Artists' Books, Altered Books, & Book Art (Tri-Co): Visual Editions

Separate leaves, issued in a box.
"This book can be read in any order" -- on cover.
Originally published in France, 1962. English translation by Richard Howard published in the US in 1963.
Includes an introduction by Tom Uglow and an illustrated page entitled "The Anatomy of Your Favourite Novel" by Salvador Plascencia

When talking to people about visual writing, conversations always seem to come back to The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Originally published in the late 18th century in nine volumes, it is still one of the most contemporary books around in terms of how it looks and reads. When Visual Editions briefed design studio, A Practice for Everyday Life, they asked them to breathe new life into the book's design, adding new visual elements, while staying faithful to the original spirit. Will Self introduces the book with typically irreverent brilliance.

A masterful work of storytelling, a unique sculptural object created through a collaborative process between Visual Editions and author. A curiosity with the die-cut technique was combined with the pages' physical relationship to one another and how this could somehow be developed to work with a meaningful narrative. This led to Jonathan deciding to use an existing piece of text and cut a new story out of it - his favourite book, The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz. Writing, cutting and proto-typing has created a new story cut from the words of an old favourite.