Sunday Salon: Are Collectible Covers the Future of the Book? and Some Handmade Books of My Own

Europa Editions

Wednesday, my book club met for lunch at Mrs. Dalloway's Books in Oakland.  We didn't eat at the bookstore; we met there and the went down the block to Le Mediterranee for lunch.  (It was okay.) Because I am habitually, hideously early, I had plenty of time to browse books before everyone else arrived.  Mrs. Dalloway's is one of the few commercial interests left in America that includes me in its target market.  Clearly, at some point in our pasts the book buyer for Mrs. Dalloway's and I once shared a Vulcan Mind Meld--every third book in the store looked good to me.

For example, they had an entire table full of Europa Editions.  I know we all say we never judge books by their covers, but look at these--they're beautiful.  Europa features lots of literature in translation, which I'm always on the lookout for, and many authors who are new to me.  While I can't say I've loved every book of theirs I've ever read, they do publish a consistent level of quality literature.  Mrs. Dalloway's also had a table full of NYRB editions which almost always tempt me as well with their beautiful covers and with their contents.  (Did you know you can subscribe the NYRB editions through the publisher who'll send you one new book every month?)

Which got me thinking, maybe beautiful covers can save the book.  I believe it's just a matter of time before e-readers replace printed book.  I know people say they like the feel and smell of books, (honestly, the smell? Really? If books really smell so good why aren't they a perfume?) but I don't see how this can compete with all e-readers offer.  Have you seen the new Kindle commercial?  I've no interest in an e-Reader myself, but apparently you can get them for just over 100 dollars new.  A year's subscription to NRYB's book of the month will set you back 150.00.   But, e-readers still don't do pictures well at all, so I'm told.  Covers like those on the Art of the Novella, Europa Editions and NRYB Books look great and make the book desirable as a collectible object.  Covers are one thing e-readers can't really provide.  They can have a picture of the cover, but it's not the same thing. 

  

NYRB editions

I don't think book covers like these alone will ever produce the kind of sales a new J.K. Rawling or Stephen King e-book will, but I do think they could do very well, especially for smaller press publishers.  Collecting editions with similar cover art, if the cover art is good enough, will certainly appeal to many book buyers.   Covers like these on books that people will want to read anyway, may be just the thing that keeps specialty shops like Mrs. Dalloway's in business after e-readers and economic concerns drive the bigger book stores into history.  

Mrs. Dalloway's also carries artist books and handmade books, though none of mine.  The books pictured below are one's I made during my summer vacation.  These are all blank books, the smaller ones made for my own amusement and usage, the large album is a gift for a friend of mine with a new baby daughter.  

This one is a simple blank book made from recycled book

cloth.  The original book was much larger.  I managed

to get enough cloth off of it for this little book,

approx. 6x7 inches.

I saw this binding at 

Press: Works on Paper , a specialty 

bookstore in San Francisco and thought, 

I can do that.  The do offer classes on
how to make this binding if you're
interested.

Someday, I hope to learn how to make my own marbled
paper.  I bought this paper at the Book Arts Jam in Palo Alto.

I made this little (4X5 1/2) blank book with a sample
of wall paper from Bradbury and Bradbury in
Benicia, CA.  

I'm using this one as my current art journal where I keep

odds and ends, notes about projects, photographs

and pictures.  I took the one on the right above. It's

cross-processed slide film, taken in Benicia, CA.

Various scraps and a photograh/card from a San Francisco
art gallery.  

These were taken in San Francisco with a Diana Mini camera
set on 1/2 frame size pictures which puts two images on each
print.

This was meant to be a proper accordian book when I
began.  I put the first two pieces of paper together
incorrectly and decided to just keep doing it that
way and see how it would come out.  I like it but
a proper accordian fold would have been better. 

The same book from above.  Yes, that is my hand on the left.

This is the album I made for my friend with the new baby daughter.
The cover is made from two pieces of paper glued together.  I used the

same binding I used for the book on the top and large sheets

of watercolor paper folded in half.  

This book should be sturdy enough to hold

lots of photos and still stay flat when closed.

Staying flat when closed is much more 

difficult to achieve than you would think once

you've glued a bunch of photos in an album.

This is the inside back of the album.

This is the inside front cover opened so you can see 

the pages.  The album is 9 x 12 inches, big enough to hold two

prints per page.  I bought the end papers at a Japanese 

stationary store in Berkeley, CA.