Our latest video is brought to you by the letter P: Penguin, Puffin, Ptarmigan, Peacock and Pelican – apparently not even all of the “P-birds” in the Penguin pantheon. It also sheds some light on the different colored covers on the vintage Penguin paperbacks you no doubt come across in bookstores. Orange, cerise, dark blue, green, red, purple – even yellow and grey, though they’re scarce – all had meaning behind the color choices. And light blue means the Pelican imprint – but what does THAT mean? Watch and find out.

Today’s gorgeous and unusual find is this hand-illuminated book. Not much appears to be known about it, but it’s just stunning (An illuminated manuscript is any manuscript whose text is accompanied by decoration. It originally referred only to silver or gilt adornments, but came to be acceptable terminology for any manuscript with drawings, paintings or decorations such as ornate initials, borders, floral accoutrements and the like).

From the bookseller’s description:

An undated volume, probably from the mid 1920′s. A large folio covered in royal purple velvet, bevelled boards, with brass edges and ornamental brass initials on the upper cover. Bottom of spine is frayed with about 1/2″ of cloth missing. . An elaborately-crafted volume of nine small photogravure prints surrounded by hand-colored illumination. Each page is mounted on heavy matte board framing the scene. All edges heavily gilt. Mattes edged in gilt. The gravures depict various religious themes, each plate protected by interleaved pages. The illumination is quite appealing, displaying a sensitive use of colors. The borders range from intertwined foliage and miniatures to rather simple Gothic window frame decorations. This is a one-of-a-kind volume, illuminations signed by Ada Samoda. We are unable to find any information on the artist, but we know that she was a very talented illuminator. We would assume that the book was created as a gift for a member of the religious community.

Every corner of science, life and nature, from wildflowers to electricity to the economy and beyond, can be found inside a Pelican.

Enter Korean designer Sehoon Lee who has taken a basic three by three box design and given you the opportunity to flip it on its head, or side, or in any direction you want really. The shelf is mounted by the middle box and allows the surrounding boxes to swivel around each other into different shapes.

I would be lying if I said that I didn’t want this…

When I was in Atlanta, Georgia in October, our friends took us for dinner at Pizzeria Vesuvius (damn fine pizza). When I went to the bathroom towards the back of the restaurant, I saw there was a bookcase against one wall – which then swung open, and a guy emerged. Behind the bookshelf was a speakeasy-themed bar, and the bookshelf was a fun, intentional secret passage. A secret bookshelf entrance. Are you kidding me? Oh, be still my nerdy, Nancy Drew heart! I’ve despaired ever since that my photography attempts all came out either blurry, too dark or too flash-exposed (conspiracy theorists might say some secrets want to stay that way…). And now, I find a thorough instructional post detailing how one might make their own, should they be inclined. Rapture.

And the author certainly seems to know what he’s talking about:

Without a doubt, I’ve never built a perfect pivot bookcase, one that’s completely invisible to the eye and works smooth as silk years down the road. Even the bookcase in this article isn’t perfect. Each time I build one I learn something new, after all, hidden bookcase doors are a lot more complicated than an ordinary door—there’s a lot of variables, both in design and construction, especially on openings that have to swing out, where there isn’t space inside the closet or small room for the bookcase to swing in.

It comes from garymkatz.com, which is, according to the blurb at the top, “a comprehensive educational community devoted to trim carpentry, finish carpentry and architectural millwork. Hosted by nationally recognized author and finish carpentry specialist Gary M. Katz.”

It has all kinds of blueprints and enticing words like piano hinges, wheels, ball-bearings, scale drawings, and more. There are extensive notes and photographs of each step of the process, as well. I have no doubt that someone (who is not me, at all) could follow these directions and actually have themselves a very cool, serviceable and enviable bookshelf door at the end of the process.

This project shows the creation of the swinging bookshelf door as a cover of a secret compartment, like a closet or storage space, but I see no reason the same process wouldn’t work as a door between rooms, if you wished. You’d just have to decorate the back, too.

The finished product can be seen at above (closed) and below (open).

If anyone makes one, please let us know and send photos!

Is there a more stylish, more dashing, more debonaire fictional character than James Bond? I think not. The spy we love to love, 007, took style to whole new heights from his clothes to his quotes to his drink preference. So it should come as no surprise that our favorite swoon-worthy spy has inspired the same heights of gorgeous grandeur from book designers.

April 2013 is 60 years since the debut of Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale (first edition pictured at left), and they haven’t lost any gorgeousness since.

Here are just a few that really stand out from the crowd.

First, these are six of the original first edition James Bond novels published by Jonathan Cape.

Then we have six of the gorgeous 2008 James Bond Penguin covers – the Limited Edition Centenary Edition Release, by Michael Gillette.

And lastly, from Amazon’s Mysteries & Thrillers imprint, Thomas & Mercer, these gorgeous almost monochromatic (but for a splash of red), minimalist James Bond covers.

Put out by publishers of famously gorgeous books Phaidon Press, the book itself is an object of beauty and substance, weighing 20 lbs and measuring nearly a foot and a half tall. It includes 2000 images, both photographs and illustrations, and is dazzling to peruse. Enjoy this look inside.

The works of John Buchan, Arthur Conan Doyle, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jane Austen have never looked so good. Click through for an array of stunningly beautiful book covers and an interview with the mind behind them, Penguin’s own Coralie Bickford-Smith.

Here are three covers that I did like from the list:

And if you’d like to see a few more beautiful book covers from 2012, The Quill & Quire have a small offering, chosen by five book designers. These ones are a bit more my taste.

I’ve posted before about how I love the upcycling and repurposing of old books. I understand how some people feel taken aback or even hurt when they see books turned into art, or furniture, or decor, but the reality is that those books, once decided they are no longer of value for their original purpose, would be going to live on a farm, where they would have plenty of room to chase rabbits and roll in the clover.

…actually, they would be pulped.

Finding new uses for books saves them from a fate in which they are gone forever to the world, in any recognizable form. These new uses, when they preserve the book in whole or part of its original form, constitute a positive to me. It celebrates books and recognizes that those of us who are passionate about books want to have them around us, and admire their form, shape, and object beauty as much as the ideas and words inside.

I also tend to associate sitting with reading. If I am sitting on a cloth and metal chair in the dentist’s waiting room, a molded plastic seat in an airport, or my own lumpy, squashy couch at home, chances are, there is a book in my hand. So I feel this list of 20 bookish seats is all too beautiful and appropriate. There are book benches, book chairs, and I even saw a few book beds – all kinds of book furniture. Some are made from books, some are a decorative homage to books, and some are simply designed as pieces to house books, but all celebrate the love of reading. Enjoy!

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