Reading Copy

So that’s a mouthful. (No pun intended.) This piece may be old news to many - it has been around since the sixties - but I just came across it, and I love it. The Gastrotypographicalassemblage was created by legendary designer Lou Dorfsman, to adorn 35 feet of the CBS building’s cafeteria. It was taken town in the nineties and left to quietly moulder in some disused room, but the Center for Design Study has come to the rescue and is currently restoring the panels. Typography afficiandos everywhere are heaving a collective sigh of relief.

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Nicole Peterson was inspired by Dante’s metaphorical use of mathematics and architecture when she designed this series of covers for The Divine Comedy. Hell has never looked better.

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When you hear about an Illustrated Bible you are probably like me and thinking of illuminated manuscripts, The Brick Testament is the largest illustrated bible in the world with 3,600 scenes created entirely out of lego blocks…

You can view some of the scenes online , it’s more then a little obsessive.

Thanks to Fine Books for the link

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America remains safe and secure after author and artist Sebastian Horsley was turned away last week. Thankfully, some of the most incisive citizens of the United States are keeping watch.

They also asked him what he was keeping in his hat, to which he replied: “My head.”

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Dictionary wallpaper!

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Some crazy Spaniards have put up a statue of Ken Follett. Why?

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I have considered getting a tattoo once or twice but quickly dismissed the thought each time. I’m very pale skinned so I apparently have the ideal complexion for some ink but it’s just not me. A few weeks ago, I was looking at our authors’ corner section and glanced at the Elizabeth Hand interview. She’s proudly sporting a tattoo in the picture and it got me thinking…. how many other writers have tattoos? I was sure many authors were tattooed as tattoos are pretty mainstream these days but the problem would be finding them (the authors that is, not the tats).

In the end, it was easy and here is the resulting article. We found vegan cookbook author Sarah Kramer on our doorstep in Victoria, BC, and authors who had tattoos knew plenty of other authors with tattoos and a chain reaction followed. Every author had an interesting story behind their tattoo or, in many cases, tattoos. We discovered a heart (a real pulsating heart, not the Popeye variety), a quotation, dancing stick figures, a gecko, the old Atlanta Falcons logo, a biplane and a 4X4 vehicle, and each one has a story behind it.

For my background research, I read a book called Dorothy Parker’s Elbow (Parker had a star on her elbow) - a book all about tattoos in the literary world. I discovered Sylvia Plath, Herman Melville, Franz Kafka and Ray Bradbury had all written about tattoos from a wide variety of perspectives. Clearly, there is an enduring fascination with tattoos, tattooists and tattoo parlours - even though they are now commonplace and no longer confined to rebels, sailors and truckers.

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Prospect looks at the year in culture (books, theatre, art, movies etc) and gathers those that were overrated and underrated.

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A blogger at The Guardian has six football books for us (that’s David Beckham football rather than Peyton Manning football).

The Baltimore Sun recommends new cookbooks.

The NY Times recommends art and architecture books.

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For the next month, we’re going to be suggesting a book a day that might make an ideal Christmas present. We’re going to touch on almost every genre and go from the serious to the silly. So let’s start with a book that doesn’t have many laughs - Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, but hang on, this is the pop-up version.

The book features the work of artist Sam Ita, who trained under Robert Sabuda - one of the world’s master paper engineers. You’ll find several pop-ups on each spread and they’re surrounded by comic book-style panels that convey the whale-hunting drama. Some of the pops-ups are large and very detailed, such as the Pequod, which rises from the page, complete with rigging.

I started my Christmas shopping last week as I have to send presents from Canada to Britain so starting early pays dividends.

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In the Rare Book room we have a very cool feature on Art Books.

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Not an illuminated manuscript in the traditional sense, but a manuscript that actually illuminates.

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This is a whole new kind of book art I haven’t seen before, I can’t even imagine the time and skill it would take to create one of these pieces.

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We’re back after the Labor Day long weekend - I was going to post this on Friday but never got around to it. More book art. Brian Dettmer in his Altered States series has surgically excised pieces from books to reveal the inner illustrations and patterns.

Have a look at the creations.

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The Guardian, a newspaper that always been well known for its use of creative photography, has a picture gallery of authors who have been appearing at the Edinburgh Book Festival. The Margaret Atwood picture is a bit scary, Richard Dawkins has bushy eyebrows and someone needs to have a word with Richard Ford about his choice in sweaters (purple never works, sunshine).

Popularity: 17% [?]