Reading Copy Book Blog

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ian Fleming’s birth Penguin UK is releasing a set of hardbacks with stylized bond girl covers…

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.

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.

Why dangerous? If I sat in a chair that put so many books at my finger (and toe) tips, I might never get up again… This ‘Bibliochaise’ was designed by nobody&co. They also do a great bookshelf, ‘Piola’:

Collectors of ‘designer’ books might be interested in a special edition of the new 007 book, Devil May Care written by Sebastian Faulks, that will be published by Penguin and the luxury car firm Bentley.

Published on May 28, each Bentley edition of Devil May Care will cost £750 and only 300 copies have been printed. I expect them to sell within 24 hours and then fetch handy sums on the rare book market. James Bond owned three Bentleys in the 14 novels penned by Fleming so it’s a clever partnership from the folks at Penguin who know the true value of special editions.

Inside the book is a specially designed model pewter Bentley.

According to the blurb, the special edition is “finished in burnt oak leather sourced from the tannery in Italy which provides the hides for Bentley’s interiors. The iconic Bentley diamond pattern found on the radiator grille and upholstery of modern Bentley’s, is hand-stitched on the leather casing and the front cover and spine is finished with the silver Bentley ‘Flying B’ – the radiator cap of the Bentley’s of Bond’s time.

“The inside of the casing is trimmed in deep red hotspur leather and has the striking fluting used on the 1950’s and 1960’s Bentley interior upholstery. Each book has a unique edition number embossed on a black aluminium plate produced the same company that makes the Bentley engine plates.”

Sounds great.

The miniature car, described by Fleming in Thunderball, is inserted into the book in a car-shaped hole and is numbered to match the plate on the inside cover. Each book is protected by a custom-made Plexiglass slip case, which will be sealed in protective wrapping.

More details on Devil May Care here and the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth here.

Or at least building with assistance from a book. The Independent lists the 10 Best Architecture Books.

1. Delirious New York by Rem Koolhaas
Koolhaas is known around the world for his pioneering designs, such as Beijing’s CCTV building, and this tome is one of the most insightful and intelligent books on cities.

2. Did Someone Say Participate? by Basar, Miessen
This anthology is essential reading for those caught up in architectural research and practice – or, indeed, anyone with a keen eye for current forms of cultural inquiry and debate.

3. Thinking Architecture by Peter Zumthor
The “architect’s architect” discusses his motivation for designing buildings in this cult classic – one of the most beautifully written and influential books on architecture.

4. Learning From Las Vegas by Venturi, Izenour et al
An insightful rake over the architecture of Las Vegas’s Strip, examining urban sprawl, advertising and commercial iconography in the city and in modern building design in general.

5. The Fall of Public Man by Richard Sennett
Focusing on human behaviour in the public realm, this is a classic text by an acclaimed anthropologist that has direct relevance to today’s theoretical debates about architecture.

6. Privacy and Publicity by Beatriz Colomina
In this vital addition to any aficionado’s library, Colomina argues that architecture is more than just “buildings” – it also exists through its representation in art, film or advertising.

7. A Critic Writes by Reyner Banham
The godfather of critics, Banham’s interests ranged from Pop Art to industrial design. This fascinating book discusses such architects as Frank Gehry and Norman Foster.

8. Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius
Dating from the 1st century BC, this treatise on the profession of architecture includes early Roman aesthetics, technology, Classical orders, site selection and much more.

9. The Destruction of Memory by Robert Bevan
In this timely study of the effects of war on architecture, Bevan pores over the relationship between design and planning and conflicts, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

10. Planet of Slums by Mike Davis
Less well-known than his treatise on LA, City of Quartz, here Davis tackles the compelling problem of the world’s slums, which are growing exponentially from Caracas to Lagos.

Fantastic video preview of an upcoming pop up book.

This is a few weeks old but the LA Times writes about books as a design tool. The usual stuff gets spouted. All I know is I spent most of the winter converting an unfinished basement room into a useable room and as soon as it was finished I bought bookshelves and got books into that room as fast as possible.

I love small houses with clever space design. This staircase / bookcase is quite lovely.

Wow. A 1962 Saul Bass illustrated children’s book.

A very fancy pop up book from Neiman Marcus.

A contemporary bookstore now residing in a converted church. Quite stunning I must say.

Make your own pop-up book - instructions from Horatia Harrod in the Daily Telegraph.

A nice collection of end papers.

Chip Kidd:

“I cannot make you buy a book, but I can try to help make you pick it up”

Over at Esquire, he goes over three of his cover designs and the thinking/process behind each one.