#119: Book Spines
On the aesthetics of books
Maybe it’s the bibliophile in me, but I find that a shelf lined with books is a glorious and cosy sight. I love it because of the many books just waiting to be read, but Eleanor has already written about the book as an object worth more than its black and white pages. Instead, I am focussing on the spines of books, because they are often an art in themselves.
First and foremost, the spine of a book is its practical part. It is the ‘backbone’ of the book, holding its many pages of text together. It is also a visible label, often showing the author and title of the book. These are simple, useful aspects, but there are other uses, because the spine is also a selling point. It is a place to market the book, to encourage the browser of the shelves to pick that particular book up out of the hundreds that may be lined up together.
Yet there is more to book spines than simply another marketing technique. They aim to attract the eye of the reader as they take in the many shelves in a bookstore, but what about when those books make their way into people’s homes? They no longer need to sell themselves to be picked up and bought. Instead, the spines of books often become works of art.
We are, let’s face it, materialistic creatures. We like objects (or at least, Eleanor and I certainly do), and we like to own them, to hold them, and to use them. We also like to display them, and the spines of books are often particularly pleasing to the eye. Just search the #bookshelves tag of Instagram and you will find never-ending photos of bookshelves, walls of books, rooms lined with books. Or rather, with the spines of books.
And if you are looking for the aesthetic pleasure of books, why buy the books themselves? Instead, you can buy wallpaper which is a realistic-looking wall of book spines. You can even use a book’s outer-cover to create a handbag which a bibliophile would fall in love with at first sight, while simultaneously mourning the death of the book which was removed to make such an item.
Yet when book spines become objects of art or symbols of ‘culture’, lining your living room walls with beauty and sophistication, what about the books which they are attached to? Are they lost in the background as the book spines take centre stage? As book sales continue in the face of ebooks, the marketing of these books plays just as much on a bibliophile’s love of pretty things as it does on their love of words. We must not let the books themselves, what is held together by the spine, lose their value or be forgotten. As objects in their own right book spines can be beautiful, but they are at risk of losing their connection with the books they were once part of. Yes it is the spine of a book which draws us in, but it is enticing us with a visualisation of the imagination contained within.
