Peter Blum Edition was founded in New York in 1980, after Blum relocated from Switzerland. (He eventually opened galleries in both Soho and Chelsea.) His first contact with Bourgeois came in 1988, when he proposed her as a featured artist for Parkett magazine, which he cofounded. This developed into an active working relationship, and Blum was a contributing force in Bourgeois's reawakened interest in printmaking after a hiatus of nearly 40 years.

It was in conjunction with Blum's publication, Anatomy, that Bourgeois first worked with Harlan & Weaver workshop, leading to her long and definitive relationship with printer Felix Harlan. Blum published many highly significant projects with the artist, including the monumental Sainte Sebastienne and several books and portfolios, which were his special focus. He brought together Bourgeois and author Arthur Miller for Homely Girl, A Life, in 1992; published her autobiographical photographs and texts in Album, in 1994; and also was responsible for the 2004 edition of the fabric book, Ode à l'Oubli, a complex undertaking overseen by Judith Solodkin of SOLO Impression. Blum always maintained a friendly rapport with Bourgeois, enhanced by the fact that they occasionally spoke French together and also shared a love of books. He once delighted her with the gift of a 17th-century volume by a French midwife who wrote on fertility and childbirth. The midwife's name happened to be Louise Bourgeois.