Books as Objects
February 25, 2009
Judging Books by Their Covers: America Vs. UK 7
by C. Max Magee
I’ve always thought that British book covers, generally speaking, are nicer looking than their American counterparts, with the latter seeking to target a demographic rather than to dazzle the eye. With this in mind, the following is an incredibly unscientific experiment in aesthetics. I’ve taken as a sample the Tournament of Books contenders whose American [...]
January 27, 2009
Books Not For Reading, Redux: Su Blackwell’s Book Cut Sculptures 1
by Emily Colette Wilkinson
In one of my first posts for the Millons, a post on books used for purposes other than reading, I mentioned the British artist Su Blackwell and her book cut sculptures. Blackwell’s work is enchanting and I find myself (in week six of a post-dissertation/graduate school illiterate malaise in which I have read nothing, nothing, [...]
January 14, 2009
Books as Objects: Artifacts and Armaments 2
by Andrew Saikali
If you thought books were just to read – to entertain, educate or enlighten – then think again. Macleans Magazine ran a piece recently on a little bookshop in Old Montreal that displays its wares as museum-pieces. Librissime offers Dante’s Divine Comedy, “bound in buttercream-white calfskin leather, a hand-chiseled brass rendering of the crossing of [...]
April 2, 2008
Judging Books by Their Covers 0
by C. Max Magee
I’m seriously digging these new cover designs for the British editions of John O’Hara classics BUtterfield 8 and Appointment in Samarra. They were done by illustrator Tomer Tanuka, and he shares his inspirations for the covers at his blog Tropical Toxic (where you’ll also find posts from his twin brother Asaf, who is also an [...]
February 24, 2008
Books as Objects 0
by Noah Deutsch
The cover of this past week’s New Yorker, “Shelf of Life” by Adrian Tomine, could be a visual entry in our “Books as Objects” column. An avid reader of the magazine (NOT our fearless editor and self-professed NYer junkie, Max) examined the cover art and observed that it carried a “cynical” message. It’s a panel [...]
August 26, 2007
Books You Can’t Read: A List of Bookish Objets 0
by Emily Colette Wilkinson
British artist Su Blackwell’s wonderful book-cut sculptures Discharged books from the Stanford library find new life as a bar Part Joseph Cornell box, part book about Joseph Cornell boxes (for more info) A selection of works by Georgia Russell, Cara Borer, and other artists whose medium is books German designer Werner Aisslinger’s storage modules, made [...]
