I love books. I love reading them. I love looking at them. I love stacking them. Sometimes, I love them without ever even reading them (*gasp* weren’t you an English major in college?!).
“Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired[...] produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can[...] read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity[…] we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance.” —Alfred Edward Newton (1863 – 1940)
Books can be pretty, and to enjoy the aesthetic pleasure of cover art, page layout, typography — that I do not think is a sin. Here are a few other people who agree with me, and some of my favorite places to travel for my aesthetic love of books.
Above: From a post about What it Is by Lynda Barry
This is my favorite book blog and I recommend an immediate RSS subscription. The author, an amazing illustrator in her own right, and provides scans from sketchbooks, children’s books, comic books, craft books, and any other kind of page turning instrument with pictures or gadgets.
I love this site because it reveals (1) the artistic innards of books, (2) books not on best seller’s lists. She clearly spends time selecting pretty pages to preview, proving that the title of her site should be something more like Book By Its Cover and Great Examples of Inside Pages Too (can you tell I’m a writer? I thought so.)
2.
Covers
I love this site most because the main page’s grid layout gets me all excited about book covers every time I see it. You can click on each cover to see a larger version and commentary. They update every week, and it’s another book blog I wouldn’t hesitate to subscribe to.
3.
Flickr Sets
Above: Image from the Old-Timey Paperback Book Covers group pool on Flickr.
Veer recently posted about a flickr collection featuring scans from mid-20th century books. This got me scouting around for more flickr sets. Here are some of my favorite finds from group pools: Mother Goose Illustrations, The Retro Kid Pool, and Old-Timey Paperback Book Covers.
4.
McSweeney’s
Above: Image from NY Magazine
According to me, McSweeney’s consistently publishes some of the best-looking books on the planet. You’ve already seen my review of Maps & Legends, printed by McSweeney’s, and you can browse around for even more on the McSweeny’s site, either in the Books section or in the McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern section (the McS’s lit mag). These books are all better in 3-D, though, a lot of them have secret openings, layered covers, or some other graphical gimmick that I can’t get enough of.
5.
The Book Design Review
Above: Image from The Book Design Review
Ironically, you should not judge this page by its header because it’s full of cool book covers and book cover discussions (ironically my friend Marmalade pointed me to this at almost the exact same time I was posting it, and now I’m trying to think of a pun about being “on the same page” but it isn’t going well).
In summary, you should judge book covers by their book covers. In order to do so, you should visit the following places (right click, open in new window):
Need EVEN MORE? Check out all of my Book Week posts!
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One Response for "We’ve Got You Covered"
cosmic. *shoulder nudge*
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