In France, Independent Publishers Are Redefining the Art Book

France boasts a dynamic publishing ecosystem, with 75,000 books published annually, a figure that has tripled over the past thirty years. Its network of over 3,000 independent bookstores is one of the densest in the world, protected by a fixed book price law that limits competition from large retail chains. While the sector benefits from numerous public subsidies and the dedicated support of the Centre National du Livre, the market remains highly concentrated, with five major groups generating 75% of revenues.

Yet since the 2000s, numerous independent publishers have emerged, particularly in art, graphic design, and photography, where they play a leading role in contemporary creation. Since 2010, they have convened annually at the Offprint fair in Paris, where art books occupy a place of choice, celebrated by both artists and the younger generation. Several prizes reward exceptional works each year, such as the ‘J’aime le livre d’art’ and the Bob Calle Prize for the Artist’s Book, for which one of RVB Books’ titles was selected in 2025.

This art book publisher is part of a small but influential group of French independents, including Éditions B42 and Fidèle Éditions, that are redefining the codes of the art book. All three will be present or distributed at the Tokyo Art Book Fair from December 11 to 21, 2025. Here is a preview of their collections before Tokyo audiences get to encounter them.

Founded in 2011, RVB Books specializes in experimental photography books. At a time when institutions still favoured documentary approaches, it supports a generation of artists for whom the book is a space of experimentation in its own right.

‘We are interested in working with artists for whom the book is an end in itself, not just a catalogue or a mere vehicle for their work,’ explains Rémi Faucheux, co-founder alongside Matthieu Charon. ‘We enjoy developing a form specific to each project.’

This approach often translates into long-term collaborations with artists. RVB Books, for instance, has worked closely with Marina Gadonneix on Phénomènes (2019), focused on scientific devices recreating natural phenomena. From the first photo shoots, mock-ups were produced to define sequence, rhythm, and raw colours structuring the book—a process spanning several years.

The publisher also devotes attention to emerging artists, releasing one or two debut books each year. It was approached by young Spanish photographer Óscar Monzón, for whom it published KARMA (2013), exploring drivers’ relationships with their vehicles. For his flash-heavy candid images, Monzón envisioned a large vertical format printed on glossy pellicle paper—a printing challenge that RVB Books successfully met, earning the First Photobook Award at Paris Photo-Aperture the same year.

Projects selected by RVB Books may be released as limited editions or in public print runs. Among the notable artists the publisher has released are Erik Kessels, master of vernacular photography, whose latest work Incomplete Encyclopedia of Touch met with great success, and Thomas Mailaender. With Mailaender, RVB Books produced a cyanotype book limited to thirty copies, all sold within a week at Paris Photo, with some works entering the collections of the Tate and the Centre Pompidou. ‘For us, the institutional symbolism is very important,’ notes Faucheux.

Contrasting with these exceptional projects aimed at collectors or connoisseurs, RVB Books also appeals to the wider public. Hives, 2400 A.E.C. by Aladin Borioli, known as Apian, a small, striking yellow-covered book exploring the history of beehives through photography and graphic design, has become one of the publisher’s best-sellers, reaching beyond the usual photography enthusiasts.

These books will be available at the Tokyo Art Book Fair, where RVB Books will be represented by its Japanese distributor, IACK, a bookstore and gallery run by photographer Yukihito Kono. The co-founders hope to one day attend themselves, presenting their catalogue directly to Japanese audiences.

Trained as a graphic designer, Alexandre Dimos founded Éditions B42 in 2008 after contributing to the creation of graphic design studio de Valence. The publishing house aims to release reference books in French on design in the broadest sense: graphic design, architecture, fashion, product and spatial design.

Éditions B42 began by translating books previously unavailable in French on design theory, such as Swiss typographer Jost Hochuli’s Le détail en typographie (2015). The catalogue then expanded with various collections, including Culture, whose texts on postcolonial and queer studies are especially popular with younger readers. Its typography is meticulously crafted, often occupying the entire cover, where every element—including the book presentation, traditionally reserved for the back cover—is gathered.

‘We consider how the reader enters the book,’ explains Dimos, whose de Valence studio designs for the publisher. ‘For each work, even with the same typeface, the visual introduction is always slightly different.’

As a small independent publisher with only two employees besides the founder, Éditions B42 must fight to secure visibility on bookstore tables alongside the giants of the publishing ecosystem. Its distinction lies in a bold visual proposal, departing from the proven models of large publishers. According to Dimos, the publishing world underutilizes the pool of design creators.

‘What predominates in France is thinking, study, research, reflection. Design is not treated on an equal footing,’ he elaborates. ‘For instance, in traditional publishing, text must be justified. But it depends on the type of text. For short texts with particular rhythm, left alignment may be preferred, whereas long texts benefit from justification for reading consistency. We work extensively within the page space to create movement and question the text-image relationship.’ This is evident in Hochuli’s Un design de livre systématique? (2020), where John Morgan’s preface frames the author’s text, appearing later in the book.

Éditions B42 also publishes art books, including a series of felt and ink drawings by illustrator Jochen Gerner. With Oiseaux, Chiens, and soon Fromages, Gerner explores volume through colour and line, offering a fresh perspective on familiar forms. The publisher has also produced a bilingual English monograph on British-Japanese painter Christian Hidaka, whose surreal compositions blend Western and Eastern influences and feature architecture reminiscent of De Chirico. Distributed in Japan by IDEA Books, these titles will be presented at the Tokyo Art Book Fair.

Dimos maintains a longstanding connection with Japan. A 2012 residency at Villa Kujoyama brought him to the Tokyo Art Book Fair, then held in a small school, and during his stay, he met Bunpei Yorifuji, whose pedagogical books he would later publish. These became long-sellers, with nearly 12,000 copies sold, a significant figure for the small publisher, which then created a dedicated collection for the illustrator. For his third participation in the Tokyo Art Book Fair from December 11 to 14, 2025, Dimos will share his commitment to independent publishing.

‘What you see is the pleasure I take in this work, even if it is demanding,’ he confides. ‘The first five to ten books were fairly easy. But supporting long-term development and maintaining a lasting presence is more challenging. At the same time, that’s what makes it a true space for expression, freedom, and defending my perspective.’

Vincent Longhi, a fanzine enthusiast, discovered risography through Belles Illustrations. This printing technique allows multiple colour copies of an original document at the cost of black ink, with a result similar to offset printing. Perfected in the 1980s by Japanese company Riso Kagaku Corporation, which developed its own inks and machines, it gave its name to the practice. Recently, risography has experienced renewed interest for its accessibility, low ecological footprint, and vivid colours.

Longhi initially created Fidèle to support the publication of a namesake magazine and self-published books. A few years later, he rented a Riso printer and launched a printing studio alongside the publishing house. This activity, generously shared on social media, became Fidèle Éditions’ signature, recognizable for its vibrant flat colours.

Risography-printed books remain central to the catalogue, notably the Confidens series: small drawing books preceded by intimate texts from the artists. This brings the creator closer to the reader, a connection amplified by risography’s accessibility. Longhi notes that with this collection, he has finally perfected the technique, with the latest entry, Passages (2025) by Magali Cazo, printed in over 4,000 copies.

Recently, Fidèle Éditions has refocused on publishing, closing its risography studio. Visual creativity remains the driving force, with a catalogue characterized by eclecticism. In the art book domain, inventive gems like Manon Cezaro’s Terrain Glissant (2024) stand out—a book archiving works no longer extant, originally drawn in coloured felt on white slates, then digitized and erased. Like a Proustian madeleine, every aspect evokes school experiences: the format, equivalent to the slate, and the scent of ink reminiscent of erasable marker perfumes.

Trained at the Angoulême School of Fine Arts, home of the annual International Comics Festival, Longhi naturally gravitates toward comics. This affinity informs Fidèle Éditions’ editorial line, which promotes graphic design as a primary language, often lacking in comic publishing. The house’s albums verge on art books, from the flamboyance of Après la pluie (2025), a communal utopia by Margaux Duseigneur reimagining collective life through ecological principles, to Big Pool (2025) by Chris Harnan, an initiatory journey through a big bang of hypnotic forms and colours.

‘From the very beginning, I have approached Fidèle’s catalogue as a work of creation in its own right,’ says Vincent Longhi. ‘I always strive for balance in our offering: comics, but not only; graphic design, but not just for designers; painting and drawing—but above all, freedom, authenticity, and singular voices, meant to inspire and encourage creation, expression, and the sharing of objects that aspire to a certain ideal. As proudly noted by members of the risography community, ‘Riso’ means ‘ideal’ in Japanese.’

Having long waited before attending the Tokyo Art Book Fair, he wanted to ensure he had a sufficient number of titles to present to the Japanese public. Now fully ready to meet them, he will be present during the first week of the fair, from 11 to 14 December 2025, while still seeking a distributor to bring Fidèle Éditions’ catalogue to Japan.