Should you judge a book by its cover?

They say you should never judge a book by its cover - not even if you've read it several times before, it seems!

That's because a new exhibition is altering well-known classics for Bibliomania, an exciting art-book synthesis on public show at MMU's Holden Art Gallery (11-26 January, 2007).

Contributors from the USA, the Americas and the UK were invited to take any published book and alter it, leaving only the spine and cover untouched. The book’s new character is only revealed when the book is opened.

"Alterations have ranged from the discreet to the radical," says organiser and art historian Michael Howard, of MMU’s art and design research institute Miriad. "Some have been conceived as an act of homage, revenge or extension, and the reinterpretations may be anarchic or exquisitely creative."

"It is the reader’s ‘right to reply’ – the individual inner response to the mysterious yet prosaic object that is a printed book."

Presented by the Righton Press Group, the wider exhibition is a celebration of artists’ books – books created by artists in a variety of imaginative ways.

The exhibition in the Holden Gallery, All Saints Campus is co-curated by Professor Curlee Raven Holton of Lafayette College, Pennsylvania and has been shown in the US, Mexico and Costa Rica.

Exhibits include work based on a Victorian photo album by Harry Ousey and books by American artist Kathy Bruce.

A sculptural installation in the form of a giant kite by Michael Howard and Alastair Noble represents Wittgenstein’s writings, the philosopher having chosen his calling while flying kites near Manchester in 1909.