I guess I'm having a hard time articulating the difference between these and, say, an Eames house bird or the turf balls from CB2.

Dislike! Way too staged.

I don't know-but there are a lot of books out there that are old, cruddy (with or without covers) and generally useless as books- I know, I have a few! At least this is one option to use them instead of throwing them away...

Ripping the covers off a book just seems wrong to me, but this might be a neat idea for books whose covers are already missing or irreparable. I sure as heck wouldn't pay $29 for them; you can hardly give away most books in that condition.

Boooooo. I'm opposed to violating books in general, but my main complaint is that it looks like they're trying too hard. Lame.

I saw these and didn't get it, either.

Aside from the fact that you can go down to a thrift store and get the same effect with some twine for about $5, I think the beauty of books is the variety of colors and sizes that you end up with when you 'display' them.

Odd and colorless, and not for me.

Wow, this is just awful.

This stabs me through my bibliophile heart. Feels like rape:( But I can see that some folks would want to 'do decor' with books...just as some others might burn them for warmth in winter.
I hope those who throw away $29 for pages they will never look inside will recyle these at least.

Way too fussy.

I remember seeing a huge display of these within the library of a designer showhouse some years back - I think that like so many other things we've seen on AT such as the cut logs on the dining table, the bound cardboard sidetables, the mobiles made from old books or the chunks of wood used as display "books" on a shelf, it's perfectly acceptable for a showhouse, a developer's model home or a store display...
...but it's not something anyone would have in their homes.

Deeply dislike. Those books look sad and humiliated like stray wet dogs in the rain.

I just don't get this at all. Totally aside from the complete uselessness of these, and the awful thing of ripping books apart to make them, you pay $29 for 50 cents worth of twine and old books that you could probably get for another 50 cents. So it's basically $28 for someone to tie them up.

Yup, I'm in the "don't get it" camp. Books are decoration, yes. Books ripped up and then bundled together to justify them as "art" or as something people need to purchase, big time NO!

Why on earth would you spend $29 on this when you could go to a used bookstore and find a bunch of gorgeous old leatherbound books for the same price??? (Bonus - those books would actually be readable!!)

They're kind of attractive in that "Victorian science" kind of way but they are rather sad. And the price takes me from sad to horrified pretty darned quick.

I'd rather have a bunch of notebooks -- preferably filled with my notes! -- tied up in string or ribbon or something.

I agree that they look sad (and borderline silly). I got that catalog, too, and though I get the classic lines and supposedly good quality of their stuff, I thought it was a total yawn. Grey, greige, and beige. Give me CB2 any day!

Pure theatricality. Possibly okay in showcases, but even then, it might encourager les autres to do similar violence to innocent books. On the whole, I give it a miss, visually interesting or not.

I'm not much for having books, just for the sake of having book decor. I'd rather have books with gorgeous tattered linen covers and unique titles to add to my decor that I'll actually browse through on occasion. It seems the trend is to have any book so long as it fits into the perfect teal blue you're using as your room accent color--even if the subject covers mating rituals of slugs (then again I've seen plenty of people wrapping books in scrapbook paper, just to make them "fit" a room.) These seem no different. Bland and without emotion.

On the bright side. I'm liking the twine to wrap bundles of old books together. So it's not a complete loss.

Yeah, not really my style, I like having books you can read. One fun alternative to accomplish a similar look is to stack your books on a shelf with the pages to the front and the spine to the wall. I did this in a glass encased built in book shelf with books I had read (and didn't plan on re-reading in a while) and some oceany pieces. It created the same rustic artsy look without damaging books and it was easy to change it up.

pretentious

"Books as dust collector decor"--so true. Real books add a richness and depth to a home. This look says, "Hello. I don't read." Not a message I'd be wanting to broadcast to my clients or guests.

This is right up there in the dumb category with the shelter mag that featured books turned spine-in on bookshelves.

I think that if this were a post about reusing books in horrible condition, it would probably be better received. Uses for your well-loved books that you can't stand to part with, and so on.

But the fact that this is something you can purchase- it just comes off as being so outrageously pretentious. I can't be bothered to read these!

I used to really like Restoration Hardware, but in the last year or so I have decided that I am just over them. Their stuff is truly overpriced, its totally ridiculous charging $5000 for a sofa or whatever and then charging a huge delivery too. Their website is often not updated resulting in dissapointment for me when I was trying to order some chairs that were on sale. And now the stupid ruined books? I saw them in the latest catalog and thought they were just a part of the set not actually on sale!

Dislike like a lot.

This makes me sick to my stomach.

Has anyone else noticed that Restoration Hardware has really gone off the deep end in the past year? Perhaps my sense of aesthetics have changed, but I keep finding myself appalled by the objects they are selling. On the one hand they are wildly overpriced, but on the other they are just plain ugly. I used to like RH for their classic style, but they seem to have lost their way.

Looking at that picture makes me feel so indifferent about everything. Just boring.

I think that if you really like them, you should DIY instead of pay $29 plus shipping. I'm trying to simplify my life, however, and I'd prefer to stick to real books instead of non functional ones. For more posts like this go to: lunarismoon.blogspot.com

Did they make them out of old, stripped Danielle Steele hardbacks?
OH!
Yeah, I went there.

Because everyone who's gone to a staged home tour has noticed all the Danielle Steele novels.

Funny- I just saw these this weekend. At a design showroom. They were piled in and around a basket. The showroom was mainly beach decor done in a sophisticated way.

I too totally agree with the absurdity of the price! I can always get thrift books for way less, add a little grocery string and "presto"! All in all I too thought they were sad...and would be very tempted to "unwrap" the little gems and have a good read!

I think you hit the nail on the head with this post, the so called "objects d'art" is just sad. People on AT hate wasted space so much that they throw microwaves away...I doubt anyone who frequents this site would buy it. It reminds me of deparment store showroom decor which includes, cardboard tvs, globes that don't rotate, fake fruit and baskets of moss with strange twigs poking out...

I don't even think this is pretentious, which they might be trying to make it by labeling it as "objects d'art". It's just lazy and tacky decor for those who can't think of anything original to put on their credenza (which displays fake encyclopedias through the little glass windows.)

haha, good one @bodicegoddess...

@thorndale: Yes, the barbarians are at the gates. You can tell who they are. They don't copyedit.

yes, it's stupid, HOWEVER i'm seeing potential inspiration wise. maybe my books would look cool covered in a sort of beat up paper!

"i'm seeing potential inspiration wise. maybe my books would look cool covered in a sort of beat up paper!"

That reminds me of when I was a kid in elementary school in the 70's - Every year when we got issued a new textbook at the beginning of the year, we had to sit there and wrap the covers in paper covers or paper trash bags...

...not exactly a memory that I'd like to relive in my home.

This goes hand-in-hand with decorators who don't understand that books are not just decorative. I recently saw (in House Beautiful?) a decorator who insisted that paperback books should be banished to boxes, not put on bookshelves, they had to be lined up just so, etc.... I wanted to shake the woman, because it was painfully obvious that, to her, books were not something to enjoy and to keep accessible at all times, but were objects to buy at an antiques store where you can purchase a matched set of leather-bound books to put on your library shelves to give your house a "sense of history."

Do matched sets of books look pretty? Yes. Do I sometimes choose one edition over another because of the cover? Well, yes, because I'm a design-addicted bibliophile. But I will NEVER strip my books of their dignity just to suit the prevailing "fashion."

Make custom bookcovers, maybe, but denude them, never.

oh boy, there are so many things wrong with this!

spending this kind of money on a bundle of tattered stained paper, I just don't understand it. also, old books carry paper fleas, which is fine, if you are reading the books, but its just pretentious to bring in something because you think it makes you look like you have interests.

also, I find it extremely insulting as a consumer, its as if they are saying, here are some books for you to display, because we know you don't read. It will be really awkward when someone comes over and picks up a stack of these and the content is totally random outdated crap.

I much prefer to have my real books around me.

Oh, dear, one of my happiest memories is covering my school books with Kraft paper book covers or cutting up brown paper bags for that purpose. But then I love brown paper and have used it for tablecloths for large parties, wrapped gifts in it (awesome with metallic gold or silver or anycolor velvet ribbons), and yes, covered books in it. The stripped "art object" books are yet another subject. First, would never deliberately strip books of their covers. Second, too expensive: old books can be purchased for pennies at your local library or tag sale. Third, nevertheless tying twine around them might be a way to display your own old and fragile books while discouraging careless readers from handling them. (I once almost screamed when a guest pulled out one of my cookbooks and proceeded to "break in the spine". I have thereby achieved guaranteed sainthood, because I just smiled. You may kiss my hand...)

p.s. Like the metal type, though.

$29 dust catcher

Restoration Hardware is bullsh*t. If you spend a lot of money there then sorry, but you're a sucker. I would know, I work for them.

It makes me think of the book decor found in chain restaurants like Marie Callenders. Where a job lot was bought and placed to add to the 'home-like ambience'. Where it serves to remind the view that this IS NOT home and does a poor job of faking it.

I'm kind of surprised that Crate & Barrel would fail so spectacularily with this myself.

...ooops! (viewer and Restoration Hardware)

RH has really jumped the shark of late. Their prices are outrageous but even more than that, the sheer size of their furniture boggles the mind. I can only assume they are marketing to the McMansion dwellers who need enormous furniture to fill their overlarge great rooms. And the lack of color was distinctive. I'm all for grey, but the washed out look was distinctly uninspired.

That said, I still love many of their bathroom pieces and will be ordering another one for the master bath perhaps next year.

"RH has really jumped the shark of late...
...And the lack of color was distinctive. I'm all for grey, but the washed out look was distinctly uninspired."

Oh my how right you are - As if there aren't enough oversized taupe and greige sofas on the market right now?

In agreement. I was very confused by these.

ebrown & bepsf - wow, covering school books with brown paper goes way back. But what I really remember is how great some covers looked at the end of a semester when the paper had softened, the edges were rubbed and every inch was covered with doodles and notes and drawings.

I agree about the metal type. I have a cast iron an "a" and a "z" for which I paid much less money. They've been great as stand alone art on my bookshelves and as bookends.

I agree that if this were a suggestion for what to do with that tattered, coverless copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel that my 7th grade teacher gave me and a few other over-loved paperbacks, I might see the point. But only a moron would pay 30 bucks for these.

I don't like these either but I also don't get why people buy real books (c'mon you know you don't always buy the book to read it) just to have them on display in your house. I just don't get it?

?but I do always buy the book to read it.

Somebody will buy them. Never underestimate the public's taste.

If you want that look, just turn the books backwards. Like this post on Gathering Spriggs.... http://heathersthompson.typepad.com/gatheringspriggs/2010/06/gathering-paint-on-my-pants.html

"...even if the subject covers mating rituals of slugs."

See, I know people who read that kind of stuff avidly. I'd expect to see it on their bookshelves!

First off, coverless ratty books should be recycled.

Secondly, these are ugly.

Thirdly, these are absurdly expensive.

However, if I had a snazzy furniture store and I wanted to show off the shelving I was selling and NOT distract shoppers with actual titles, this MIGHT be a possibility...

Other than that, though, they should not exist!

looks like a phenomenal profit margin-