In Praise of Smallness

I love small art books. Love them. An art book that feels in your hand like a reading book, or like an even smaller little found treasure? Perfect. Sure, there's a time and a place for giant art books that rock your world and bowl you over, but those tend to get a lot of attention all on their own just by virtue of their sheer dimensions. What I'd like to do today is sing a little song of praise to petite art volumes, the artists who created them, and the publishers who chose to make them such a pleasing size--

How to Cook the Perfect Day by Nikki McClure, published by Sasquatch

 Serious Drawings by Marc Johns, published by teNeues

 Cityscapes by John King, published by Heyday

 Everyday Matters by Danny Gregory, published by Princeton Architectural Press

 A Year in Japan by Kate T. Williamson, published by Princeton Architectural Press

 The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings by Kaylynn Deveney, published by Princeton Architectural Press

 Ok Ok OK by Mike Slack, published by Ice Plant

 Things are Really Getting Better by Barry McGee, published by Museum Het Domein

 Two Lines Align by Ed Fella and Geoff McFetridge, published by Red Cat

 Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky, published by Penguin

And (watch out, shameless self-promotion ahead), I've been inspired to help create a few small art books myself--with more to come in the future. Here's a little shelf of  some of my favorite small books that I've worked on:

Paper Cutting by Laura Heyenga, Apples I Have Eaten by Jonathan Gerken, 100 Girls on Cheap Paper by Tina Berning, Mixed by Kip Fulbeck, The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie by Malu Halasa and Rana Salam, Everything Is Going to Be Ok, and Nests by Sharon Beals, all published by Chronicle Books