top of page

COMPOSITION OF THE “LIBRARY OF MIKHAIL KARASIK”

(data continues to be clarified and supplemented)

Photograph: Kate Predko, 2019

Artists’ books

  1. Cover of artist’s book by Viktor Goppe. Vladimir Klimov (Fon-arik). “Mushhina-shantrape’. Stixi” [“Man-Shantrapa. Poems”]. [Moscow], “Izdatel’stvo Viktora Goppe” [“Publishing House of Viktor Goppe”], [2002]. Cover with flaps. Cardboard, colour screenprint. 24,95 х 16 х 0,1 cm. Folded: 24,95 x 16 x 0,1 cm; first flap: 5,1 x 24,9 cm; second flap: 5 x 24,9 cm; unfolded: 41,8 x 24,9 cm. One of near 45 ex.

  2. David Esslemont. “On the Folly and Wickedness of War: Two eighteenth-century essays”. Minneapolis, “Solmentes Press”, 2004. [16] p. Artist’s handmade pastegrained paper boards (cover), paper (spine label), 145 gsm Zerkall paper (pages), threads (fastening), two-colour linocut (printed on Vandercook presses), text printed from polymer plates, paste (spine label). 25,5 х 16,8 х 0,8 cm. Ex. 13 from 100. Three once folded sheets are put in the book, with adverts of books: 1) On the Folly and Wickedness of War / Solmentes Press. –– [Minneapolis : Solmentes Press, not earlier than in 2003]. –– [2] p. ; 2) David Esslemont. Inside the Book / Solmentes Press. –– [Minneapolis : Solmentes Press, not earlier than in 2003]. –– [2] p. ; 3) Ink on the Elbow : Conversations between David Esslemont & Gaylord Schanilec, A Midnight Paper Sales & Solmentes Press Publication / Solmentes Press, A Midnight Paper Sales. –– [Minneapolis : Solmentes Press, A Midnight Paper Sales, not earlier than in 2003]. –– [2] p.

  3. Wolfgang E. Herbst. “Solange die Nebel noch fallen: Wahlsprüche, Sinnsprüche, Orakel aus dem Winkelhaken von W. E. Herbst mit 10 Original-Holzschnitten” [“As Long as the Fog is Still Falling: Slogans, Sayings, Oracles from the Composing Stick of W. Herbst with 10 Original Woodcuts”]. Düsseldorf, “Herbst Presse” [“Autumn Press”], 1993. [60] s. Paper, woodcut, hand set. 24,9 х 17,2 х 1,1 cm. Ex. 173 from 300, the first 50 are different.

  4. Clifton Kirkpatrick Meador. “bad”. [Chicago], “Center for Book and Paper”, 2006. [20] p. Cardboard, paper, threads (fastening), hand printed by the artist: offset lithography, polyester plates (images for printing: computer graphics based on photographs of the artist). 24,5 х 18,35 х 0,15 cm. Around 60 ex.

  5. Radosław Nowakowski. “Neskazka o tom kak ya knigu pishu” [“Not A Fairy Tale About How I Write A Book”]. [Dąbrowa Dolna], “izdatel’stvo xvost slona” [“Publishing House Elephant’s Tail”], [c. 1996, not later than 1997]. [16] p. In envelope case. Paper, paste (label on the envelope, fastening), laser colour print. In envelope case: 24,8 х 13,8 х 0,1 cm; book (folded): 24,1 х 13,75 х 0,4 cm. Approximately 6–8 ex., no more than 10.

  6. Joseph John Visser (Joseph Johannes (Joop) Visser). “Boek. Granaetje nr 5” [“Book. Shrimp Number 5”]. Organizations participated: publishing houses “Dokkumer Diep” and “Drukkerij Douma Dokkum”, “Atelier It Plein 19”, “Stichting Boek / Werk / Onderzoek”. [Oosterlittens / Rotterdam], “Atelier It Plein 19”, 1994. [44] p. In case. Case –– cardboard, synthetic cords, stamping; book –– handmade paper, synthetic cords, hand stitching, hand printed offset lithography by the artist (images for printing are made on Linotronic typeset machine). Case with book inside: 24,5 х 21 х 1,1 cm; case: 24,5 х 21 х 0,5 cm; book: 22,4 х 22,5 х 0,7 cm. Ex. 105 from 200.

Self-published or “samizdat” books (some of them are fine press)

  1. Koch, Lothar. So spricht Freund Hein. Ein Totentanz von Lothar Koch : [Kalender] [So Speaks Friend Hein. A Dance of Death by Lothar Koch : Calendar]. –– Dresden : Druck von Lothar Koch [Print by Lothar Koch], [1997]. –– [12] s. In envelope case. Ex. 15 from 30. Numbered and signed by the author. Paper, metal spiral (fastening), inkjet print. Envelope (without book): 23 х 16 х 0,2-0,5 cm; book 14,85 х 21 х 0,2 (without spiral)-0,7 (with spiral) cm.

  2. Pütz, Claudia; [Heidtmann, Brigitta; Liersch, Hendrik]. Redgruetz : Prosa [Redgruetz : Prose] / Zeichnungen von B. Heidtmann ; Gestaltung, Buchdruck und Bindung H. Liersch [illustrations by B. Heidtmann ; designed, printed and bound by H. Liersch]. –– Berlin : Corvinus Presse, 1997. –– [26] s. Ex. 77 from 250. Paper, cardboard, threads (fastening), manual printing: typographic text setting and typographic (high) printing of images. 20,1 х 17,1 х 0,55 cm. With gift inscription for Mikhail Karasik by the author Claudia Pütz on the title page: “Für // Michail Karasik // Herzlichst // von // <signature> // 9. November 1997”. Translation: “For // Mikhail Karasik // sincerely // from // <signature> // 9. November 1997”.

  3. Sdun, Doris & Dieter. Johann Wolfgang Goethe. “Ginkgo Biloba” : aus dem West-östlichen Divan, “Buch Suleika” [“Ginkgo Biloba” : from the West-Eastern Divan, “Book Suleika”]. –– [Dreieich] : Schierlingspresse [Hemlock Press], Handpresse Dieter Sdun [Hand Press Dieter Sdun], 1992. –– [4] s. In dust jacket, glued to the book cover. Paper, threads (fastening), manual printing. 22,2 х 15 х 0,1 cm. Number of ex. and total amount of ex. is unknown.

  4. [Shprints, Lev]. Viktor Goppe. Katalog : Izdaniya Viktora Goppe (Kineshma) [Viktor Goppe. Catalogue : Editions of Viktor Goppe (Kineshma)]. 2nd ed., corr. and add. / Comp. L. Shprints. –– Moscow : [s. l.], 1999. –– 16 p. “Exemplar of Mikhail Karasik”, one of 3 ex. with names of the persons they are intended for, a total of 8. Paper, stapler metal staples (fastening), inkjet color print, paste (color illustrations, including on the front cover).

  5. [Smethurst, Michael; Bultitude, Alan]. The British Library in the 1990s : The first Alice Brett Memorial Lecture, given by Michael Smethurst / Designed and printed by A. Bultitude ; Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association. –– Cambridge : Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association, September Press, 1990. –– 32 p. 500 ex. In dust jacket, glued to the book cover. Marble handmade paper by Katherine Davis (“Payhembury Marble Papers”), handmade paper, threads (fastening), hand set, manual printing on a printing press (according to P. Moore, The Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association), paste. 14,6 х 21,8 х 0,3 cm. Number of ex. and total amount of ex. is unknown.

Conceptual books

  1. Kozłowski, Jarosław. Lesson. –– Cranleigh / Veracruz : Beau Geste Press, 1975. –– [100] p. Printed by E. V. Shore in Poughill, Devon. 400 ex. Caribbean Mechanical paper, cardboard, offset manual printing, glue binding. 15,9 х 21,3 х 0,9 cm.

  2. Linza, Lenore. Lux-Calendar / Lyuks-kalendar’, 55cosmo – 58cosmo (2012–2016) / ArtAvtonomiya LLINZA / ArtAutonomy LLINZA. –– St. Petersburg : typography “Politexnika-servis” [“Polytechnic Service”], 2012. –– 49 p., [3] p. Ex. 45 from 66. Numbered and signed by the artist. Paper, cardboard, fabrics, synthetic cord (removable), stapler metal staples, digital (laser) printing, glue binding, paste by the artist. 21,2 х 23 х 0,5 cm.

Titles published or compiled by Mikhail Karasik

  1. Book. Mihail Karasik. Avtoportret : Katalog vystavki / Mikhail Karasik. Self-Portrait : Exhibition catalogue / Compiled by M. Orlova ; The State Russian Museum, The Ludwig Museum at the Russian Museum ; [publisher M. Karasik]. –– St. Petersburg : M. K. Publishers, 2003. –– 96 p. One of 300 ex.; unnumbered, some ex. are hand-numbered by M. Karasik. (In Russian and English.)

  2. Pamphlet. Chudotvorec byl vysokogo rosta... : Den’ rozhdeniya Daniila Xarmsa v Russkom muzee : foto, video, ob’’ekt, installyaciya, kniga : Katalog vystavki [Wonderworker was Tall… : Birthday of Daniil Kharms in the Russian Museum : Photo, Video, Object, Installation, Book : Display Catalogue] / Compiled by M. Orlova ; The State Russian Museum, The Ludwig Museum at the Russian Museum ; [publisher M. Karasik]. –– St. Petersburg : M. K. and Harmsizdat [Kharmsizdat], 2005. –– 37 p., [3] p. (In Russian.)

  3. Pamphlet. Krugom vozmozhno Xarms : Katalog vystavki [Perhaps Kharms is All Around : Display Catalogue] / Authors and compilers: E. V. Basner, N. Yu. Duxavina, V. E. Lovyagina, N. V. Nassonova, Yu. V. Usatova ; publisher M. Karasik. –– St. Petersburg : State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, M. K. and Harmsizdat [Kharmsizdat], 2005. –– 32 p. (In Russian.)

  4. Pamphlet. Samozveri. Knizhki-samodelki. 1929–1935 : Katalog [Samozveri. Homemade Books. 1929–1935 : Catalogue] / Compiler, author of the introductory article and catalogue: M. S. Karasik ; State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. –– St. Petersburg : State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, 2012. –– 28 p. A rectangular piece of red cardboard with rounded corners is glued to the lower left corner of the back cover. (In Russian.)

Gifts

–– catalogues,

–– periodicals,

–– publication of fiction,

–– “samizdat” or self-published works,

–– handmade objects,

–– artists’ books.

Articles of an almanac “Ottisk / Imprint” (Ottisk: Ezhegodnyj al’manax pechatnoj grafiki / Imprint: Annual Almanac of Printed Graphic Art, [vol. 3: Kniga xudozhnika / Artist Book]. St. Petersburg, M. K. Publishers, 2005. [2], 114, [18] p.; in Russian and English), gifted to the SLM “XX century” by Marina Karasik, are here.

Fully digitized texts of the almanac will be available in the near future.

«Библиотека Михаила Карасика» в ГЛМ «XX век». Общий вид. 2019 год. Фото Е. П. Предко
IMG_0123.JPG

The descriptions are relevant on the 17th of September 2021. The collection is going to be gradually digitized and presented on the website in its entirety.

The collection the “Library of Mikhail Karasik” in the Saint-Petersburg Literary Museum “XX century” (SLM “XX century”) consists of approximately 164–167 items (some may be part of publications, rather than separate objects). Of them

  • 102 are books and pamphlets, including two books with compact disks and four “sets” (that means collections of several publications combined in a folder, case, tape or enclosed in a cover),

  • 44–47 are other printed materials: a magazine (bulletin), booklets, leaflets and poster with a ticket, most likely to the Klingspor Museum in Offenbach am Main, business cards and postcars (unsigned), in particular invitations (without a name), bookmarks, everything is put in books, excluding a bulletin, a poster and one booklet,

  • 18 are objects: five “samizdat” or self-published books, two conceptual*, five artists' books and the cover of an artist’s book, as well as, a presumably promotional, samizdat pamphlet “Drucken und Lernen” (“Printing and Learning”; Oldenburg, not earlier than 1981), a samizdat invitation to the 52nd Frankfurt Book Fair enclosed in envelope (Frankfurt am Main, not later than 2000), a wrapped parcel in a similar envelope, addressed to Karasik, and two “improvised” bookmarks (one with notes) inside two catalogues.

 

Among pamphlets and books are mainly catalogues (museum, of publishers, displays, fairs, projects, collections, collective and personal) and also four digests (of articles, almanacs), two illustrated editions of Daniil Kharms texts and a monograph. Nearly ten publications have signatures and seven have gift inscriptions. Most of the booklets are promotional, others are catalogues; leaflets are advertising.

All printed materials are either devoted to the genres of the artist’s book or graphics, to the art of book (or to their representatives, works or projects by them), or are/include such things themselves.

From the article of Yuliya Selivanova “«Biblioteka Mixaila Karasika» — dar Gosudarstvennomu literaturnomu muzeyu «XX vek»: istoriya, sostav, budushhee” [“The «Library of Mikhail Karasik» –– a Gift to the Saint-Petersburg Literary Museum «XX century»: History, Composition, Future”] (“Al’manax «XX vek»” [“Almanac «XXth Century»”], vol. 10, St. Petersburg, 2020, pp. 248–266 (almanac without illustrations; preprint)).

* Please see definitions in the article by Yuliya Selivanova “Mikhail Karasik and the World Artist’s Book Movement on the basis of materials in the Saint-Petersburg Literary Museum «XX century»” (Artists’ Book Yearbook 2020–2021, Bristol, 2019; full text below).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Selivanova Yu. V. “Biblioteka Mixaila Karasika” — dar Gosudarstvennomu literaturnomu muzeyu “XX vek”: istoriya, sostav, budushhee [The “Library of Mikhail Karasik” –– a Gift to the Saint-Petersburg Literary Museum “XX century”: History, Composition, Future] // Al’manax “XX vek” [Almanac “XXth Century”], vol. 10. St. Petersburg, Renome Publ., 2020, pp. 248–266. Available without illustrations at: vk.com/doc-2037181_577406701?hash=292123f1c6ff8baf18. There is also a preprint with abstract and references in English.

​

Selivanova Yu. V. Knigi xudozhnika, konceptual’nye i samoizdannye knigi “Biblioteki Mixaila Karasika” v Gosudarstvennom literaturnom muzee “XX vek”: problema identifikacii, rezul’taty izucheniya [Artists’ Books, Conceptual and Self-published Books of the “Library of Mikhail Karasik” at the Saint-Petersburg Literary Museum “XX century”: the Problem of Identification, Study Results] // Traugotovskie chteniya 2019 [Traugot Readings 2019]. St. Petersburg, 2020. Pp. 266–289. Available at: traugot.ru/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/%E2%84%968_2019.pdf. There is also a preprint with abstract and references in English.

Comment: The author's semantic accents in the text (in bold and italic) are only available in the preprint.

​

Selivanova Y. Mikhail Karasik and the World Artist’s Book Movement on the basis of materials in the Saint-Petersburg Literary Museum “XX century” // Artists’ Book Yearbook 2020–2021. Bristol, 2019. Pp. 38–47. 

Comment: On p. 47 the author not quite accurately expressed her thought. Regarding the places of preserving artists’ books in Russian museums it is more correct to speak not about libraries, but a “rare book fund” (in this context “fund” is an official term meaning “collection”), a book fund, sometimes a document fund. Museum scientific libraries can be also mentioned here, the collections of which, however, are not included in the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation. Thus, the precise wording would be: “Although artists’ books in Russian museums may not be listed in museums’ funds (in particular, in book collections), but in so-called scientific libraries”.

Selivanova Y. The “Library of Mikhail Karasik” in the Saint-Petersburg Literary Museum “XX century” // Book Arts Newsletter, 2019, № 125, mid. April–June, pp. 50–53. Available at: www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/pdf/newspdfs/125.pdf.

Comment: In the caption to the first illustration the author missed the names of the poets who wrote the texts used by Mikhail Karasik in his artist’s book of 2014 “Plix i Plyux / Plisch und Plum”. These are Daniil Kharms and Wilhelm Busch respectively.

Библиография

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Yuliya Selivanova on her own behalf and on behalf of the Saint-Petersburg Literary Museum “XX century” warmly thanks all those who kindly helped and continues to help study the “Library of Mikhail Karasik”:


Sarah Bodman (Centre for Fine Print Research of the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk),

Stephanie Ehret-Pohl (Klingspor Museum, Library, Offenbach am Main, Germany, www.klingspormuseum.de),

David Esslemont (“Solmentes Press”, Decorah, USA, www.solmentes.com),

Adrian Glew (Tate Archive, London, UK, www.tate.org.uk/art/archive),

Viktor Goppe (“Izdatel’stvo Viktora Goppe” [“Victor Goppe Publishing House”], Moscow, Russia, www.facebook.com/goppe.viktor),

Brigitta Heidtmann (Krefeld, Germany, brigitta-heidtmann.de),

Martha Hellion (in the past “Beau Geste Press”; Centro de Investigación y Documentación de Libros de Artistas (Center for Research and Documentation of Artist’s Books), Mexico City, Mexico),

Marina Karasik (Saint Petersburg, Russia),

Lothar Koch (Dresden, Germany),

Hendrik Liersch (“Corvinus Presse”, Schöneiche, Germany, www.corvinus-presse.de),

Lenore Linza (Saint Petersburg, Russia, www.llinza.info),

David Mayor (in the past “Beau Geste Press”; Welwyn Garden City, UK, www.welwynacupuncture.co.uk),

Clifton Kirkpatrick Meador (North Carolina, USA, cliftonmeador.com),

​Anne Mierisch and Marion Rudolph (Sächsische Landesbibliothek — Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden (SLUB; Saxon State and University Library Dresden), Dresden, Germany, www.slub-dresden.de/en),

Peter Moore (The Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association, Royston, UK, www.pbfa.org),

Alice Motard (CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux (CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art of the City of Bordeaux), Bordeaux, France, www.capc-bordeaux.fr/en),

Radosław Nowakowski (“Liberatorium”, Dąbrowa Dolna, Poland, www.liberatorium.com),

Claudia Pütz (Puetz) (Bonn, Germany / Valencia, Spain, puetzclaudia.de),

Daniela Sawade (Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Library, Regensburg, Germany, www.kunstforum.net),

Dmitry Sayenko (in the past “Nikodim Press”, Saint-Petersburg, Russia),

Evgeny Strelkov (design studio and publishing house “Dirizhabl”, Nizhny Novgorod, dirizhabl.ipfran.ru/index.html),

Jadwiga Tryzno (Book Art Museum, Łódź, Poland, www.book.art.pl),

Joseph John Visser (Joseph Johannes (Joop) Visser; 1946–2019; “Atelier It Plein 19” [“Workshop «The Square 19»”], www.josephjohnvisser.nl, Huisdrukkerij en Privé-Museum voor het Kunstenaarsboek (Private Centre for Artist’s-books, Literature, Music and All Arts: Museum & Workshop), www.boekwerkonderzoek.nl, Oosterlittens, the Netherlands)

and also Hartmut Andryczuk (“Hybriden-Verlag” [“Hybrid Publishing”], Berlin, Germany, www.hybriden-verlag.de).

Благодарности
bottom of page