Printmaking bracketed Louise Bourgeois's long career, with intense activity when she was starting out as an artist in the 1930s and 1940s, and then again in the last decades of her life. During both periods, Bourgeois was housebound: first, as she raised three young sons, and in old age, when she stopped going out altogether and worked at home. In the early years, Bourgeois printed on a small press she had purchased, and when she decided to issue the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, in 1947, she served as her own publisher.

Late in life, when she came up with an idea for a project and wanted to pursue it immediately, Bourgeois again took on the publishing role. She chose Lison Editions as her imprint, referring back to a childhood nickname (other nicknames included Lise, Lisette, Louison, and Louisette). With Lison Editions, Bourgeois published three major projects between 2006 and 2007: The Fragile and Hours of the Day were co-published with Carolina Nitsch Editions, New York; Lullaby was issued by Lison Editions alone. This was a moment when Bourgeois was working extensively with prints on fabric, collaborating with the printer, Dyenamix, New York, which specializes in fabric projects. In all, Bourgeois published some 100 individual compositions as Lison Editions.