Warhol Red-Book

Before you purchase your own reproduced box of Andy Warhol’s Little Red Books, you can sample DAAP Library’s copy for free. It contains 11 facsimiles of Warhol’s original red Holson Polaroid Albums, and a 12th little black book index with an essay by the celebrity photographer François-Marie Banier.

There are over 100 original Red Books. Each are unique collections of polaroids Warhol took of associates, friends, and celebrities, at gatherings, shoots, and getaways, that he carefully cataloged and curated. Many of these polaroids were source material for later works. Although Warhol left behind almost 40,000 polaroids, only a fragment are contained in these little books.

Original Red Books can be found in institutions all over the world, and are predominantly gifts from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Both the Cleveland and Toledo museums of art have one in their collections. Meanwhile, you can make an appointment to see Warhol Red Books, and other materials in DAAP Library’s Special Collection via email (keloni.parks@uc.edu).