Binding: Lester Capon for 'Animal's People' by Indra Sinha (Simon & Schuster), Designer Bookbinders was founded over 50 years ago to promote the craft of fine bookbinding.Since 1991 their members have been creating beautiful unique bindings for the 6 shortlisted novels for Booker Prize.Here's how it works:"The binder...has only four to five weeks to read, design and bind their book (with a container). The books must be ready in time for the night of the final prize announcement, when each bound novel is presented to its author at the famous 'Booker dinner'."Wouldn't it be great if we had something similar...
Censored in Plame Sight
And the National Book Award for the Altered Book of the Year goes to...Valerie Plame's recently released memoir "Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House," In fact it just might be the most widely distributed altered book in publishing history.About 15% of the entire book is visibly altered with gray bars eliminating text, sometimes for pages at a time. The CIA originally wanted 35% of the text to be redacted. A court battle ensued between the publisher, Simon & Schuster, and the government. The Bush administration won by about 15%.The title of the book...
Nice Places to Park
Thames & Hudson has just published Simon Henley's The Architecture of Parking. The "book is at once a survey of the finest examples of parking garages and a presentation of exciting and innovative design. An introduction covers the history and architectural significance of these buildings and their relevance today, and is followed by chapters that define the most influential aspects of parking design." Includes garages designed by Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas.Book details:Henley, Simon. The Architecture of Parking. London and New York: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Quarto. Hardback. 256 pages.300 illustrations, 150 of which are in color. List...
Martha Rosler’s Traveling Library
Martha Rosler's library has landed at the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA), "a newly created institute dedicated to the history of art" in ParisWriting on the traveling library in the spring 2007 issue of Afterall Elena Filipovic says:[Rosler] temporarily dispossessed herself of the vast majority of her personal library so that it could be made available for consultation. No borrowing was possible, but the eclectic ensemble of books on economics, political theory, war, colonialism, poetry, feminism, science fiction, art history, mystery novels, children’s books, dictionaries, maps and travel books, as well as photo albums, posters, postcards and newspaper clippings...
Cohen & Glass
Two of the most influential artists of the late 20th and early 21st century Leonard Cohen & Philip Glass have joined to bring us 'Book of Longing' a cycle of 22 songs. The work premiered in Toronto in June and then went on to played Lincoln Center in July."For me, this work is both a departure from past work and a fulfillment of an artistic dream." says Glass who first started thinking about the project six years ago when he and Cohen ran into each other in Los Angeles and Cohen read him the manuscript for 'Book of Longing.'In his...