No-ISBN

Book excerpt: A book about extraordinary books that deliberately withdraw from the international book trade; A register containing 1,800 recent publications printed on paper, circulating without an International Standard Book Number (ISBN).A catalogue of micro- and alternative fairs held on four continents, an outline of media history, and manifestos from current avant-garde artists interspersed with texts on the international boom of artists' books, written by active practitioners of self-publishing.This first, richly illustrated reader has been compiled by a team of editors uniting the areas of conceptual art, media theory, and cultural studies. It thus offers a navigational aid in the discovery of new, uncharted terrain.Rather ironically, this book has an ISBN.