Looking for the perfect bookshelf for the bibliophile in your life? Consider these bookshelves created by CA artist Jim Rosenau from actual vintage books. According to Rosenau's website, "No books that could change the course of world events are harmed in the production."
The unique shelves and pieces of furniture at This Into That are made from real books, though some of the paper pages are removed and replaced with a sturdy armature of salvaged lumber. Most of the books come from donations, recycling centers, and library discards; Rosenau prefers to work with older hardback books that "look better than they read", and tries to research any books that look valuable for placement with rare book dealers. The shelves are sturdy enought to support typical loads, but must be kept out of direct sunlight, and are subject to damage by abrasion and moisture. Rosenau can create a custom shelf using the book or central theme of your choice.
Dirty Little Secrets of Tidy Families
Hillary & Michael's Refined Roost
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Nomade Express Slee...
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
How to Make Buckwheat Soba Noodles from Scratch
That's a really beautiful shelf. A part of me would want to use books of significance to me, but then again, I would feel badly about abusing the books. I like that he finds a home for the rare and/or valuable books. It shows a great respect for his materials and projects!
Creative as these are, I really hate to see anyone deface a book. Once a book, even an old one, is treated as nothing more than a raw material void of any intellectual beauty, then it loses all of it's intrinsic worth. Better it should be donated to a library where hundreds of readers can actually read it and get some real value out of it.
This trend of decorating with books really, really bothers me. Books have their own important purpose, and it seems incredibly disrespectful to ignore what they actually are - reading material - in favor of what you'd prefer to get out of them - in this case, a pretty piece of decor. Many of the books in these photos look to be in good condition, and I spotted several that certainly can't be deemed to "look better than they read" - the copy of All the King's Men in the first photo, for instance.
Nothing sums up this artist's indifference toward books better than his own quote: "No books that could change the course of world events are harmed in the production."
It's the words that count, you shallow man, not the cover.
Evangeline
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This trend of decorating with books really, really bothers me. Books have their own important purpose, and it seems incredibly disrespectful to ignore what they actually are - reading material - in favor of what you'd prefer to get out of them - in this case, a pretty piece of decor. Many of the books in these photos look to be in good condition, and I spotted several that certainly can't be deemed to "look better than they read" - the copy of All the King's Men in the first photo, for instance.
Nothing sums up this artist's indifference toward books better than his own quote: "No books that could change the course of world events are harmed in the production."
It's the words that count, you shallow man, not the cover.
Evangeline
************
http://www.bookliciousblog.com
Gah, sorry for the double post. I'm having internet problems. :(
"No books that could change the course of world events are harmed in the production."
That is a sad statement
Even books I loathe, such as 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus' have been earth-shattering, life-changing to others, just like, say, Cien años de soledad was for me.
And the last 'table' is incredibly hideous, to boot
I have to agree with thebookie. I appreciate Rosenau's ability, but this endeavor just doesn't work for me.
Mostly I just think that these would be really hard to clean. Those fabric book covers pick up dust so easily!
While I love to read and cannot think of any books I own that I would be willing to turn into a shelf, I think that there is sometimes a knee-jerk reverence of books that is not really warranted. Many vintage books sell for a dollar apiece at sidewalk sales, and let's just say that some of these were probably considered masterpieces only by the author and his or her mother. Plus, the juxtaposition of book titles along with the eggbeater in the first picture gave me a laugh!
NO!! It's just sad.... I'm sure it would be less sad to watch them burn than to be degraded to this......
Even if they are completely dated and useless, they'll be better at a recycling facility.....
come on people, these are books that were mass produced...they are not one of a kind...it's not like he is defacing the Bible
Books are not gold just because they are books. I am one of my library's most-frequent visitors, but please: There are some authors who never should have been encouraged by their sixth-grade English teachers. And you do realize just how many books are destroyed every year because nobody cares to read them -- by libraries overwhelmed by junk donations for their book sales and by "recycling" facilities? This fellow's humor is hysterical!
This book lover says, cool! I'd love to have any of the tables pictured above. It is a creative (witty and loving,too) reuse of a discarded product that might otherwise rot in a dump somewhere. I'm sure the carbon footprint for any of these furniture pieces is far smaller than from using wood.
The last picture looks like a bunch of old law books. We used to have them around the house, and once the next edition came out, they were completely worthless, except as doorstops, or as secret hiding places for treasures in the carved out centers.
I really value books, and have a hard time getting rid of them, but this is an instance where it has no more value to me than old stinky worn out tennis shoes.
I find it hard to believe there are many bibliophiles who would enjoy most of this furniture. I am not opposed to decorating with books (we used books in our wedding centerpieces), but most of these pieces are pretty ugly--a crime worse than repurposing outdated encyclopedias and law texts.
It's romantic and idealistic, not to mention naive, to say that all books are worthy just because they're books. As much as I love some titles, not everything is worth keeping for the supposed enlightenment of future generations--this is common sense. It's like saying LPs are worth keeping because they're LPs and nobody should stick them in the oven over a coffee can to make ugly bowls or whatever. Does humanity's future really need to hang on to every single copy of Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass: Whipped Cream and Other Delights just because "El Garbanzo" meant something to someone, once?
Gently weeping due to the destruction of books. That may have been an incredibly rare copy of something, or a book out there somebody really wanted a copy of.
A part of me says new books which are easily available but then again- I really don't like to see people defacing books.
Fine! My attachment to books is stupid. But if someone gave me one of these hideous objects because I am a bibliophile they'd sink a long long way in my estimation. It would be about as thoughtful as giving someone a taxidermied kitten because they love animals.
MMmmmm... hello? I think the people that are saying that is not cool to use books because they are "books" are missing the point that you waste more trees trying to 'build book shelves" than using books that will go to a recycle bin (hopefully!) to then be reused again.
Think of all the waste??? if everyone got on this a lot more trees could be saved. Just saying...
This is absolutely horrendous. UGH!
There's other ways to make shelving from books that doesn't destroy the books.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/gear/9bf4/ for example (just imagine it with "old book" as oppose to Perl books).
Yeah, not buying it. Books, to me, are almost something sacred. #3 is the only one that visually appeals to me. The rest seem a bit tacky.
I'm really surprised by the comments in response to my artwork. In fact, I expected such a reaction to the idea when I first thought of it (I was raised better -- the son and grandson of publishers). It took many years to get the guts to actually make such a thing and I was quite surprised that few reacted negatively once I showed it.
I've been showing the work for eight years and have not had this much reaction to my work either via my website (www.thisintothat.com) or when I show in person. Not even from collectors, librarians or book dealers!
If I disrespected books I would not bother with the medium. I'm not in it for the shock value nor to insult the authors. The scarce resource in this part of the world is certainly not these books, rather it's the time and attention of readers. If you want a copy of any of these books they are cheaper and easier to get hold of than when they were printed.
--Jim Rosenau
"It would be about as thoughtful as giving someone a taxidermied kitten because they love animals."
Snort.
(Martha--I'm not mocking you. This comment really made me giggle in the dark part of my soul!)
I am a lifelong lover of books, an English major, a writer... and I couldn't give a rat's you-know-what about using books for this purpose.
He's making art from books. What could be more respectful than that? Good grief.
Oh, and P.S. -- I wouldn't care if it were the Bible.
JIM your art is amazing. Some pieces better than others, just like any artist would do. Its original quirky and good. If people want to be bitter let them ...
Its all about recycle and reuse, some people really dont get it..
to each its own.