The Most Beautiful Swiss Books of the year 1999

03.11 → 31.12.2000
Carton d'invitation de l'exposition Les plus beaux livres suisses de l'année 1999
A competition of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture

The Swiss Federal Office of Culture (SFOC) has always taken an active interest in good book design. With its compet­i­tion for The Most Beau­ti­ful Swiss Books, the SFOC has been promot­ing book design in Switzer­land for almost forty years in recog­ni­tion of its high qual­ity. Since its incep­tion, vari­ous changes have been made to the compet­i­tion in terms of both content and form. Most recently, the SFOC, acting on behalf of the FDI and in consulta­tion with three Swiss publish­ers’ asso­ci­ations decided to assume sole respons­ib­il­ity for organ­iz­ing the compet­i­tion. In return, the publish­er’s asso­ci­ations will assume the role of patrons of the compet­i­tion.

Since Janu­ary 2000, a redefined and simpli­fied set of regu­la­tions and a new approach to adju­dic­a­tion (the prelim­in­ary jury has been replaced by one main jury) have formed the basis of the compet­i­tion. By 1997, the emphasis of the adju­dic­a­tion in The Most Beau­ti­ful Swiss Books had already shif­ted from tech­nical features to design. Though tech­nical qual­ity and appro­pri­ate choice of mater­i­als continue to be import­ant criteria, the artistic design of the book has been one of the stated main concerns of the compet­i­tion ever since.

Prize-winning books are to receive an award and be presen­ted in only two exhib­i­tions per year in Switzer­land, at the Museum für Gestal­tung Zürich and the mudac Lausanne. This year’s jury presided over by Lorette Coen, has singled out 22 books of the 267 submis­sions for an award.