OK, we know you shouldn't buy a book for its cover. But let's just say — for the sake of argument — that someone decides to go paperless, donate their books, and read everything from 2011 on via an e-reader. Which books would you try and convince them to keep?
Art and design books? Sure, you can't get the same big, beautiful images on a Kindle. Vintage leather-bound volumes of classic novels? Those might be too beautiful to part with. Complete collections that look amazing on a shelf? Why not — they serve a double function as sources for information/stories/etc and as decorative objects that personalize a room.
While books are first and foremost a source of ideas, they can also be beautiful — shelves lined with books inspire paintings, photographs, and countless blog posts, so here's another one with 10 lovely-to-look-at collections.
- Phaidon Design Classics: The ultimate design library in three bright yellow volumes, $175.
- Penguin Classics: Designed by superstar graphic artist Coralie Bickford-Smith, $20 each.
- Assouline Lifestyle Collection: A symphony of black, white, and red — $45 per volume.
- Wallpaper City Guides: Fill up a shelf with a spectrum of color, $9.95 each.
- Everyman's Pocket Poetry Library: Elegant covers for Dickens, Blake, and Rilke — $938 for the full set of more than 60 poets.
- Harvard Classics: Available in vintage sets with red or blue spines — this one is $895 on Amazon.
- Childcraft: Vintage children's how-to books in bright candy colors — this set is $36 on Etsy.
- Book City Jackets: Wrap these craft-paper-style jackets around your books — Artist Editions are $15 for a set of 3.
- Astrid Ortiz — The Lady Vanishes: Available in Catalan only, this set is covetable nonetheless.
- Dover Thrift Editions: Inexpensive and readily available, they seem cheap individually but look smart lined up on a shelf together.
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Persephone Books come in plain dove grey paper covers with endpapers and bookmark reproduced from textiles of the period evoked by the book. The books are usually reissues of early to mid 20th century mostly female , mostly British novelists and the books often have a domestic feeling which Apartment Therapy readers may well find congenial.
http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/
Persphone books - their covers are dove grey with cream/white bars for the title &c. The endpapers are based on vintage wallpapers or fabrics, and they come (when you order from their site direct) with a matching bookmark.
The stuff inside is great, too.
http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/
I sewed printed jersey knit sleeves for all of my ugly books. If anyone is OCD about the books on my bookshelf, it is me. Great entry. I love the Astrid Ortiz collection.
I freaking looovvee Dover Thrift. They have amazingly cheap books, and I love the cover designs (usually a simple pattern, but awesome nonetheless). My copy of The Scarlet Letter has a wonderful cover, and is a wonderful book! I also recommend Modern College Library Editions if you can find them, the covers are a simple solid green color with white font but the binding is to die for (I'm kind of a freak about binding, I hate it when it's so stiff you can barely open the book). They've got some great reads too, I have the Plague by Albert Camus in a Modern Library edition. I think these are usually less expensive than other publishers as well. But they aren't Dover Thrift cheap. I got the Scarlet Letter for $1.50. Yeah. And Macbeth? $0.40. That's fourty cents people.
Now I have an e-reader, I'm going to just buy nice editions of books I love. I also buy books in thrift stores for their titles.
The 33 1/3 series focusing on individual albums have a well-designed uniform look and their smaller size allows them to fit in non-conventional spaces.
My mom still has the whole set of Childcraft books... seeing them here brings back fond childhood memories!
Growing up I had some of the Childcraft books, too! I had forgotten about them until now. My sister and I would spend HOURS reading them.
Also, I've covered a number of my not-so-pretty books in craft paper. It does the trick and it's super cheap!
I think NYRB Classics have a great aesthetic. Spines all have the same layout but in different colors, really nice palette.
I think older leather look bound books and encylopedia brittanica look good, though a bit obvious.
Almost a cliche by now, but I'd love to have copies of Osa Johnson's books -- especially "I Married Adventure."
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eidvs80_01o/St89LSv5thI/AAAAAAAAJ9s/bHQcoMN9Zko/s400/phbosa.jpg
I am so in love with the Penguin classics line! I have 5 of them, and looking to add to my collection!
I love Everyman's Library--not just the poetry books, though! I have a few very old Everyman editions that I'd never get rid of.
I also highly recommend the Persephone books!
I am in love with those Penguin Classics, just waiting to figure out who can inherit my paperback versions so I can justify those nice hardbacks instead.