Think Book].

8vo: [2136] pp.

Publ. white cloth, steel spine covered with same cloth decorated with SHV-logo (orig. box missing, sl. soiling and some sm. stains). Inside as new.

First edition in English, not in commercial trade, of this conceptual book made on the occasion of the centenary of the Steenkolen Handels-Vereeniniging (SHV). It is the masterpiece of the famous Dutch graphic designer Irma Boom (born in 1960), created with the collaboration of art historian Johan Pijnappel. There are no title (the letters of the word "Thinkbook" are scattered randomly throughout the book), no page numbers and no index. Boom wanted the book to be a voyage:"you find things you don’t want to find, and discoveries happen by coincidence". The book incorporates into the edges tulip fields and a Dutch poem by Gerrit Achterberg (De Bolero van Ravel), viewable depending on the direction in which each page is flipped. Richly illustrated in b/w and colour, and 3 sheets of stamps tipped-in on pastedowns and first endpaper. The artist used colourful laser prints, perforations, complex raster imaging, etc. The production of the book took 5 years of research and design, and the result is overwhelming in its abundance of illustrations, its graphic design and ideas. It has been described as an international icon of Dutch Design, and is part of the permanent collection of MoMA.
Ref. "Irma Boom, Thinkbook", in Design History Mashup, Nov. 2008 (blog).