This is a worthwhile addition to a collection, if you have an interest in artists' books. The extensive section of colour plates alone makes it a worthwhile purchase, especially for reference libraries or smaller libraries that may not have an extensive collection of artists' books. This is an update of his 1995 publication of the same name. The primary change between the two editions is the inclusion of colour plates with the number of illustrations going from 97 to 130. Even with this significant increase, the book still does not illustrate every work in the bibliography. While the essays have not been updated, Bury's pithy style has stood the test of time, especially the essays about historic periods. He has an impressive ability to be succinct yet still discuss complicated nuances in this interdisciplinary field, so these short essays are a solid introduction that will be accessible to beginners. The essays, in combination with the reference sections, make the book a core resource on the genre.

Subtle changes to the design of the book prove to be very effective. The not-quite square format and grey book cloth give the object itself a sophisticated look. The updated layout has emphasized the book's identity as more of a reference book than a scholarly monograph. The 1995 edition integrated the illustrations into the bibliography, along the lines of a museum exhibition catalogue. The 2015 edition separates the (colour) illustrations from the bibliography. Each section, including the essays, is separated by a thicker sheet of black paper, thus making it easier to flip to the desired section. Additionally, the final section of reference materials (selected bibliography of artists' books, chronology, glossary, general bibliography) is printed on grey paper, making it even easier to locate. The bibliography's organization by year with a multi-columnar layout accentuates the comparison of books that were published at the same time.

The separation of the image of the work from its bibliographic description in the chronology is surprisingly successful. I enjoyed the separation of the text and image in discussing a medium that is known for their relationship and integration. There is no pretence that this book also wants to be a work of art; it is simply a well-designed book about works of art. The images have been given a full page or even page-spread, which when combined with the accurately reproduced colour, bring a vibrancy to the illustrations that is often lacking in reference books. The aesthetic leanings that Bury admits to in the preface become clear through the succession of images primarily of conceptual and minimalist art. Yet in these reproductions, even a typographically minimal page feels robust as the reader gets a sense of how a particular paper has faded over time, the edges of a book have worn with use, or a sense of depth from the shadows captured. Each image is identified with a number that refers to its longer bibliographic description in the chronology as well as author, title and date, in small unobtrusive typography at the bottom of the page.

My chief complaint is with Bury's ‘pre-preface’ which outlines his reflection on how this revised edition has changed (or not) since 1995. Here the reader learns that the essays have not changed, which is fine since they remain relevant. Bury tantalizingly touches on how things have changed, but those fleeting thoughts are all the reader receives. He describes his essay A note on collecting of artists' books–a very significant essay to be written by someone with as much collecting experience as Bury–as a ‘rapidly written late contribution’ and then muses ‘much has changed with the emergence of collectors such as…’. If only this essay were expanded in the way of the illustration section–added to extensively, given life with colour–and not left to a cryptic note in the ‘pre-preface’. Bury writes he wanted to preserve ‘the intellectual unity of the first edition and the text and listing reflect my grappling with artists' books in the period up to 2000’. Why update this version to better reflect a time period almost two decades ago? Why not update the essays to reflect changes in your thinking since then? Or why not add a series of new musings or alternate musings on the same ideas? In fact, Bury implies that his ideas have changed: ‘If I was starting de novo, I would perhaps be writing a very different book, perhaps on artists' publications.’ Why the change in language to describe what is produced by artists? This is significant in a field where much of the critical literature is spent discussing and sometimes arguing about definitions, especially artists' books in its many grammatical versions. I push on the ideas presented in the ‘pre-preface’ because I have high expectations of the author, whose knowledge and experience I greatly respect. I want his opinion on top of the scholarly and bibliographic parsing of information.

That said, this work is still an indispensable book for a field that once lacked in critical attention. Its visual appeal and quantity and quality of illustrations successfully compete with the ‘coffee-table’ illustrated tomes about artist-made books that have become prevalent, yet it still falls into the category of academically rigorous historic exploration, such as Drucker (The century of artists' books, 2004) and Bright (No longer innocent: book art in America: 1960–1980, 2005). While I hope that Dr. Bury will expand the tantalizing ideas he introduced so briefly in this updated version, I also hope that he will do so in an entirely new volume, as he hypothetically proposed.

This review is also a call to librarians: use this book to discuss with students how much more there is to explore in this field and encourage them to contribute their voices now that there are multiple journals or blogs where they could do so. I hope that the tantalizing probes into a particular lineage of the history of artists' books in this edition will also inspire a new set of voices to join the conversation.