Collecting Artists’ Books
Please join us for a series of presentations and discussion with artists’ books custodians Peter van Beveren (Archives Library), artist AA Bronson (General Idea) and Phil Aarons (President of Printed Matter). The event will focus around the topics of curating and preserving artists’ books collections and the importance of these publications in broader cultural discourse.
Peter van Beveren is a custodian of photo- and artists’ books who works as an art consultant and appraiser of modern and contemporary art. An early 1970s conceptual artist, he developed a passion for collecting by sending and receiving mail art. He initiated and managed the Archives/Art Information Centre, became a gallery owner, international art dealer and curator of a private collection, international project manager and guest curator at various museums. Six years ago, Peter van Beveren decided to house his library of thousands of photo- and artists' books and other archival materials in the Billytown building, home of the eponymous artist-run gallery, in the centre of The Hague. Although the library is private and does not have regular opening hours, interested visitors can arrange to view the collection by appointment.
Philip Aarons
AA Bronson in his own words: "I write these few sentences by hand: How many books have these hands held in 79 years? At the age of three I decided to be an artist. My Canadian childhood was all about reading and libraries. As a hippy in the 60s I explored self-publishing--zines, broadsheets, and underground newspapers. The 70s exploded in activity: General Idea, FILE Megazine and Art Metropole, mail art but also an archive, a bookshop, publishing and distribution. At General Idea we were characters in a novel, living life to tell a story. In 1974 Arturo Schwartz presented us at the Bologna Art Fair. Kasper Koenig sent us to Art Basel in 1976. Germano Celant brought us to Documenta in 1981. We moved to New York in 1986. In 1994 Jorge and Felix died of AIDS. Books are community: in 2000, Phil Aarons invited me onto the Board of Printed Matter Inc.; in 2006 Phil and I invented the first art book fair, Printed Matter's NY Art Book Fair. The rest is history." - Berlin, 2025
Peter van Beveren is a custodian of photo- and artists’ books who works as an art consultant and appraiser of modern and contemporary art. An early 1970s conceptual artist, he developed a passion for collecting by sending and receiving mail art. He initiated and managed the Archives/Art Information Centre, became a gallery owner, international art dealer and curator of a private collection, international project manager and guest curator at various museums. Six years ago, Peter van Beveren decided to house his library of thousands of photo- and artists' books and other archival materials in the Billytown building, home of the eponymous artist-run gallery, in the centre of The Hague. Although the library is private and does not have regular opening hours, interested visitors can arrange to view the collection by appointment.
Philip Aarons
began collecting books in 1971 as an undergraduate at Columbia University while studying art history. He focused initially on reference materials about the art, architecture and design that he was studying. A fascination with conceptual art led him to the realisation that books about art and the exhibition catalogues that accompanied its presentation could in themselves be art. This began his more-than-fifty-year focus on publications by artists, including artist books, serial publications by artists and artist zines, that has resulted in a library of 21,000 catalogued works. In addition to his book collecting and his activities as a lawyer and real estate developer, he and his wife, Shelley Fox Aarons, have long supported arts organisations by serving on numerous not-for-profit boards and providing funding for exhibitions and publications, often of under-recognised artists.
AA Bronson in his own words: "I write these few sentences by hand: How many books have these hands held in 79 years? At the age of three I decided to be an artist. My Canadian childhood was all about reading and libraries. As a hippy in the 60s I explored self-publishing--zines, broadsheets, and underground newspapers. The 70s exploded in activity: General Idea, FILE Megazine and Art Metropole, mail art but also an archive, a bookshop, publishing and distribution. At General Idea we were characters in a novel, living life to tell a story. In 1974 Arturo Schwartz presented us at the Bologna Art Fair. Kasper Koenig sent us to Art Basel in 1976. Germano Celant brought us to Documenta in 1981. We moved to New York in 1986. In 1994 Jorge and Felix died of AIDS. Books are community: in 2000, Phil Aarons invited me onto the Board of Printed Matter Inc.; in 2006 Phil and I invented the first art book fair, Printed Matter's NY Art Book Fair. The rest is history." - Berlin, 2025
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Photo by Stephen White & Co.This page was last updated on 11 June 2025
