How long do your books last?

People always ask me how long my books will last. All I can say is that I don't know, I've only been doing book art for 30 years.

My books do not follow the mainstream and the claim to eternal life. Rather, they are born of time, follow an inner necessity and are first and foremost total works of art in which everything is coordinated. Of course, books, like us, are subject to transience. Some sooner, others later. Sometimes I play with the materials and deliberately enter into connections that will be subject to transience with their general prognosis of durability.

And yet the collector does not buy a book because its durability can be guaranteed for the next 500 years, but because it appeals to him in his heart. The only exception is art as an investment, but even there no one can guarantee what will be in the future. Book art, as I produce it, is bought because the buyer primarily has a deep inner connection to the work, not because of a financial investment.

Gerd J. Wunderer