“There has always been a sort of rigorous logic to what I collect,” says Michael Thompson, a bookseller and dealer who runs Boreas Fine Art.
At one point, the former lawyer acquired books on mountaineering — “but only first editions of firsthand accounts of first ascents.”
Later, when the 1913 Armory Show (first large exhibition of modern art in America) piqued his interest, he started amassing classic “livres d’artistes” from the first half of the 20th century. Not wanting to compete with his own collection, he now sells post-war and contemporary artists’ books.
“While the same medium, they’re a dramatically different kind of thing,” he said.
Volumes by Ann Hamilton, Robert Indiana, Ed Ruscha and others grace the bookshelves of his inviting studio and showroom in the Gold Coast.
Thompson gently pages through one rare tome after another — everything from Henri Matisse’s last livre d’artist from 1950 to Peter Koch’s 2004 publication of “The Fragments of Parmenides.” His line of work requires a discerning eye and a delicate touch.