Lawrence Weiner: Terminal Boundaries and A natural water course diverted reduced or displaced

Made in 1969 but never published, ‘Terminal Boundaries’ is an artist book by Lawrence Weiner, a sculptor whose medium was language. The manuscript for the publication, which was recently brought to light, contains two related bodies of work represented as typewritten statements on paper that Weiner pasted to the pages of a small composition notebook. The book’s absence from Weiner’s oeuvre plagued him as it marked a terminus of his relationship to the physical construction of his artworks, and illustrated the principle of “specific” and “general” which he applied to his art.

Created from a standard notebook purchased in a stationery store, the manuscript is two books in one: ‘Terminal Boundaries’ and ‘A natural watercourse diverted reduced or displaced’. A tête-bêche with two front covers, the book can begin from either cover by turning it upside down.