The drug of choice for most of the world in the 19th century was Opium. The Western powers cultivated it, created demand for it in the East and then went to war to suppress it leaving a trail of carnage and opium addicts in their wake. Maggs Bros. Ltd. of London is currently offering what it believes is "the finest collection on the subject" ever assembled. The Santo Domingo Opium Collection is comprised of over 3,000 items, gathered over decades of collecting. The collection contains extensive historical documentation as well as "a huge collection of objects, including material of the highest quality and the most...
Looking Good: Best Designed Books Covers of 2012
The folks at Design Observer have announced the winners of their annual 50 Books/50 Covers contest and as is par for the course they have chosen some amazing book and cover designs. As writers, we know just how important the graphical design of a book cover can be - it can influence buying decisions and improve response to the book. It's always been our priority to recommend Graphic Design Companies to authors - to ensure book launches are successful. With that said, here's a healthy sampling of some my favorites from the book cover selections: Art without Artists Authors: John Foster, Roger...
Memory Palace: A walk through Hari Kunzru’s new novella
Johnny Kelly Talk about immersing yourself in a book. Welcome to what might be the world's first walk-in book. Sky Arts Ignition: Memory Palace is a collaboration between author Hari Kunzru and 20 internationally acclaimed graphic designers, illustrators and typographers. Kunzru wrote a dystopian novella set in a a futuristic London where recording, writing, collecting and art are outlawed. Then each artist was given a different passage to fuel their muse. The results are now on view at the Victoria & Albert Museum Mario Wagner Stuart Kolakovic Frank Laws Åbäke Luke Pearson If you are so inclined there is a...
Reading Pictured: Then and Now
To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark. - Victor Hugo Hundreds, possibly thousands, of images of people reading are uploaded to the web everyday. Us book types would be hard-pressed to get through a day without seeing an image of someone reading something. This was not the case in 1971 when Grossman Publishers released On Reading a compilation of photographs by Hungarian-born photographer Andre Kertész. For over a half a century Kertész took pictures of people reading, from his first photograph of a reader in 1915 until the his last...
Reading while Protesting: The Taksim Square Book Club
If you think the people of Turkey have given up - think again. As they emerge from weeks of violent clashes with the police they have adopted a new form of resistance. They're calling it The Taksim Square Book Club and it is a made up of the 'standing man' protesters, named after performance artist Erdem Gunduz who stood, silently, with his hands in his pockets, in Taksim Square for eight hours and the reading and educational activities that were active during the Occupy Gezi library days. A man reads the Turkish book Resurrection Gallipoli 1915, written by Turgut Ozakman on the Battle...