David Stairs
Chris Stairs, age 5
I’ve never been shy about self-publishing.
I published my first small book in 1980. In those days there was a sort of pioneering enthusiasm about what has come to be known as artist’s books. Printed Matter had been founded in the mid-70s by Lucy Lippard and Sol Lewitt, among others, and practitioners like Ed Ruscha had obviously had loads of fun making books about things like parking lots and swimming pools and gas stations.
Short press run small books were affordable for a buying public that could not touch gallery art and, what’s more, they were affordable for artists who wanted to make multiples for those who wanted to collect such ephemera. I call it what it is. Multiples in editions of 100 to 1000 don’t qualify as anything else. Trade publishers generally would not touch such projects. Tom Phillips’ A Humument (Tetrad, 1973), or Claes Oldenburg’s Notes in Hand (Dutton, 1971) were notable exceptions. Even Ruscha self-published through his imprint, Heavy Industry Publications.
When I got tired of being told an idea was either unpublishable, or too expensive to produce, I would only be more motivated to go out and prove the critics wrong. I must admit, this became annoying when it was apparent that no one was too concerned about not helping a person who could afford to go it alone. When an editor at MIT Press who had led me along for a few years finally suggested I self-publish a design monologue, I was less than flattered. He was essentially telling me that there was no money in my idea, and publishing, especially academic publishing, is a slim margin business.
From the beginning, about the only support I received was from Printed Matter. The PM retail store was still on Lispenard Street, it’s first location, when I signed my initial consignment contract. That’s right. At the world’s major outlet for artist’s books, the place that represents over 3000 artists and 10,000 books, all supplier contracts are on a consignment basis. Nonetheless, Printed Matter has since sold thousands of my small books, most priced at my standard $15 (the original price for many of Ruscha’s books).
In celebration of our 43-year relationship, Printed Matter has granted me a small retrospective from June 1-30, 2023. I am pleased to be able to present over 40 years’ work and some documentation in one place. And remember, whatever anyone has ever told you about “vanity publishing” is only partly true. In fact, a lot of interesting work would never have otherwise seen the light of day.
David Stairs is the founding editor of the Design-Altruism-Project.
