I received an email the other day from Michael Russem the proprietor of the KatRan Press alerting me to an article he wrote that was just published in Caxtonian, the journal for the legendary Chicago book group the Caxton Club. The article is titled “The Failure of Fine Printing: Why the beautiful book isn’t so beautiful, and the ugly book isn’t so ugly”.
An intriguing title that is destined to stir up the book community.
My first thought was to question the timing of the article and the email. Next week marks the First Biennial Book Fair & Symposium of the Codex Foundation in San Francisco. The foundation “exists to preserve and promote the art and craft of the book. [Whose] mission is educational and, in the broadest possible context, to bring to public recognition the artisanship and the rich history of the book.” The symposium is titled The Fate of the Art, The Hand Printed Book in the 21st Century. I guess he is weighing in a little early.
The argument Russem puts forth is that basically no one reads the books he and other fine press printers make. His take on the Form vs. Content debate is that Content wins and that is why the “paperback will continue to be the book of our time” and no one will read the fine press book.
There are a couple of issues that the article raises:
The first and most important is the issue of readers vs. collectors.
This is the primary issue that separates the new book community from the non-new and antiquarian book community. One caters to readers the other to collectors and rarely the twain shall meet. This is the biggest hurdle facing the bookselling industry today. Once these communities join forces the prospect of being a successful bookseller and selling fine press books will rise dramatically.
As it stands fine press books are purchased almost exclusively by collectors and libraries. Most collectors can’t read all the books they buy and most library special collections won’t even allow the book to be checked out so somebody can read it!
The next question one might ask is:
Why are fine press books only sold for the most part by antiquarian booksellers?
This will ensure limited exposure which will only perpetuate the problem.
On the Fine Books blog Scott Brown shares his take on the issue and says the reason people don’t read them is “because you can’t read them. They are simply too fragile. Despite the quality of the materials, the average trade paperback (not mass market – I’m referring to the larger paperbacks used for quality fiction) is better made, sturdier, and will hold up better over time.”
I have to disagree with him here. It might be true that some contemporary artist’s books are simply to fragile to read or handle often but a fine press book should stand up to repeated use and is clearly superior to a trade paperback in its composition.
I have been selling fine press and artist books for over 15 years and I don’t believe for a minute that fine printing is failing, if anything it is alive and well and prospering.
If there is a failure it is the failure of the retail book community to expose these beautiful creations to readers!
Of course the fine press publishers can also do a better job of marketing but this falls outside the skill set of most fine press publishers.
The other issue raised here, but that will have to wait for a future post, is the hardback vs. paperback battle. It has been going on for years in the publishing industry and I hope to tackle it here soon.