The Bolted Book (Depero Futurista): Facsimile Edition

*artist’s book bound with bolts

Italian futurist Fortunato Depero’s 1927 monograph Depero Futurista is universally recognized as a landmark avant-garde example of the ‘book as object’. Filled with bold typographic experimentation, daring layouts and featuring work in nearly every artistic medium, it is widely known as The Bolted Book because it is famously bound together by two large industrial aluminium bolts.

This new edition is the first exact copy of Depero’s groundbreaking monograph produced since its original publication ninety years ago. This exact facsimile – featuring five types of paper and meticulously recreated bolts – includes a wealth of Depero’s influential paintings, sculptures, textile and architectural designs, advertising work, wordplays, manifestos and reviews – any or all of which can be removed and displayed as individual pieces of art. The accompanying Reader’s Guide explores the extraordinary legacy of the project, setting the book in its proper context and making it available as a source of inspiration for a new generation.

Table of Contents

Introduction • Depero: Futurista, Steve Heller • The Fate and Fortune of Depero Futurista, Nicoletta Boschiero • Depero and Azari in the Archives of The Mart, Federico Zanoner
Making the Bolted Book, Gianluca Camillini • Unbolted: A Reader’s Guide, Raffaele Bedarida