VARIOUS SMALL BOOKS: Referencing Various Small Books by Ed Ruscha (Mit Press)

Reading this book is thoroughly enjoyable. Apparently if you have the right attitude, nothing can be overlooked. These 'small books' show that even the most mundane things are rich sources of laughter, depression, ridicule, and mockery. Can reading really be this much fun? And I'm not even mentioning the textual commentary. The pictures themselves sustain these projects. The bottom line for me at least is to apply what I've learned by examining these 'small books' and using them as examples ( in some cases it may not be appropriate) for high school students struggling with English literacy. I'm planning to take the concept and demand that each student product one of their own 'small books' as an end-of-the-semester project. Imagine how impressed their parents will be when they introduce their own child as the author of Fifteen Stray Cats in My Neighborhood.

Ed Ruscha's various books revolutionised the creation of artist books. In the following years a significant number of people from amateurs to well known artists have created their own Ruscha derived works. Many of these books were produced in small runs and sadly like Ruscha's own works have, in recent years, become highly collectible. This volume details ~40 of the better known examples. I would highly recommend this to those with an interest in the contemporary artists book, or artists interested in issues of appropriation/seriality, and of course people obsessed with Ruscha.

Photobibliomania is a blessing and a curse to me, and Ed Ruscha may have been one of the instigators of the rags to riches story of photobooks, the scoundrel!I can recall when his books were remaindered and now they are like gold bars.It has been amusing and edifying to watch a whole generation of artists "respond" to Ruscha, and this book does a good job of summarizing, although an e-database would do better, as new books come out weekly now. I got one today!

Beautiful book, just what my son wanted!

For those who enjoy artist books, Ed Ruscha or just original ideas of familiar things, this is a very nice catalogue. The picturesand descriptions are very helpful and the artists insights into their creative processes is enlightening. It is a collectible catalogueand an artist book in itself.

This book provided photos from more than one of his books. It inspired me to look closer at the everyday world. I recommend it.

Its okay

What a fascinating survey of creativity inspired by Ed Ruscha's photo books from a few decades ago. His 7 by 5.5 inch titles have several almost direct copies here, the famous 1963 'Twentysix gasoline stations' inspired the same title, size and cover design from Michalis Pichler in 2009 with photos of Total stations in Germany, Jeff Brouws, in 1992 and Eric Tabuchi, in 2009 modified the title to 'Twentysix abandoned gasoline stations', though Tabuchi's was a set of boxed postcards.The book's title says 'small' but some are anything but: Mark Ruwedel's 'One thousand two hundred twelve palms' is 11.25 by 14.25 inches and Joachim Koester's 2007 'Occupied plots, abandoned futures' is no more than twelve framed prints on a gallery wall (one of two titles that are not books).I thought it was wonderful that this collection of ninety-one titles carries on the sense of fun Rusha put into his originals. His 1970 'Babycakes' probably inspired Marcella Hackbardt's 2010 'Various unbaked cookies' and Boehme and Baskauskas 'Various blank pages' is just that: sixty-pages of photos of a blank page book. Incidentally, many of the titles imitate Ruscha's use of Rockwell, the typeface used on his covers.The book is divided into seven dated sections starting in 1954 with a Japanese title revealing the Ginza in a very similar format to Rusha's 'Every building on Sunset Strip'. Most of the titles are post 2000 and self-published in very limited or open editions. I assume they are produced by print-on-demand techniques which is obviously ideal for this type of small-run photobooks. Editor Jeff Brouws did a nice job designing the pages (and printed with a 175 screen) though I would have appreciated an index.'Various small books' is a delightful and intriguing look back at the continuing influence of Ed Rusha on photography. My only frustration is that I only have one of these marvellous books!

What a fascinating survey of creativity inspired by Ed Ruscha's photo books from a few decades ago. His 7 by 5.5 inch titles have several almost direct copies here, the famous 1963 'Twentysix gasoline stations' produced the same title, size and cover design from Michalis Pichler in 2009 with photos of Total stations in Germany, Jeff Brouws, in 1992 and Eric Tabuchi, in 2009 modified the title to 'Twentysix abandoned gasoline stations', though Tabuchi's was a set of boxed postcards.The book's title says 'small' but some are anything but: Mark Ruwedel's 'One thousand two hundred twelve palms' is 11.25 by 14.25 inches and Joachim Koester's 2007 'Occupied plots, abandoned futures' is no more than twelve framed prints on a gallery wall (one of two titles that are not books).I thought it was wonderful that this collection of ninety-one titles carries on the sense of fun Rusha put into his originals. His 1970 'Babycakes' probably inspired Marcella Hackbardt's 2010 'Various unbaked cookies' and Boehme and Baskauskas 'Various blank pages' is just that: sixty-pages of photos of a blank page book. Incidentally, many of the titles imitate Ruscha's use of Rockwell, the typeface used on his covers.The book is divided into seven dated sections starting in 1954 with a Japanese title revealing the Ginza in a very similar format to Rusha's 'Every building on Sunset Strip'. Most of the titles are post 2000 and self-published in very limited or open editions. I assume they are produced by print-on-demand techniques which is obviously ideal for this type small-run photobook. Editor Jeff Brouws did a nice job designing the pages (and printed with a 175 screen) though I would have appreciated an index.'Various small books' is a delightful and intriguing look back at the continuing influence of Ed Rusha on photography. My only frustration is that I only have one of these marvellous books!***HAVE A LOOK AT SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

This book is quite a nice source for ideas on how to present your own 'typology' style photo projects, as it's basically a catalogue of such books. Perhaps it could have a bit more of a critical focus, but nonetheless its enjoyable and occasionally inspiring. I have returned to it on occasion which is always a good sign.