The Natural Enemies of Books: A Messy History of Women in Printing and Typography

The Natural Enemies of Books is a response to the groundbreaking 1937 publication Bookmaking on the Distaff Side, which brought together contributions by women printers, illustrators, authors, typographers and typesetters. It highlights the print industry’s inequalities and proposes a takeover of the history of the book.

Edited by feminist graphic design collective MMS (Maryam Fanni, Matilda Flodmark and Sara Kaaman), Natural Enemies includes several new essays and poems by Kathleen Walkup, Ida Börjel, Jess Baines and Ulla Wikander. It also offers conversations with former typesetters Inger Humlesjö, Ingegärd Waaranperä, Gail Cartmail and Megan Dobney as well as reprints of the original book.

The Natural Enemies of Books is funded by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee and through an artist-in-residence period at Grafikens Hus, in collaboration with the Södertälje Konstnärskrets.

Softcover, black and white
English
ISBN 978-0-9954730-3-4

110 × 190 mm, 192 pp. 2020