An Interview With Vamp and Tramp

Vicky Stewart Talks Artists' Books

Jan 14, 2009 Kiki Anderson

Fine press and artists' books dealer Vicky Stewart discusses the appeal of this art form. Both tactile and visual, books made by artists offer meaning and delight.

Vamp & Tramp booksellers specialize in artists' books and fine press editions. The passion that owners Bill and Vicky Stewart have for the work they represent is obvious and infectious. Recently Suite101 caught up with Vicky Stewart before she left for a cross-country tour that includes the Codex book fair in San Francisco and the ABAA fair in Los Angeles. She graciously took the time to tell us why artists' books are such an engaging art form and mentioned some of her favorite book artists.

What initially appealed to you about artists' books?

The first one my husband, and then I, saw was by Ron King, who started Circle Press in London, England. It was a book he did on Antony and Cleopatra. And the appeal I guess was really the whole thing: the text and the imagery and how that flowed. And that they complemented one another. Everything went toward creating an idea.

This might be a tough question. What are a few of your favorite titles, and why?

[Laughs] You're right. Culling it down is hard. But just about anything that Ron King of Circle Press does, we like. Antony and Cleopatra is one. And his Anansi Company, where the viewer becomes a part of the process of the book, because you actually take the puppets out and perform with them. Those two, I suppose, are my favorites of his. And then one that he did with his wife, it's called Delicious Babies, which is blind embossed. And one more from him, Turn Over Darling, which is very Matisse-like.

What's nice about Ron is that his books run from inexpensive to the very expensive. So for the collector, you can start collecting him at a very low end and then progress, if that's what you want to do. So Ron King is one.

Two is a book by Foolscap Press called Direction of the Road. It is just a wonderful book that incorporates letterpress, the visual, and the way it's all put together in the box: the paper makes the sound of rustling leaves. It's a short story by Ursula LeGuin. And it's one of those books that was very reasonably priced for collectors, and it has very quickly gone out of print. We actually have the last copy. It's in an edition of 120, which is a large edition, but it was printed in 2007 and it's essentially out of print. So Ron King and Direction of the Road. And then, we could go on from there.

What are the edition numbers for most of the books that you distribute?

Most of them tend to be around 25, I guess. But we represent anything from unique work to open editions. Another artist who does really well as far as putting text, content, the form, everything together going toward the subject and the point they're trying to make is Heather Weston. And several of her books are open edition.

For somebody who's a collector, or a new collector, do you have any advice for them on how to best store artists' books?

Well, it all depends upon the artist's book. I suppose it's no different than collecting any art, or if you're a book collector: you want to take care. You want to make sure they're in a temperature-controlled environment. You want to make sure you always handle them with clean hands. Just normal respect that you would give to any piece of art. Because after all, an artist's book or a letterpress book is a piece of art.

The intimacy and tactile quality that artists' books offer are one of the big appeals of this art form, apparently. Vamp & Tramp represent a large cross-section of artists' books, and their Web site gives detailed information about the titles they carry.

Read more about the interview with Vicky Stewart at the Art Books blog.

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