Rubber Stamp Publications in The Stamp Art Gallery Library by John Held, Jr. As one of the major practitioners and historians of the rubber stamp art medium, Bill Gaglione, Director of The Stamp Art Gallery, has collected one of the most extensive libraries of rubber stamp art in the world. His 1979 publication, VILE #7: Stamp Art, was one of the first systematic attempts to compile information on the publications, exhibitions, and activities within the field. An active participant in the Mail Art Network since the late sixties, Gaglione has been privy to rubber stamp art history in the making. Long before the general public was aware of the artistic possibilities of the medium, Mail Artists were using rubber stamps to decorate their envelopes, finding conceptual applications, and developing techniques, such as eraser carving, which extended the previous uses of the medium. Rubber stamp art became an important genre within Mail Art (along with artist's publications, artist postage stamps, photocopy, and audio cassette exchange, etc.), and began to generate its own shows, books, magazines, and conventions. In examining The Stamp Art Gallery Library for the rubber stamp publications contained within, I have found three major categories: books, magazines, and exhibition catalogs. There are several important books on the rubber stamp medium that deserve immediate mention. The first is Herv� Fischer's, Art et Communication Marginale: Tampons D'Artistes (Art and Marginal Communication: Rubber Art - Stamp Activity). This was published in 1974 by Balland in Paris, France. It was the first widely distributed survey of the artistic use of rubber stamps, focusing on rubber stamp activity in the Mail Art Network. Four years later, a book was published in the United States that had a direct influence on the dramatic increase in rubber stamp art. The Rubber Stamp Album, by Joni K. Miller and Lowry Thompson, created a huge amount of interest in the medium that cut across artistic circles into the mainstream. Books can either focus on the historic aspects of rubber stamps, or they can be guides to their use. A recent resource to appear is the Rubber Stamp Sourcebook (Cornucopia Press, 1995), a guide to supplies and techniques. This is similar to the German work, Das Stempel Buch (Gruene Zweig, 1991), by Hugo Hempel, Jr., the Dutch, Stempelen (Uitgeverij Bert Bakker, 1982), by Aart van Barneveld and Ronald Wigman, and the English work, Artistampers Worldwide, by Roger Button. Books can also be created with rubber stamps and then printed in offset. Two examples are Fluxus artist Ken Friedman's A Ready-hand-Novel by Henrik Have, and the more mainstream work by Baba Ram Dass's Be Here Now. Another type of publication that can be used to gather information about the historic uses of the medium, as well as contemporary practices, is the exhibition catalog. Shows are developed to illustrate the various artists involved in the medium, and a catalog is published to bring this information to a larger audience. The most important of these catalogs is the recent work published by the Mus�e de la Poste in Paris, France, in connection with their 1995 show, L'Art du Tampon. This work gives the most complete history to date of the use of the rubber stamp within a Fine Art context. There have been many other rubber stamp exhibition catalogs published within the Mail Art field. Most of them are published in very small editions of less than 500 copies. They are usually distributed only to those who have participated in the exhibition. Often the catalog itself becomes the exhibition, when the organizer issues a call for submissions in a certain amount of original copies, which are then compiled as the catalog. An example of this is Rocola's, First Rainbow Stamp Art Show. This technique is also used for periodicals, such as Unhandeijara Lisboa's Karimbada Brazilian magazine from the late seventies, which regularly compiled submissions from rubber stamp artists, and distributed them as a magazine of rubber stamp art. Since the publication of The Rubber Stamp Album, the upsurge of interest in the medium has spawned a number of magazines about rubber stamps. Some concentrate on the history of rubber stamp art, others on the techniques one can use in the medium. Eraser Carvers Quarterly, for instance, is obviously concerned with hand carved stamps. Rubberstampmadness, a direct spin-off from the Miller and Thompson work, contains many historical and geographical features. The following checklist of publications in The Stamp Art Gallery Library is by no means a complete listing of all the printed works devoted to rubber stamps in the collection. They are offered as a partial listing to illustrate the various types of material available within the rubber stamp genre. The Stamp Art Gallery Library is maintained as a reference collection enabling us to understand the developing history of the rubber stamp medium. Our exhibitions and publications are extending the knowledge of this emergent artform. As in the case of most histories, our own research is built on the shoulders of those who preceded before us. Rubber Stamp Publications in The Stamp Art Gallery Library. A Partial Checklist. Banana, Anna; Gaglione 1940-2040; Schraenen, Guy. (Untitled). A Press, Antwerp, Belgium. 1978 Rubber stamp impressions by the three artists in an edition of twenty-six. Berner, Jeff. Jeff Berner California. Mill Valley, California. n.d. (1986) A one-of-a-kind publication of Fluxus West artist Jeff Berner, compiled by Bill Gaglione. Berner's stamps are impressed and gathered in this spiral bound work. Bloch, Julie Hagan. The Zenrin. Hurleyville, New York. 1991. "Designed, carved, printed, and bound" by Julie Hagen Bloch. An artist book with eraser carvings to illustrate the work. A master of the medium at work. Borofsky, Jeanne. Rubber Art: A Guide to Rubber Stamping. Rubber Stamps of America, Saxtons River, Vermont. 1989. 35 pages. An instructional book on rubber stamp techniques. Many illustrations in color. Bottinelli, Bickhard. Mail Art and K�nstlerstempel. Kassel, Germany. 1976. An early compilation of texts on Mail Art, with various remarks concerning the postal and communicative use of rubber stamps. Texts by Jean-Marc Poinsot, Herv� Fischer, Klaus Groh and others. Button, Roger, ed. Artstampers Worldwide. Kettering, England. 1994. A major resource guide listing rubber stamp artists, retail outlets, books, videos, and magazines. There are also articles about the rubber stamp scene in England, South Africa, and Australia. Gaglione contributes an essay on fe-mail stampers, "Yoko Ono Sent Her Fluxus Poster." Cairns, Phyllis. Floating Heads: A Contemporary Visual Narrative. Pembrole Press, Westport, Ct. 1986. A book length compilation of rubber stamp collage works. Crane, Michael, and Stofflet, Mary. Correspondence Art: Source Book for the Network of International Postal Art Activity. Contemporary Arts Press, San Francisco, California. 1984. 521 Pages. Contains several important essays on rubber stamp art including major ones by Carl Loeffler and Ken Friedman. Rubber stamp impressions scattered throughout. A major reference work. Dass, Baba Ram. Remember: Be Here Now. Hanuman Foundation, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1978. A spiritual journey in a rubber stamp format. Fisher, Herv�. Art et Communication Marginale. Balland, Paris, France. 1974. The first major overview of rubber stamp art activity. Several important essays prepare the reader for the numerous stamp reproductions that dominate the work. Freidman, Ken. A Ready-Hand-Novel by Henrik Have in Adaption by Ken Friedman. Edition After Hand, Ringkobing, Denmark. 1973. An artist book by Friedman, which includes many of his rubber stamps in various combinations. Fricker, H. R. Networkingmaterial. Museum f�r Moderne Kunst Weddel, Weddel, Germany. 1986. Reproduction of the Swiss artist's correspondence, many bearing impressions of rubber stamps unique to the artist. Gaglione, Bill. Dadaland Stampbook. Stempelplaats, Amsterdam, Holland. n.d. (1978) A photo rubber stamp impression of Gaglione and Banana is altered by additional stampings. Gaglione, Bill. Stamp-Art #3. Abracadada, San Francisco, California. 1982. One-hundred artists submitted 150 original rubber stamp artworks, which were then compiled by the editor. Nice sampling of international artists included. Gaglione, Bill. Vile Number 7: Stampart. Banana Productions, San Francisco, California. 1979. An assembling issue of Vile Magazine, in which the contributors were asked to submitted a certain number of hand stamped pages that the editors then compiled. The front cover includes an original rubber stamp by the late English artist Michael Scott. An important bibliography of rubber stamp publications in included, as well as a listing of rubber stamp events and exhibitions. An important work in the field. Gaglione, Bill. This is a Special Rubber Stamp Art Issue of Dad(d)azine. European Tour, 1978. As Gaglione toured Europe with Anna Banana in 1978, he asked the artists he visited if he could print their rubber stamps in a blank book. Artists in this book include Cavellini, J. H. Kocman, and Ulises Carrion. Gleason, Kay. Stamp It. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, New York. 1981. Rubber stamps as craft. Gruber, Hermann, Ung�ltig. Mail Art-Archiv Wien, Vienna, Austria. n.d An artist book that plays with the conceptual use of the rubber stamp. A repeating image is reprinted throughout the work, apparently with different types of inks and other fluid substances. Gunn, Ian. Rubber Tricks Ink: Annual Tricks Fest Invitational. Corona, California. 1993. Mail Art project documentation. The organizer sent out a standard form on which the participants rubber stamped and collaged their contributions. Hempel, Jr., Hugo. Das Stempel Buch. Gruene Zweig, L�hrbach, Germany. 1992. 118 pages. German resource guide to rubber stamp art and rubber stamp manufacturers. Horiike, Tohei. Rubber Stamp Art. Edition Shimizu, Shimizu City, Japan. 1979. A rare work from Japan. Offset rubber stamp impressions gathered on the artist's visit to San Francisco from the collection of Gaglione illustrated the work. Jackson, Leavenworth. This is a Book by Leavenworth Jackson. San Francisco, California. 1976. Stamped out images and text are reproduced in this artist book by the master of Bay Area Surrealism. Johnson, Ray. Correspondence: An Exhibition of the Letters of Ray Johnson. North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina. 1976. Correspondents of Johnson were asked to submit letters they had received from him over the years for an exhibition. The catalog reproduces these letters, which contain many of the rubber stamp impressions Johnson used. Lisboa, Unhandeijara, ed. Karimbada. Number 2. Paraiba, Brasil. 1979. An assembling of original rubber stamp art compiled by the editor on a periodic basis. The first rubber stamp publication of its type. Highly informative on early Latin American rubber stamp use. Loeffler, Carl, ed. Front. San Francisco, California. Vol. 1, No. 4, May 1976. Special issue cataloging the International Rubber Stamp Exhibition held at La Mamelle Art Center, San Francisco. 1976. Includes reproductions of work, and an important essay by Fluxus artist Ken Friedman. Shorter statements are also included by Herv� Fischer, Klaus Groh, E. M. Plunkett, and Carol Law. Maidan, W., and Bucher, M., ed. (Untitled). Soft Art Press, Lausanne, Switzerland. Number 17, May 1979. Rubber stamp impressions by international Mail Artists are reproduced. A brief bibliography is included. Mancusi, Tim (Joel Rossman, Bill Gaglione), ed. Stamp Art. San Francisco, California. n.d. (1980) A rubber stamp assembling with original hand stamped contributions. Mather, Mick. Eraser Carvers Quarterly. Syracuse, New York. A periodical focusing on eraser carving techniques and the artists who practice the craft. Melucci, Dina, ed. The Rebus Quarterly. West Orange, New Jersey. 1993. Magazine devoted to rebus rubber stampworks. Miller, Joni K., and Thompson, Lowry. The Rubber Stamp Album. Workman Publishing, New York, New York. 1978. 215 Pages. Self-described as "The complete guide to making everything prettier, weirder, and funnier. How and where to buy ove 5,000 rubber stamps. And how to use them." This is the book that took rubber stamping from an underground activity to mainstream recognition. For the first time, stampers were provided with a list of resources in the field, where previously they had to be ferreted out surreptiousously. Nagiscarde, Sophie. L'Art du Tampon. Mus�e de la Poste, Paris, France. 1995. 92 Pages. A major reference work on the history of rubber stamp usage within the Fine Arts. Both historical (Schwitters, Arman) and contemporary (Kocman, Gaglione) figures within the medium are examined. A milestone in the literature of the medium. Perneczky, G�za. The Magazine Network: The Trends of Alternative Art in the Light of Their Periodicals 1968-1988. Soft Geometry Editions, K�ln, Germany 1993. 285 pages. Contains a chapter, "The New Genre: Rubber Stamp Art," which focuses on rubber stamp periodicals. An important work in the field of alternative publishing. Poinsot, Jean-Marc. Mail Art Communication a Distance Concept. �ditions CEDIC, Paris, France. A major survey of the Mail Art movement in it's infancy. There are biographical and visual sections for a number of early participants. Many of the artists are represented by their rubber stamp impressions. A major, and rare, reference work in both the fields of rubber stamp art and Mail Art. Ricardo the Magnificent. The Rubber Stamp Folio. Los Angeles, California. Number 2, Fall 1989. A series of finely printed reproductions of rubber stamp work, many of which are in color. A short lived but sorely missed periodical noted for its sense of design. Rocola. The First Rainbow Stamp Art Show. San Francisco, California. 1988. An exhibition catalog/assembling project composed of artists using rainbow stamp pads. de Rook, G. J. Stempel Kunst. T'Hoogt, Holland. 1975. Over 100 artists are given one page each on which their stamps are reproduced. An important overview of the rubber stamp scene at the time of publication. Roth, Dieter. Mundunculum. Edition Hansj�rg Mayor, Stuttgart, Germany. 1975. A major work by an important conceptualist artist, combining text and rubber stamp prints. Schraenen, Guy. Stamppostcards. Antwerp, Belgium. 1977. A collection of hand stamped postcards based on the designs of twelve artists including Ben (France), Henryk Bzdok (Poland), and J. H. Kocman (Czechoslovakia). Schraenen, Guy. Stamps in Praxis. Archive Small Press and Communication, Antwerp, Belgium. 1978. "Original stamps collected on correspondence, documents, and in publications." Splettst�sser, Peter J�rg. International Rubberstamp Workshop. Bremen, Germany, 1981. "Artist, authors, poets and composers were invited to participate in this international workshop with one plan for a rubberstamp." Some 150 creative people were given the opportunity to design a rubber stamp, which the organizer produced. The catalog is composed of the hand stamped works of the designs submitted. Many of these rubber stamps became Mail Art classics. Stein, Melody and Franklin, eds. National Stampagraphic. North Valley Stream, New York. A quarterly periodical on the rubber stamp medium. Stendahl, Roz, ed. Stretch Marks. Minneapolis, Minnesota. A rubber stamp periodical active from 1994-1995. Thomson, George L. Rubber Stamps & How to Make Them. Pantheon Books, New York, New York. 1982. 95 Pages. Guide to the carving of erasers. Includes a history of stamps and seals. Thompson, Lowry, ed. Rubberstampmadness. New Canaan, Ct. 1980. After the successful publication of The Rubber Stamp Album, editor Thompson began publication of this magazine devoted to the medium. It continues to be published under the able direction of Roberta Sperling. van Barneveld, Aart. Rubber Stamp Publications. Stempelplaats, Amsterdam, Holland, 1980. The first illustrated guide to rubber stamp publications, mainly artist books. The cover of each work is reproduced. An important work. van Barneveld, Aart. Rubberstampdesigns. Stempelplaats, Amsterdam, Holland. 1978. Eighty artists were invited to send a photo-ready design for a rubber stamp. The results are hand-stamped in this work. An important work encapsulating the direction of rubber stamp design in the Mail Art network at the time of the production. van der Marck, Jan. Arman. Abbeville Press, New York, New York. 1984. Arman, the Nouveau Realist (a French version of Pop art) artist, was one of the first to use the rubber stamp in a Fine Arts context. Two of his large rubber stamp works are pictured, Grand Cachet (1956-1957), and Dark Sunday (1958). Vigo, Edgardo-Antonio. Our International Stamps/Cancelled Seals: Book 6. La Plata, Argentina. 1981. An ongoing project collecting the rubber stamps and postage stamps of international artists. Each issue is a beautiful work highlighting the creativity of a number of Mail Artists. This issue includes the work of Lon Spiegelman, Leonard Frank Duch, Guillermo Deisler, Vittore Baroni, and Bill Gaglione. Vigo, Edgardo-Antonio. Sellado a Mano. La Plata, Argentina. n.d. Original rubber stamp prints by active Mail Artists and visual poets of Latin America: Bercetche, Ginzburg, Leonetti, Pazos, Romero, Vigo, and Zabala. Ward, David. Rubber Stamp Marketplace: A Complete Guide to the World of Rubber Stamp Delights. Cornucopia Press, Seattle, Washington. 1995. A comprehensive resource guide to rubber stamp companies, stores, catalogs, and much more. Stamp techniques are described. Bibliography. An excellent tool for contemporary rubber stamp art information. Waterman, Nanci. Vamp Stamp News. Hanover, Maryland. Monthly publication covering rubber stamp art and activities. Keeps an eye on the rubber stamp user-groups of the major on-line services. Recommended for timely information. 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