The Collectors: Prosper Assouline
The Moroccan-born publisher views collecting books as a way to keep the storied art form alive
For Prosper Assouline, books are not just his career but also a personal source of inspiration. “There is nothing more beautiful than opening a book, feeling it, turning its pages, and dreaming,” says Assouline, whose namesake publishing house produces beautifully packaged titles on art, design, and travel.
As the world becomes more digitized, the Moroccan-born Assouline views collecting books as a way of keeping this storied art form alive. “I was not setting out to collect anything,” he says, noting that it was a Marcel Duchamp book-object that led him to see things differently. “It was a sculpture, an idea, a gesture,” he explains of that initial realization. “From that moment on, I understood that a book could be far more than bound text.” One of the most unique aspects of his library is the number of volumes representing an intersection of his company’s preferred topics, such as a rare illustrated lithographic portfolio of Saint-Tropez by French painter Bernard Buffet and a tome by Jacques Prévert with illustrations by Joan Miró.
Wish list: The Description de l’Égypte (1809–22), housed in a custom-made cabinet, and the first edition, three-volume History of the Indian Tribes of North America, drawn from Thomas L. McKenney’s gallery of Indian portraits and published in 1854, are treasures he’d like to add to his library.
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Late Fall Issue in the section “The Collectors.” Subscribe to the magazine.