Chuck Cave has hit Broadway, but he's not in a musical.

Cave, assistant professor of art in the School of Visual Arts, has had a piece of his work selected for the Fifteenth Anniversary Exhibition of the Center For Book Arts in New York.

Book and Box -- a non-narrative block book bound in the Japanese manner -- will be on display at the Center, 626 Broadway, from Nov. 9 through the end of the month.

Block books, or "artist's books," are "really elaborate books that tell stories just with wood blocks," Cave said. "They are getting very 'hot' right now -- a lot of collectors buy artist's books right now because they are relatively inexpensive [$35 each] compared to paintings and sculptures."

A Dayton, Ohio native with a degree in printmaking from Miami University (Ohio), Cave has been teaching here for three years. Before attending Coydon College of Art and Design in London for graduate work, he spent eight years teaching at the College of Dayton Art Institute.

Cave, 45, said he has been experimenting with block books for roughly five years. His interest in making them dates back to his graduate years in London.

"While I was there, I took a bookbinding and papermaking course which was very traditional in its approach," he said. "It gave me the idea that I could make my own books."

He had admired the art of bookmaking for a very long time, however.

"When I was a child I 'read' God's Man by Lynd Ward, an American artist, before I was actually able to read. It must have had some kind of an influence because I'm a printmaker now making books."

He said he particularly enjoys making block books because "they can reach people who can't read or who can't speak English. I'm interested in reaching out to people."

Book and Box, like much of his work, deals with a sociological theme -- the decay of the urban environment. It came about, he said, over a three to four year period.

"In a way, I was recycling old wood cuts to make this book," Cave said. "I was sampling all of the wood cuts I had and I found they all had the same theme, so I put them together. I had it sitting around for two years before I decided to show it to anyone."

Elizabeth Armstrong of the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis was one of two jurors who selected the items for the Book Arts exhibit, which features works of artists from all over the country.

"The selections were completely based on slides that were sent in," she said. "I was given a number of artists and told to judge on quality and variety. I tried to make sure that it was a representative collection of all forms of book art."

She was hired only as a guest juror, she said, and has no official connection to the Center For Book Arts.

For his next project, Cave said he plans to work with scientists on a block book for the blind. One possible topic is teenage pregnancy, he said.