Self-published photography books – in pictures

The cover of the celebrated photobook Afronauts by Cristina de Middel, which De Middel published and distributed herself in an edition of 1,000. Originally costing £24, it now changes hands for £750 online. "The gallery I was with," says De Middell, "tried to discourage me and so did the photography agencies I showed the idea to. It was too documentary for one and too conceptual for the other. It just shows you have to go with your instinct as an artist." Photograph: Cristina de Middel

Jambo, from the series The Afronauts, 2012, inspired by the short-lived Zambian space programme of 1964, which was instigated by a schoolteacher, Edward Makuka Nkoloso, with the goal of sending an African to Mars. De Middel, formerly a photojournalist, reinvented herself as a conceptual artist, staging photographs of locals posing as astronauts in training, makeshift spacecraft and "African" landscapes around her home town, Alicante in Spain Photograph: Cristina de Middel

Iko Iko, from The Afronauts Photograph: Cristina de Middel

Hamba, from The Afronauts Photograph: Courtesy of the artist and The Photographers' Gallery, London/Cristina de Middel

Another layout from The Afronauts by Cristina de Middel showing her deft use of archive material. See more from this series of work on her website Photograph: Cristina de Middel

Another spread from Afronauts by Cristina de Middel showing fold-out newspaper articles questioning the fact and fiction behind the project Photograph: Cristina de Middel

The beautifully designed cover of The Heath by photographer Andy Sewell featuring an inset detail from a map of Hampstead Heath. More of his work and editions of this book can be viewed on his website Photograph: Andy Sewell

Untitled 31 from 'The Heath' by Andy Sewell. It is, says critic Sean O'Hagan, "a kind of visual ode" to north London's swath of countryside Photograph: Andy Sewell

Untitled 09 from The Heath by Andy Sewell Photograph: Andy Sewell

A layout from The Heath by Andy Sewell Photograph: Andy Sewell

The cover of the self-published book Less Américains by Mishka Henner which takes its lead from the book it is based on (the seminal The Americans by Robert Frank) Photograph: Mishka Henner

An image entitled Yom Kippour Less Américains, in which Henner plays with notions of appropriation and erasure to surreal effect. The project proved hugely controversial: "I made new work out of the old," says Henner, "but looking at people's reactions, you'd think I'd desecrated a holy text." Photograph: Mishka Henner

Canal Street from Less Américains Photograph: Mishka Henner

The 12 volumes that comprise Astronomical, a self-published series of books by Mishka Henner totalling 6,000 pages Photograph: Mishka Henner

Saturn as featured in another spread from Astronomical by Mishka Henner. Each page represents 1m km of the 6bn km between the sun and Pluto Photograph: Mishka Henner

A still entitled SS98, Cerignola Foggia, Italy, 2012 from Mishka Henner's self-published photobook No Man's Land. The work has been shortlisted for the Deutsche Borse prize Photograph: Mishka Henner