The Life and Times of the Dust Jacket

 Noun. dust jacket - a paper jacket for a book; a jacket on which promotional information is usually printed. Also called book jacket, dust cover, dust wrapper

Most books printed since the late nineteenth and early twentieth century have them. Unfortunately, there are many books that once had them that now don't. For the collector of these modern books the dust jacket represents the Holy Grail of value.

One of the most noted examples is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1925 by Charles Scribner's and Sons, the book is considered by many to be one of the great American novels. The book's dust jacket, created by the then little-known artist Francis Cugat, is also considered a high-spot of dust jacket art and design. To find a copy of the book in today's marketplace that still has the dust jacket is a rare event. The book itself is somewhat common and when it turns up usually sells in the $3,000 - $4000 range. But the book with a dust jacket in good condition - now you're talking $125,000 and up!

Those interested in this important part of book history will enjoy G. Thomas Tanselle's new book Book-Jackets: Their History, Forms, and Use. The book provides:

A concise history both of publishers' detachable book coverings (primarily British and American) and of the attention they have received from scholars, dealers, collectors, and librarians. It also surveys their use by publishers (as protective devices and advertising media) and their usefulness to scholars of literature, art, and book history (as sources for biography, bibliography, cultural analysis, and the development of graphic design).

 Though it leans scholarly the book provides a thorough history of a books most valuable friend and can easily prove useful for the bookseller, book collector or any lover of books. The book also includes a 100+ page listing of surviving pre-1901 examples.

 

Book available here

Re-Covered Books: a cool gallery of user-created book designs  for The Great Gatsby

Letterpress and the Restaurant: Patricia Curtan's Menus for Chez Panisse

It has been over 40 years since the legendary chef Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. While the restaurant became known for its single price-fixe menu it also set the stage for the Eat Local movement which would heavily influence the mind-set of many chefs, restaurants, and farmers around the world.

Fortunately, during the early years there was a member of the kitchen staff who was an artist who also dabbled in letterpress printing.

For Waters "saw the beauty and aesthetic of fine printing as a way to communicate at the outset of the diners experience the care and attention given to the preparation of their dinner" hence it wasn't long before Patricia Curtan was designing and creating the menus; the customer's first contact with the restaurant's offerings.

This beautiful monograph, published by Princeton Architectural Press, is also designed by Curtan and features a healthy sampling of her work over the years.

The book:
Menus for Chez Panisse: The Art & Letterpress of Patricia Curtan. Foreword by Alice Waters

Post at the Paris Review by Curtan on the Chez Panisse Menus

A Wild Edition of "The Wild Swans"

The Wild Swans recounts the story of a princess who sets out to rescue her eleven brothers who have been turned into swans by their wicked stepmother and forced to fly away.  The tale was first published in 1838 in the compilation Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection by Hans Christian Anderson.

An amazing new wordless version of the famous tale is now available. Illustrated by noted toy designer Thomas Aquinas Maguire and published by Simply Read Books. Maguire has transformed the literary tale into a unfolding visual feast.

 Bound accordion style the book extends to over 60 feet! The illustrations were drawn in 8-feet-long sections and were then married in Photoshop. The book was artfully designed by Robin Mitchell-Cranfield.

This  visual rendering is accompanied by a separate booklet which reprints the original tale and is laid into a pictorial folding box with a magnetic flap.

Clearly a beautiful production of a classic work and hard to beat for $24.95.

Composition No.1: The First Book in a Box, Redux

In the 1962 Marc Saporta published Composition No. 1. It was the first published book that came in a box. Of course, there had been books published in slipcases or that were laid in boxes for many years prior to the release of Composition No. 1 but there hadn't been one that consisted of single sheets laid into a box where "each page has a self-contained narrative, leaving it to the reader to decide the order they read the book, and how much or how little of the book they want to read before they begin again."

There were no page numbers, no chapters, no table of contents. For their third offering the forward-looking London publisher Visual Editions has taken Saporta's work and filtered it through their progressive lens. The result is a compelling production designed by Universal Everything, featuring an introduction by Tom Uglow of Creative Labs Google and Youtube and illustrations by Salvador Plascencia.  Plascencia has also created a chart looking at all the different components that make up a “typical” book.

 Here's the trailer:



Book available here

Other books from Visual Editions:
The Life and Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne
Tree Of Codes by  Jonathan Safran Foer

Also worth noting - A portion of the funding for Visual Editions comes from the Arts Council of England which receives some of its monies directly from the Lottery! 

Crumb Covers: The Album Art of R. Crumb

It was the late 1960's. Robert Crumb was an aspiring artist living in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Fransisco when he was asked by Janis Joplin to design the cover for Cheap Thrills, the first major studio album of her band Big Brother And The Holding Company. The album would eventually reach number 1 on the Billboard charts exposing the world to the counterculture visuals of R. Crumb.

And so began the album cover career of R. Crumb.

Now, some 40+ years later, W.W. Norton has released a monograph featuring all of R. Crumb's record cover art.

From his work for Joplin to his long standing commitment to  jazz, country, and old-time blues
music of the 1920s and 1930s to his CD art work for the Eden & John's East River String Band; Crumb's stamp is unmistakeable.

In addition to the covers this compilation presents additional work related to the covers and other lesser-known illustrations that in some way relate to the music.

The details:

Crumb, R. The Complete Record Cover Collection. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2011. . First Printing. Square quarto. [96]pp. More than two hundred fifty illustrations. Glossy pictorial boards, a Fine copy, as New in the publisher's slipcase. $27.95 Book is available here

and here is the publisher's 6+ minute trailer:

Charles Van Sandwyk gets singing

Ever wonder what one of the greatest book illustrators of our generation does during his spare time?

Well, he sings and tells stories. Backed by the Brandywine Boys, Charles Van Sandwyck has released his first CD. Quality Time: Charles Van Sandwyk + the Brandywine Boys sing, play + tell stories. The 6 song time-themed debut features Keith Lowe on acoustic base, Steve Dawson on guitar, ukulele, weissenborn and dobro and Chris Gestrin on pump organ and saloon piano.

A tri-fold insert features an introduction to the project by Keith Lowe and an original illustration by Van Sandwyk and of course, the cover and CD illustration are by Van Sandwyk as well.

The CD is available here for your listening pleasure.
Here is sampling of Van Sandwyk's work

Bookish signs of the OWS movement

One of the highlights  of the Occupy Wall Street movement has been the amazing signage at the events around the country. Above is one of my favorites.

and here is one with some literary-leaning.

We would love to hear about other bookish signs that have graced the protests around the country. If you have seen any worthy of inclusion please let us know.

 

 and even G.K. Chesterton gets in the mix

Also of note, The Arts and Culture Working Group of OWS is turning many of the signs of the movement into artists books. 

Here Come the Good Books: The 24th Annual Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair

If you're looking for an antidote to the barrage of new  technologies that seem to infiltrate all our waking moments then head on over to the Seattle Center for The Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair this weekend and be overwhelmed by print.

Over 100 booksellers from all across the country and as as far away as Germany will be exhibiting. And don't let the word "Antiquarian" scare you away, there will be books of all kinds (we're even bringing select new books)  as well as prints, maps, photographs and ephemera. Think 'collectible' if you need a label.

Dame Folly Speaks, from In Praise of Folly by Fritz Eichenberg
Wood engraving, 1972. 20 x 14-1/4 inches. via Davidson Galleries who will be exhibiting

This is one of the biggest events in the region for the tactile book lover.  It is a testament to the longevity of print and a visual rebuttal to those in the "end of books" camp.

We'll see you there.

'The Future' in the hands of Lapham's Quarterly

One of the consequences of the unparalleled amount of information now available to us courtesy of the Internet is a sort of data paralysis. With so many options and so much to see and read it is becoming an increasing challenge to simply know where to begin. Of course you can search for something on Google but then what? Aside from the politics of search and placement inherent in a Google search, there is simply too much information out there.

Enter Lapham's Quarterly. Founded in 2008 by long-time editor at Harper's Louis H. Lapham. LQ removes many of the barriers one faces when trying to go deep into a topic. Each issue is heavily curated and illustrated and revolves around a single theme. If one of the themes covered is of interest then it's a great place to start.

A typical issue features an introductory Preamble from Editor Lewis H. Lapham; approximately 100 “Voices in Time” — that is, appropriately themed selections drawn from the annals and archives of the past — and newly commissioned commentary and criticism from today’s preeminent scholars and writers. Myriad photographs, paintings, charts, graphs, and maps round out each issue’s 224 pages.

Medieval missionary discovering the point where heaven and earth meet,

twentieth-century coloration of black-and-white engraving from "The
Atmosphere," by Camille Flammarion, 1888. © The Art Archive /
Kharbine-Tapabor

The current issue presents a dazzling array of content and illustrations dealing with the concept of "The Future." From Aeschylus to H.G Wells, from James Boswell to Ray Bradbury the scope is both enormous and inspiring. Over 200 illustrations compliment the content.

"Flying Fireman," color lithograph from the series "Visions of the Year
2000," by Jean-Marc Côté, 1899. © The Art Archive / Kharbine-Tapabor

Here a sampling from the“Voices in Time” Predictions section:

Ray Kurzweil Describes Man's Fate: 2005 / Massachusetts
Blind Fate: c. 429 BC / Thebes
Forecast: 1865 / San Francisco
Stormy with a Chance of Locusts: c. 95 / Patmos
Furor Teutonicus: 1835 / Paris
H. G. Wells Travels in Time: 802701 / London
The Future Was Closer Then: 1903 /Paris
The Future Is Not Yet: c. 397 / Hippo
John Kenneth Galbraith Tells/ It Like It Is: 1958 / Cambridge, MA
After the Revolution: 1878 /London
Out with the Old: 1960 / Paris
Deconstructing the Oracle: 480 BC /Athens
About a Mountian: 1998 / Washington, DC
Charles Fourier Asks, Whither Civilization?: 1808 / Lyon
Philip K. Dick Recalls the Future: 1992 / New York City
What Futures May Come From Dreams: c. 200 /Ephesus
Game Changer: c. 1795 / London

The Future Issue available here

Previous issue: Food

Gorey Letters

“Your letters . . . your existence has made something of this world that [it] hadn’t the possibility of before.” - Peter F. Neumeyer

It was 1968. Edward Gorey was contracted by the publisher Addison-Wesley to illustrate a children's book written by Peter F. Neumeyer. At their first meeting Gorey slipped and  Neumeyer grabbed him by the arm. The grab dislocated Gorey's shoulder and it was during his stay at the hospital waiting for treatment that they began what would become a deep life-long friendship.

The book, an illustrated memoir, features 75 typewriter-transcribed letters, 38 illustrated envelopes, and more than 60 postcards and illustrations exchanged between them.

"The letters also paint an intimate portrait of Edward Gorey, a man often mischaracterized as macabre or even ghoulish. His gentleness, humility, and brilliance—interwoven with his distinctive humor—shine in each letter"

 Gorey and Neumeyer would end up collaborating on three children's books: Donald and The.; Why We Have Day and Night and Donald Has a Difficulty.

The details:
Neumeyer, Peter F., edited by. Floating Worlds. The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2011. First Printing. Large octavo. 256pp. Index. Numerous illustrations in color throughout. Pictorial paper covered boards in a matching dust jacket. $35

Buy Now

Press release (PDF)

A list of Gorey books currently in stock