"Errantry" by Werner Pfeiffer
Introduction
Errantry is an artist’s book by the German-American artist Werner Pfeiffer, published in 2008 by Pear Whistle Press. It is a 27-foot-long canvas scroll, featuring text and imagery predominantly inspired by a Tolkien poem and 16th-century woodcut prints, that is housed inside a deactivated military shell from 1943. The 12th copy in a limited edition of 52, this scroll is housed in the University of Pennsylvania's Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [1]
Pfeiffer's provocative pairing of medium and message - using a repurposed instrument of 20th century warfare to chronicle that era's unparalleled death and destruction - epitomizes how artist’s books push the boundaries of the book form.
At the same time, the innovative format and socio-political content of this unusual work provide insight into the evolving role of artists as authors and the function of books as vehicles for creative expression and cultural critique.
Genre and Historical Context
'Artist’s Books and Their History'
While artists have been involved in the production of books in Europe since the early medieval period, such as the Book of Kells and the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, most writers on the subject cite the English visionary artist and poet William Blake (1757–1827) as the earliest direct antecedent to the modern artist's book. Books such as Songs of Innocence and of Experience were written, illustrated, printed, coloured and bound by Blake and his wife Catherine, and the merging of handwritten texts and images created intensely vivid, hermetic works without any obvious precedents. These works would set the tone for later artist's books, connecting self-publishing and self-distribution with the integration of text, image and form. All of these factors have remained key concepts in artist's books up to the present day.