Independent Book Art and Photography Publisher Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Directory and Links to ever-expanding publisher of odd, offbeat, unusual and authentic vintage art and vintage photography books by Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books and Jim Linderman.


#1 Gals Gams Garters reconstructs a 1950s scrapbook put together by an anonymous aficionado of the leg which was found in a Dumpster in Virginia.


#2 Shy Shamed Secret Shadowed Hidden contains over 100 original vintage unique photographs depicting nude women all engaged in hiding their identity in manners indicated by the title.


#3 In Situ: American Folk Art in Place documents a large collection of photographs and real photo postcards showing American folk art objects, environments and their makers. Included are carnival signs, religious objects, weathervanes, whirligigs and more.


#4 Camera Club Girls: Bettie Page, her Friends and the Work of Rudolph Rossi tells the story of the secret and informal camera clubs of the 1950s through the work of previously unknown amateur photographer and artist Rudolph Rossi. The artist took photographs of Bettie Page and her friends and meticulously hand-painted each photo to create an unreal, personal world.


#5 American Portraits: Midwest Mundane 100 vernacular photograph portraits taken by an anonymous Michigan photographer in the late 1940s


Forthcoming Dull Tool Dim Bulb projects include "Wondrous World of Wendt" which will show over 100 never seen original antique photographs taken by carnival and sideshow photographer Frank Wendt in the 1890s and "The Painted Backdrop: Behind the Sitter in American Tintype Photographs" which will be the first book to discuss the relationship between painters and photographers in the early days of photography.


The physical book is disappearing quickly, but editor, collector and iconoclast Jim Linderman sees these small and beautiful books as art projects more than traditional publications. The printed page has many drawbacks not found in digital environments, yet there are still reasons to document and share collections in printed form. Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books fills that need by creating instant collectibles with a quirky, unique quality, all containing physical objects of authenticity and value.

The book publishing arm of Dull Tool Dim Bulb is DULL TOOL DIM BULB BOOKS