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Books – Bookbinders' Collection

Books

In recent times, the term book work has been used to refer to numbered books, magazines, posters and various small prints, regardless of the material – everything from multi-page and handmade self-publishing to mass-produced publishing where a lot of money is spent on the setting of the work. Nowadays, the term book work in most people’s minds is a book by an artist – where the book is the work itself, the medium that the artist chooses because of the qualities that the book has over other media. In 2018, the exhibition Book Work was installed in the Library House on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the National Library of Iceland. On this occasion, a special book work collection was established as one of the National Library’s special collections.

Bookbinder's Museum

Late in the last century, bookbinder Sigurþór Sigurðsson began collecting bookbinding works by various bookbinders. In 2002, Sigurþór offered the collection to the Bookbinders' Association and it was accepted. In 2012, it was handed over to the National Library of Iceland - University Library for safekeeping. The books in the collection are hand-bound by various bookbinders, many of whom have more than one book. The collection also includes several books that were bound in bookbinders' workshops early in the last century. The Bookbinders' Collection will attempt to collect bookbinding works by as many bookbinders in the country as possible. In this way, the collection can provide a comprehensive picture of the history of bookbinding in Iceland and be used for research into it.