metric edition
In ‘The Size of My Richard Prince Book Collection’, Jonathan Monk presents his extensive collection of books by the American artist Richard Prince – 170 titles in total. Each book is represented only by its measurements, leaving the viewer to try to figure which title is represented on each page. The numbers are all added up and the full size of Monk’s collection of Prince books is given at the end of the book.
The book is published in two editions; a Metric edition, with measurements given in centimeters, and an Imperial edition, with measurements given in inches. Each edition is published in 150 copies.
‘The Size of My Richard Prince Book Collection’ is not Jonathan Monk’s first book to deal with his collection of books. In 2005, the artist produced the book ‘Cover Version’, which featured all the covers of the Sol LeWitt books in Monk’s personal library. And in ‘In Relief (My Collection of Sol LeWitt Books–Exact Size, Shape and Occasionally Colour)’, published by Archiv in 2015, the artist revisits his collection of LeWitt books. For the zine series ’Published by…’, (Kodoji Press) Monk documents the publishers of the books in his studio library in Berlin, categorizing them by city – one for each zine in the series. In ‘Autobiography #4’ (Tonini Editore, 2022), Monk presents his 42 copies of Ed Ruscha’s artist’s book ‘Crackers’ (supposedly Ruscha’s least favorite of his own artist’s books).
*Richard Prince (b. 1949), who is a major collector of books himself, has amassed an extraordinary collection of rare books, including coveted first editions and association copies of many of the great works of American literature. In his 1988 essay ‘Bringing it All Back Home’, Prince writes: “I want the best copy. The only copy. The most expensive copy… I want the copy that is rarer than anyone had previously dreamed of. I want the copy that dreams.”
Biography
Jonathan Monk was born in Leicester in 1969. He lives and works in Berlin. Monk received a BFA from Leicester Polytechnic in 1988 and an MFA from Glasgow School of Art in 1991. In his work, Monk adopts the esthetics and practices of 1960s Conceptualism, but infuses the tradition with humor, levity, and autobiographical elements.
