Holland Cotter has an inspiring review of the NY Art Book Fair in Saturday's New York Times. His piece titled Art Between Covers, on Walls and in Your Hands is a refreshing reminder that there is still life in books."A book in a store is worth 20 on a Web site," is how he begins his story. Cotter then gives us three good reasons why the book in a public space experience is vital to the health of our culture:1- "you can check out the book’s contents and condition without buying."It doesn't matter how good a return policy the e-tailer's...
Endpapers
Endpaper illustration by Ben Kutcher from the 1925 edition of Oscar Wilde's House of Pomegranates 1925end·pa·per: a once-folded sheet of paper having one leaf pasted flat against the inside of the front or back cover of a book and the other pasted at the base to the first or last page.For a more in-depth definition see the Etherington & Roberts entry in their bookbinding and conservation focused Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology.Romeo Looks For a Job by Alain Gree 1966There is an online show with 70+ examples of endpapers hosted by Nancy Stahl at Drawger.com, a website "where illustrators are writing...
Almost Naked
And the award for best use of a novel goes to this guy.His name is Mark Estes and it was his response to an assignment where he had to come up with a "Representation of a book title.This definitely expands the meaning of book covers.I can see an outbreak on the horizon of people taking photos with their books as coverings much like that viral YouTube thread from last year of people showing off their books to music.
Book Bench
pocketbench by Swiss artist Jan Reymond.Approx. 180 cm x 80 cm x 100 cm.price: $3500 euros.It would look great under that shelf of books you bought by the yard.Now imagine one where all the spines are the same color.If interested in or have questions about the one pictured please contact Book Patrol for additional information.Top photo © Piotr Jaxa
The Author Needs An Art Director
This past weekend the Design Research Conference was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Louis Rosenfeld, a leader in the field of information architecture, was one of the speakers and he addressed the role of design in the book world and the challenges that publishers face.It is no secret that the visual component of a book is directly tied to sales. Rosenfeld believes that design affects not only the inside and outside of the book but also the brand of the book and the author. The visual component of a book and its author now extend far...