Research Catalog

Title

Diderot/Doubleday/deconstruction vol. VIII : Scott McCarney.

Author

McCarney, Scott.

Publication

[Rochester, N.Y.] : [Scott McCarney], 1995.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

579 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Alternative Title

Print; Imprint; Impression; Mark; Stamp; Brand; Offset; Engrave

Subjects

• Altered books
• Artists' books > New York (State) > Rochester > 1995

Genre/Form

Artists' books – New York (State) – Rochester – 1995.

Note

• Title, statement of responsibility, and imprint from artist's pencilled inscription on p. 3 of cover.
• Consists of the text block and binding of a discarded mid-century Doubleday encyclopedia, ("Revised Edition, Vol. VIII" on spine), with eighteen layers cut away to present a scaled pattern of sawtooth cuts as a wedge-shaped block. A laser-generated image imitating a black-ink woodcut shows a printer taken from Diderot's 18th-century L'Encyclopédie with the caption, "Print; Imprint; Impression; Mark; Stamp; Brand; Offset; Engrave" merging from each of the eighteen layers, along with 36 portraits cut as lozenge-shaped tabs from the Doubleday Encyclopedia and mounted to align as a frame. The last section contains text from the Doubleday volume ("Nax-Red"), unaltered save the portraits removed to serve as tabs.
• From slip laid in front: "The image of a printer is revealed by chiseling away pages of a discarded 20th century encyclopedia. The act of carving a pattern of 'pixes' into the book has re-organized the information it contains. 300 years after Diderot composed his own encyclopedia, modern technology has provided us with alternative means for sifting through data. The presentation of information becomes a part of its meaning. The question arises, 'is the book itself a technology of the past?' Only time will tell."
• "Diderot/Doubleday/ Deconstruction, a series created for the Science and the Artist's Book exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and the Washington Project for the Arts. A 20th century Doubleday Encyclopedia was carved to reveal images of individual workers representing the book trades from Diderot's 18th-century L'Encyclopédie"--information found at http://www.scottmccarneyvisualbooks.com/Pages/dddplates.html on 2/12/2020.

Binding (note)

• Bound in publisher's gilt stamped burgundy leatherette boards.

Call Number

Rare Books 20-342

OCLC

1140512010

Author

McCarney, Scott.

Title

Diderot/Doubleday/deconstruction vol. VIII : Scott McCarney.

Imprint

[Rochester, N.Y.] : [Scott McCarney], 1995.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Binding

Bound in publisher's gilt stamped burgundy leatherette boards. NN

Local Note

Rare Book Division Accession File 1990-1999 (rbk90.ask), Converted September 10, 2006.

Connect to:

Request access to this item in the Schwarzman Rare Books Collection

Added Author

McCarney, Scott, publisher.

Other Title

Print; Imprint; Impression; Mark; Stamp; Brand; Offset; Engrave

Research Call Number

Rare Books 20-342