one is right?

slackercruster · Aug 15, 2016

I see it listed as artist book, artist's book, artist's books, artists' book or artists' books...which one is right?

I'd be using it as follows;

Limited Edition - Hand-Printed Artist Book

or for a list of multiple books as

Limited Edition Artist books by (my name)

Are these OK or should it be:

Limited Edition - Hand-Printed Artists' Book

Limited Edition Artists' books by (my name)

Thanks

Alessandra Kelley · Aug 15, 2016

What's the subject and who is it for?

If I saw the phrase I would think an Artist Book is a book about artists.

An Artist's Book is how I would describe an artistic book, the work of one artist.

An Artists' Book, I would think, would be either the work of multiple artists, or intended for an audience of artists.

I would go with Artist's each time.

slackercruster · Aug 15, 2016

Alessandra Kelley said:
What's the subject and who is it for?

If I saw the phrase I would think an Artist Book is a book about artists.

An Artist's Book is how I would describe an artistic book, the work of one artist.

An Artists' Book, I would think, would be either the work of multiple artists, or intended for an audience of artists.

I would go with Artist's each time.

Well, I've been chewed out by the mods for posting my blog links here. Some forums don't care some are kinda anal. The book in question is Gender Benders from the 1970's. The books are placed with special collection libraries and art museums. I've done a bunch of them on various subject matter. They are all photo books, hand-printed in small editions.

cornflake · Aug 15, 2016

That doesn't actually answer the question.

I hope the title isn't actually "Gender Benders from the 1970's," as that's got an errant apostrophe and a missing cap.

AW Admin · Aug 15, 2016

slackercruster said:
Well, I've been chewed out by the mods for posting my blog links here. Some forums don't care some are kinda anal. The book in question is Gender Benders from the 1970's. The books are placed with special collection libraries and art museums. I've done a bunch of them on various subject matter. They are all photo books, hand-printed in small editions.

Actually, you have had several mods explain to you that members don't appreciate you constantly spamming the board with links to your blog.

And pointing you resources for properly promoting your work, and your site, on AW.

As in this PM:

Hi there slackercruster

I've noticed almost all your posts are self-promotion.

Many of them designed to drive traffic to your blog.

You need to stop exploiting the AW community for traffic. Members are perceiving you as spamming the community to drive traffic.

There are ways to legitimately self-promote on AW; see the excellent How do I promote on Absolute Write with Aplomb.

But the next time you post to drive traffic to your outside of the appropriate blogging forum thread, we'll move the post or possibly delete it.

Best,
Lisa
AW Admin

I assure you that doesn't even approach my standard stye of "chewing out" a member.

Filigree · Aug 15, 2016

To get back to the OP topic, the term you might use is 'artist's book'. Or 'book art'. Those two are the most common usage for unique or small limited editions as you describe.

Artist book, artist's book, artists' book...which one is right?

slackercruster

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

slackercruster

cornflake

practical experience, FTW

AW Admin

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing