At the CODEX International Book Fair we have observed that certain books inhabit a distinct and until recently, unexplored territory on the complex map of the book as a work of art. We refer to high-concept and high-craft books dwelling within the uncharted area where the wild variety of artist’s books on the one hand, and the more traditional private press books and livre d’artiste on the other, influence one another and propel the book into a new category altogether. We have begun to refer to this phenomenon as the Third Stream – one that is neither an avant-garde artist’s book nor an illustrated typographic book of the private press/livre d’artiste lineage.

The third stream book incorporates and even accelerates techniques learned from new technologies while at the same time provides a locus that encourages a refreshing and deeper exploration of traditional artisanal crafts. Classically trained artists and printers who are both accomplished masters and experimentally minded are rare, and when successful, able to propel their ideas of the possibility of a book beyond the easy and comfortable categories while exhibiting an extraordinary sense of place and making.

New currents indicate the emergence and evolution of highly gifted artists and artisans who embrace the tools and production skills of the traditional arts while dancing on the razor’s edge of intellectual and technological change.