Books as Objects

Book culture and modern print

I have lived with books, by books, and in books. I have sought life from books. Books are a refuge and escape from the troublesome world around me. Now I’ve watched books and reading transform from the paperbacks I used to cart around with me. Books have moved to embrace technology as well as conceptualize the traditional form. There has been a surge of interest in specialty presses creating letterpress and folio books. Books have come to be admired as much for objects as for content.

A part of the experience of reading is the physical ritual. We have our fuzzy blankets and tea, our cozy reading spaces, and we have the book. Every physical book is different. And every perusal at the bookstore allows the reader to take in the sight of the cover, the feel of the pages, and the cut of the book—whereas every Amazon download looks the same. Like pop art the ebook is easily replicable and distributable.

There’s a space for both print and digital books, but in the new print media books have been transformed. One may think from the increasing popularity of ebooks that physical books rest on the edge of extinction, but their numbers still remain strong. According to the Association of American Publishers in 2012 while ebook sales were $282.3 million while print books still accounted for 65% of the overall revenue.