artists’ books

Ian Hamilton Finlay centenary display at ECA Library: September 2025

The works of Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925 – 2006) are the focus of our new display at ECA Library, Evolution House, “Evening will come…”, marking the centenary of this renowned artist, poet and garden-maker.

The display features book-works, cards and ephemera by Finlay and artists with whom he collaborated, with his imprint the Wild Hawthorn Press, which Finlay set up in 1961.

Finlay’s works explore themes such as boats, sailing and shipping, the French Revolution, concrete poetry, the pastoral, Classicism, and the Enlightenment, and have not been without controversy. Over his long lifetime he had fallings out with local government, arts funding organisations, and European cultural organisations, and even now causes some critics to become enraged.

Decide for yourself with our wee display.

Bookworks by Peter Liversidge

ECA Library Artists’ Books Collection has recently acquired a set of books by UK artist Peter Liversidge.

As the Ingleby Gallery curators explain: “Every element in an exhibition of work by Peter Liversidge begins at the artist’s kitchen table with Liversidge sitting alone writing proposals on an old manual typewriter. These hand-typed pages, present an array of possible and impossible ideas for performances and artworks in almost every conceivable medium. In a sense the first realisation of every work is in Liversidge’s head, then on the page, then in the mind of the reader, and finally (perhaps) as a physical object or happening. In every case, the first ‘artwork’ from any series of proposals is the bookwork that presents the collected ideas.”

The books include:

Proposals for Printed Matter Inc.

Proposals for Reykjavik

Proposals for the Flag Club

Proposals for East Quay

Proposals for Lancaster Arts

Proposals for Frome

Proposals for Hong Kong

Proposals for Huntly

Proposals for Kiasma

Proposals for Brussels

Proposals for Town Hall Hotel and Apartments

Proposals for the Berggruen Institute

Proposals for Basis

Proposals for CGP London

Proposals for Santarcangelo

Proposals for Liverpool

Proposals for Sean Kelly Gallery

Proposals for Antarctica

Proposals for SNGMA

Proposals for Barcelona

Proposals for Bonniers Konsthall

Proposals for Royal London Hospital

Liversidge has himself said: “In a sense they are all possible and the bookwork that collates the proposals allows the reader to curate their own show, and because of its size and scale the bookwork allows an individual to interact with each of the proposals on their own terms, one to one.” [Cell Project Space, 2005].

Bookmarks 2024 Winners display

Our new display at ECA Library, Evolution House, level 1, features works by three of the winners of the 2024 Bookmarks Prize.

The Bookmarks Prize is awarded to selected graduates for high quality and innovative use of the book form shown at the Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Shows. It is open to all students across the Schools of Art and Design.

Jane Hyslop, Lecturer in Painting & Illustration at ECA, who curated this display says “In 2024 it was a pleasure to select three graduates to receive the award: Daniyyel Ironside (School of Art, Intermedia), Charlotte Brooke Simm (School of Design, Textiles) and Honor Dodd (School of Design, Jewellery).

The prize itself offered the opportunity to showcase work at BOOKMARKS 2025 which was held at Edinburgh College of Art in March 2025.”

The shortlist of prize winners was as follows:

Honor Dodd – BA (Hons) Jewellery

Daniyyel Ironside – BA (Hons) Intermedia

Charlotte Brooke Simm – BA (Hons) Textiles

Aner Wang -BA (Hons) Illustration

& Commended Collective:

SPRITZ – Flora Luckman, Ally McKay, Lucy Parker, BA (Hons) Illustration.

The display will continue until 11th May 2025, and is accessible to the public, Monday – Friday, 9.00am – 4.45pm.

Works by Daniyyel Ironside, Honor Dodd and Charlotte Brooke Simm

ECA Bookmarks Bookfair: 5th March 2025

Make your way to the ECA Sculpture Court at Lauriston campus Main Building from 1.00pm to 7.00pm to enjoy the annual ECA Bookmarks Bookfair! Your opportunity to buy prints, zines, artists’ books, cards, pin badges, t-shirts and other wonders made by our ECA Art and Design students, and friends from Scottish colleges and arts organisations.

Poster for Bookmarks 2025 in red and blue print

Poster art by Rosie Wang, ECA Illustration student, rosieee_art on Insta…

Display in ECA Library: Semester 2

We wish all our students and staff a very productive semester 2, and invite you to come along to ECA Library to enjoy our new display of book works by artist and print maker Susie Wilson.

We are fortunate to have several artists’ books in our collection by Susie, in addition to the major boxed work she created in response to her residency at ECA library in 2016.

The works featured are:

Cabinet on left:

1: Flutter, Edinburgh, 2011

2: Inside Outside, Edinburgh, 2011

3: Hidden Inside, Edinburgh, 2011

4: Tunnel, Edinburgh, 2011

5: Insect Life, Edinburgh, 2011

Cabinet on right:

6: Untitled, Edinburgh, 2016

For more information about Susie’s work click here. [This display has now closed.]

picture of an artists book
Susie Wilson, Tunnel, 2011

New display at ECA Library

Our new display explores journeys to islands both real and imaginary, centering on  Voyage Boxed: sea journeys, island hopping & trans-oceanic concepts, by Imi Maufe and others, (2014), and including in addition, an Atlas of Remote Islands, by Judith Schalansky (2010), The Fascinating secrets of oceans and islands, (Reader’s Digest Association, 1972) Archipelago: an atlas of imagined islands, by Huw Lewis-Jones (2019) and Dreaming the Gokstadt: northern lands and islands, Thomas Joshua Cooper, (1988).

A display of books in a case

 

A display of books in a case

LAST CHANCE TO SEE our autumn 2024 Oak Tree display

Our display at ECA Library focuses on book works by artist Jane Hyslop, including a recent acquisition: The Oak Tree: a tribute to eternity.

An illustrated concertina book with three pages open
Jane Hyslop: The Oak Tree: a tribute to eternity

Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando, a biography, and spanning over 700 years, The Oak Tree: a tribute to eternity weaves historical and contemporary fact with fiction, and marks the pivotal point at which we now find ourselves in the face of climate change and declining biodiversity. It follows Woolf’s groundbreaking novel in drawing attention to the very moment of the present, while urging us to look to the future.

Taking the form of an imagined visual edition of the manuscript the eponymous character writes throughout the novel, the artist’s book is accompanied by an introduction and notes written in collaboration with Professor Bryony Randall.

Other works featured in the display include Edinburgh: a visual handbook, 2007, and An Experiment, 2010.

The display closes on 5th November.

BOOKMARKS 2024

Bookmarks 2024 took place at ECA on Wednesday 27th March from 1.00pm to 7.00pm at the ECA Sculpture Court.

A view from above of the bookfair taking place in the Sculpture Court
Bookmarks 2024 in action!

This annual event is a fantastic opportunity to meet artists’ books and zines makers, buy and swap stuff, and attend workshops!

Check out the new ECA website for more info.

A graphic for Bookmarks 2024
Illustration by Rebecca Tate, Year 3 Illustration, School of Design, at ECA

On a Clear Day: Bookworks and Poem-objects responding to Agnes Martin

11 January 2024:

 

ECA Library is delighted to host a new display featuring works by Julie Johnstone of Essence Press, and Alan Shipway, painter. Julie has long been drawn to the painter Agnes Martin (1912-2004). For this project she decided to address her interest in Agnes Martin directly, in order to see the body of work that might result when Martin’s life and work ‘met’ her own practice. She was interested in asking what it was that draws us to a particular painter or work of art – that affinity or resonance one feels – and how one might be inspired by that. Also on display are two watercolours by Alan Shipway who is also an admirer of Agnes Martin.

The show is open now until the end of February 2024.

Please do come along to ECA Library, level 1 of Evolution House, West Port, to take a look at our 3 display cabinets and the wonderful works inside.

NB: Evolution House is open to the public Monday – Friday, 9.00am – 4.45pm only. Sometimes our reception needs to close over lunchtime, at short notice, so please either phone ahead to check the building is open or arrive between 9am and 12, or 2pm and 4pm. You can reach ECA Library on 0131 651 5700. Thank you!

For more information go to the Essence Press website