The book is an object, a form and a medium. Its history is the history of civilisation: gathered written records have been made for thousands of years in many shapes by many cultures. Books are essential to the knowledge practices of almost all disciplines and fields. As a subject for study and as a meeting point between disciplines, books are unparalleled. I have studied and published in the field of history of the book, and I have worked and trained in the publishing industry. Book arts and word and image studies in an expanded field have long been of interest to me: I have made artists’ books and exhibitions about the book and the letterform, and I have also taught book arts in several contexts.