April 29, 2009
Aesthetic Books
My husband and I had a minor disagreement in a bookstore this weekend. We were browsing editions of Lord of the Rings for his collection, it being high time he replaced his mass market paperbacks with a “good” copy for long-term enjoyment. I was leaning towards the 1965 box set with the painted dust jackets, but he liked the look of the 1984 Easton Press leather bound edition with the lovely gilt elf-runes all over. Both have their place from a collectibility standpoint, but I prefer the books that reflect their original time and history, rather than fancy reprints. Having a library full of beautiful leather bound editions is certainly pretty, but I find it doesn’t capture the history and authenticity of individual books. I like my books to be cultural artifacts rather than art-works.
Of course, books as pretty things have their place too. Like, for instance, as purses.
This artist was recently featured on some US tv show or another and her work is gorgeous. Sadly she didn’t have a beautiful Three Musketeers or Count of Monte Cristo that I was willing to shell out for, so I found myself skimming Etsy for similar items. To my great delight, it seems there are several vendors who “upcycle” old books like this.
Thank you, clever artistic folk, for keeping me enthused about all the endless possibilities offered by books. You never cease to amaze me.
I have the painted cover version. After I got married my wife suggested we get rid of my copies since her’s were ‘nicer’.
We still have two copies.
Heheh, good work! Some day a book collecting descendant (or relative) of yours will thank you for it. Besides, some of those old covers are cool – didn’t Tolkien draw or design some of them himself? Then there’s potential awesomeness like this:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24025084
The Tolkien art ones are the ones I have.
You can see them here: http://mysite.verizon.net/aznirb/mtr/oop/ballant_tolk_cov.html
I believe my mother had the box as well, but that is long gone now.