Something to put something on

SOMETHING TO PUT SOMETHING ON is a jewel among Lawrence Weiner’s many acclaimed artist’s books: a playful and witty work that captures the arc of the artist’s own creative life from his childhood into the present day. We first developed the book with the artist twenty years ago and published the first edition in 2008. Just as a musician revisits a work many times over the span of a career and expresses a deeper understanding with each performance, SOMETHING TO PUT SOMETHING ON offers such a challenge to the bookmaker: to contemplate, to observe, and to realize the work again in a more insightful rendition. Like Johann Sebastien Bach’s two-part Inventions, Weiner’s minimalism embodies a depth intended to challenge both the child as well as the accomplished master. We strove with the first edition to make a beautiful and haptic work that would be affordable for young readers. With the new edition our emphasis is more deeply aesthetic: we strove to express in print the vibrancy, concentrated clarity, and simplicity of Weiner’s work. At the same time, we ensured a long and beautiful life for SOMETHING TO PUT SOMETHING ON by working with materials of the highest archival standards. At the heart of this new rendition is an extraordinary paper: Zerkall Book Wove170g. The fiber structure and surface of this cylinder-mouldmade paper gives unusual clarity to the edges, lines, and idiosyncratic rhythm of Weiner’s artist-designed letter forms, qualities that are further emphasized in the revised typography throughout the new edition. In contrast to the precision and refinement of the forms, the paper allowed for an expressive, almost rebellious inking method, in which we threw off the shackles of standardized offset-lithography to embrace the unique characteristics of each ink. Weiner’s standard blue 299 and red 032 show their distinctive rheological qualities and personalities. The result is an intense aesthetic contrast between a fluid, highly transparent blue and a stiff, viscous red, the inks Weiner has chosen for the two voices in dialogue in the work. Artist book / an original work for print Hardcover wrapped with printed Buckram: stitched book block with integrated endpapers, reinforced spine, headband Trimmed page 25 x 21cm (8.5 x 10 in.) 48 pages, including integrated endpapers Illustrated in red, blue, orange, and black throughout The specifications listed above apply to both the first and second editions of the book Materials/second edition: Book paper is Zerkall Book Wove – white, matte, 170 gsm. This is a cylinder-mouldmade paper with cotton content. It is acid free, wood free, neutral sized, alkaline buffered, and contains no optical brighteners. The paper meets the highest standards of permanence in accordance with ANSI Z 39.48-1992, DIN ISO 9706 and DIN 6738. Bookbinders boards are Köhler Book, a pH neutral, cylinder-mouldmade board from Albert Köhler Pappenfabrik, Gegenbach. The edition is bound in Arbelave Library Buckram. Printing/second edition: book and cover were printed on Little Steidl’s offset-lithographic press using red, blue, orange, black, and silver inks. Work and book design: Lawrence Weiner Typeface: Margaret Seaworthy Gothic by Lawrence Weiner Project development: Jerry Sohn and Nina Holland Book production and printing/second edition: Nina Holland/Little Steidl Binding/second edition: Lachenmaier, Reutlingen