Not really a publisher

We¹ do make books, but we don’t do what traditional publishing houses do. Maybe because we aren’t really a publishing house, to be honest. Our approach to publishing pleads for a reintroduction of publishing practices that make the book themselves, shares knowledge, and interacts with their close environment.

21st century monastery

We like to imagine ourselves as medieval monks working on publications in their monasteries. We update their craftsmanship and bring it to the 21st century. We make a maximum of 50 copies of each edition, all by hand, practicing the monastic traditions of labour and bookmaking in scriptoria. This slow process of bookmaking lets us contemplate on the carrying of responsibility over the author and the writing. The value of community and kinship is added when the book is printed in a close-to-heart manner.

Our interest not only lies on the bookmaking process like these medieval practices, but also on the location where these books are published, and in what environment they can mean something significant. We care for a resistance of the contemporary publishing landscape that thrives on fastness, capitalism, and monopolization of the book. We like to reflect on the importance and the purpose of a present-day publisher.

“A publishing practice should not prioritize an abundance of books to appeal to a niche that can be found through globalized shipment, but should support and connect the different fields of the cultural and local scene through connecting a multitude of actors in publications and the happenings that occur in proximity of these publications (f.e. book launches, exhibitions, performances, reading groups an so on)."
— from our performance-lecture at KASK, Gent (February 2026)

Books

We make artists’ books. That’s a loaded term, and honestly, imposter syndrome already kicks in. Lucy Lippard states artist books have numerous aspects to them but are always done by or with the artist. We believe this notion has been hijacked by publishers and we attempt to reclaim it. Lending our knowledge and skill, we converse with the artists and talk about their artistic practice, what it’s about and then start puzzling the book as a continuation of their work, extending crossmedium towards the carrier which is a book. Through written word or experimental printing processes, the book takes shape. A process of trial and error and feedback. There is no optimal financial way of making artist books, just a discovery of a new medium. The medium surpasses its form and becomes content itself. Sisyphus is happy in his struggles, we thrive in the distress of printer errors, a cutting machine going crazy or silk-screened covers that receive ink splatters. Each book ends up, with a margin of error, as a passion project of discovery for the artist,  Copyshop— and the reader.

DIGITAL LIBRARY

We preserve our publications using a digital library. All the sold out books are put integrally online on our digital database, archiving and remembering all that we have created. It's a place were the books can be accessed after being sold out, keeping the archive alive and continuous. Easily accessible, easily shareable, easily communicated. “A digital library as a practice allows for the limits of labour to be surpassed and the books to still exist in its physicality and historical context as a carrier, but achieve its audience through the digital realm.” ‍

¹: This non-profit is organized by Sébastien Bovie, our 2026 intern Inès De Laender and the passionate volunteers who aid in bookmaking.
Contact us via email hello@copyshopdash.com