The 2017 Alice Award Shortlist
Furthermore, the grants in publishing program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, announced its fifth annual shortlist for an award called The Alice. Created by Joan K. Davidson in honor of Alice M. Kaplan, this award honors books that fuse scholarly value with high production values. The jury includes illustrator R.O. Blechman, gallerist Paula Cooper, publisher David Godine, and director of the Yale University Art Gallery, Jock Reynolds. One of the jurists commented, "Our hope is that the Alice will buttress the kind of slow reading movement that can encourage readers to recognize and cherish the undying qualities of the well-made book: beyond ideas, its shape and heft, the aptness of its paper and typography and design, and the special sense of intimacy it affords--and will help to keep such books coming in the years ahead."
The winner receives $25,000. Additionally, this year Furthermore announced that each of the short-listed books would walk away with $5,000 apiece. Prizes will be announced on October 9, and a ceremony at the Strand Book Store will follow in November. 
This year's shortlist consists of four titles:
Robert Winthrop Chanler: Discovering the Fantastic edited by Gina Wouters and Andrea Gollin. In association with the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Miami FL. Published by The Monacelli Press.
Charles Percier: Architecture and Design in an Age of Revolutions edited by Jean-Philippe Garric. Co-published by the Bard Graduate Center Gallery, Château de Fontainebleau, Réunion des musées nationaux--Grand Palais, and Yale University Press.
Conflicts of Interest: Art and War in Modern Japan by Philip K. Hu and Rhiannon Paget. Co-published by the Saint Louis Art Museum and the University of Washington Press.
Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952-1965 by Melissa Rachleff. Co-published by the Grey Art Gallery and DelMonico Books--Prestel.
Last year, Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts and American Culture won; in 2015, David Campany's The Open Road: Photography & The American Road Trip earned the top spot. Read more about Joan Davidson and the Alice Award here.
Image via the Monacelli Press
