Structure of the Visual Book

The author

Keith A. Smith (b. 1938) is a central figure in American book arts — a photographer turned bookmaker who has produced hundreds of his own artist's books and, just as influentially, a series of teaching texts on the form (this volume, plus his well-known Non-Adhesive Binding books). He writes from deep inside the practice, which is why the book reasons like a maker rather than a historian.

The book

Published by his own imprint, keith smith BOOKS, in Rochester, New York, and revised across several editions (the expanded fourth edition of 2003 runs to some 430 pages with hundreds of illustrations). Its chapters take up the book as physical object, display, picture relationships, movement, and structure and composition.

How it has aged

It remains a cornerstone of book-arts teaching — assigned, cited, and returned to — precisely because it addresses concepts (sequence, pacing, the page as a unit of time) that do not go out of date. It is the conceptual complement to the practical binding manuals rather than a competitor to them.

For more context

Smith's own Non-Adhesive Binding volumes; and Johanna Drucker's The Century of Artists' Books for the historical and critical frame.

Sources

• Structure of the Visual Book, Expanded Fourth Edition (listing)
• Keith Smith at Printed Matter
• Internet Archive copy