Master printer Ruth Lingen hops on the call to chat about the magic of collaboration, and why making an artists’ book can feel like stepping into a “strange country.” She dishes out some jolly tales from Booklyn’s early days and offers some sage advice for emerging book artists (spoiler: don’t go at it alone!).

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As a shop worker for the legendary New York printmaker Joe Wilfer and midwest bookmaster Walter Hamady, Ruth Lingen learned both her trade and the pleasure of collaborating with living artists. In the years since, she herself has become somewhat of a legend, collaborating with nearly 50 of the world's greatest artists—on prints (some for Pace editions, some on her own) and very special limited edition artist books. She has worked with Jim Dine, Robert Ryman, Mary Heilmann, Kiki Smith, Chuck Close and Claes Oldenberg, Bob Holman, Robert Creeley, Jessica Stockholder and Jeremy Sigler, Donald Traever, Al Held, and John Chamberlain, to name a few. Lingen's work can be found in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Getty, and the Brooklyn Museum, as well as in more than 20 libraries, from the New York Public Library to the Harvard University Library.