The Warburg Institute in London is opening an exhibition titled "Art & the Book" (16 May–2 August) and organizing the Biblioteka Art Book Fair (20–21 June) to explore the medium of artists' books. Curated by Arnaud Desjardin and Hlib Velyhorskyi, the show spans examples from the 1960s to today. To help readers understand the genre, Desjardin—author of the reference work *The Book on Books on Artists Books* (2013)—recommends four key publications: Lucy Lippard's *Six Years* (1973), the exhibition catalogue *Looking Telling Thinking Collecting* (2004) edited by Anne Moeglin-Delcroix and others, Clive Phillpot's essay collection *Booktrek* (2013), and Michael Lailach's *Printed Matter: Die Sammlung Marzona/The Marzona Collection* (2005).
This matters because artists' books are an intimate but often overlooked art form, with rare examples frequently kept out of public reach. The Warburg Institute's programming—combining an exhibition, a book fair, and public talks—provides rare access to these experimental works and the scholarship around them. The recommended publications offer essential historical and critical frameworks, from Lippard's documentation of conceptual art's dematerialization to Phillpot's institutional advocacy at MoMA, helping both newcomers and specialists navigate a genre that challenges conventional boundaries between art and literature.