{"id":5247,"date":"2024-12-31T09:59:08","date_gmt":"2024-12-31T09:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/?p=5247"},"modified":"2024-12-31T09:59:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-31T09:59:08","slug":"imaginary-books-on-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/imaginary-books-on-display\/","title":{"rendered":"Imaginary books on display"},"content":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/grolierclub.omeka.net\/exhibits\/show\/imaginary-books<\/a><\/p>\n

Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished, and Fictive Works Found Only in Other Books
\nDecember 5, 2024 \u2013 February 15, 2025
\nSecond Floor Gallery<\/p>\n

Imaginary books are necessarily the rarest of rare books, since of course no such objects are to be found in our sublunary world. These works, existing nowhere but in other books, can never, never be found anywhere but Never-Never Land. <\/p>\n

And yet… <\/p>\n

And yet this exhibition represents a substantial library of such books. It has been described as a collection of imaginary books and as a post-structuralist conceptual art installation. It consists entirely of simulacra, of parodies, of: <\/p>\n

Lost Books (with no surviving example),
\nUnfinished Books (intended but left unfinished), and
\nFictive Books (imaginary books existing only in story or drama).
\nOf these, over one hundred have been selected to form this exhibition. It will present to the public, in many cases for the first time, some of the greatest non-existent works in all of literature. <\/p>\n

An encounter with an imaginary book brings us to a threshold, a liminal moment, paused at the edge of the rabbit hole, stuck at the door of the wardrobe, confronted with an object that we know does not exist. It necessarily leaves us suspended there, for being magical, the book is not to be touched. It is held in existence in the room only by a carefully balanced ontological tension, and for technical thaumaturgical reasons, it cannot be opened. It is here only to amuse: to prompt a gasp, a knowing chuckle, or the briefest thought of \u201cO, how I wish!\u201d <\/p>\n

Collectors have often asked where the books have come from. I found them only by following the trails blazed by the great collectors of the imaginary, explorers like Max Beerbohm and James Branch Cabell, seeking out finds in the bookshops and attics \u201c… of Avalon and Ph\u00e6acia and sea-coast Bohemia, from the contiguous forests of Arden and Broc\u00e9liande, and from the west, of course, from the Hesperides.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/grolierclub.omeka.net\/exhibits\/show\/imaginary-books Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished, and Fictive Works Found Only in Other Books December 5, 2024 \u2013 February 15, 2025 Second Floor Gallery Imaginary books are necessarily the rarest of rare books, since of course no such objects are to be found in our sublunary world. These works, existing nowhere but in other books, can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\nImaginary books on display | Artmaker Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Imaginary books on display | Artmaker Blog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/imaginary-books-on-display\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Imaginary books on display | Artmaker Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Imaginary books on display | Artmaker Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/imaginary-books-on-display\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Artmaker Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-31T09:59:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bruce Sterling\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/\",\"name\":\"Artmaker Blog\",\"description\":\"on Toshareproject.it - 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