A PUBLISHER OF WHOM YOU MAY NOT HAVE HEARD?


Book Works
19 Holywell Row
LondonEC2A 4JB


What is Book Works?

"The consistently impressive Book Works." Art Review

"The importance of Book Works as a structure cannot be underestimated. It is to do with consistency of presence rather than continuity of practice. A Book Works production always sits in parallel to other structures in the art discourse as a seperate yet crucial marker, shimmering between pure ongoing production and self-conscious artistic reflection" Liam Gillick

"More than any other publisher, Book Works' whole raison d'être is to explore the innovative possibilities of the book... they have had increasing reverberations in the art world." Blueprint

"With over a dozen books under my belt, I am hardly a neophyte with regards to publishing, however none of my previous projects prepared me for the joys of collaborating with Book Works." Mark Dion

Established in 1984, with the mission to disseminate visual art practice to as wide and diverse an audience as possible, Book Works is a contemporary visual arts publisher, based in London. In addition to our main activity of book publishing, we also produce text-based works, installations, multiples, videos and new media projects.

Book Works is a registered charity, set up to advance education for the benefit of the public in the visual arts, particularly in the form of books, which may be recognised as art forms in their own right.
We have a board of trustees who input their range of diverse expertise and interests into our development:

Stephen Bury, Chair
David Dibosa
Marysia Lewandowska
Nelson Crespo
Sharmini Pereira
Jo Stockham


Where to find our books

Book Works publications are held in libraries across UK, Europe and U.S.A. including:

Bibliothèque d'Art et d'Archaeologie, Geneva, Switzerland
Chelsea School of Art Library, London, UK
Chetham's Library, Manchester, UK
The Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University, New York, USA Glasgow School of Art Library, Glasgow, UK
Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection, John M Flaxman Library, Chicago, USA
Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, USA
Museum of Modern Art Library, New York, USA
Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, USA
Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York, USA
Tate Library, London, UK

The following UK bookshops usually stock a selection of Book Works titles:

Arnolfini Bookshop, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA
Artwords, 65A Rivington Street London E1 7QX
CCA Bookshop, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD
Fruitmarket Gallery Bookshop, 29 Market Street, Edinburgh EH1 1DF
Walther Koenig Bookshop, Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA
Magma, 8 Earlham Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9RY
Tate Modern Bookshop, Bankside, London SE1 9TG

And here is Book Work's latest project:


Semina -- where the novel has a nervous breakdown We are looking for artists and writers interested in experimental prose fiction, drawing inspiration from art as much as it does from literature.

Think of the ways in which time and space died yesterday, how acceleration exceeds accumulation, the dead city and the perpetual twilight of technology: Georges Bataille, Henri Michaux, Alexander Trocchi, William Burroughs, Ann Quin, Clarence Cooper Jr, Claude Cahun etc.

Above all we're looking for artists and writers willing to take risks with their prose and who demonstrate total disregard for the conventions that structure received ideas about fiction.

Semina takes its inspiration from a series of nine loose-leaf magazines issued by Californian beat artist Wallace Berman in the 1950s and 1960s.

The series is commissioned and edited by artist and writer Stewart Home. The series will publish nine books, six of which will be selected from open submission, two commissioned by the editor, with Blood Rites of the Bourgeoisie by Stewart Home the final title in the series.

The selection from open submissions will be made by Stewart Home and Book Works.

The series is designed by Fraser Muggeridge studio.
Deadline for applications is 30 May 2008.


Contact gavin@bookworks.org.uk or visit our website for more information http://www.bookworks.org.uk/