Le livre du futur
by Pablo Defendini
Via the Book Oven Blog, an nifty little French video by Editis:
I mostly agree with what I’m seeing here, and it gets me excited. Except for two things:
1) When they get to the museum and scan the art book into their reader. I call bullshit. Art books are objects you own. They go on your coffee table, or on your bookshelf in a place of pride.
2) In the bookstore, again, replace all those trade paperbacks with really nice quality, upscale, finely printed and bound codices.
Quality, upscale, finely printed and bound codices will still have a place in our lives. Even more so than things like vinyl records. It’s the cheaply-made mass market (and to a lesser degree, trade paperback) editions whose days are numbered.
Comments
Cheaply-made mass-market (and trade paperback) are mainly for those who have neither the experience of, nor the funds to permit themselves, well-designed, well-printed, well-bound volumes constructed of fine-quality materials.
Here in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, an exposition of well-bound books is a rare occurence, and — when such an exposition is presented — the books are presented in protective and transparent cases, and are lighted and untouchable and motionless as fossils.
Have you any idea as to how Pierre-Jean-Jacques is to develop an intimate appreciation of and fondness for a decently-fabricated volume?
Remember, we live in an age where one can easily pay fifty or more Cdn dollars for a pile of loose sheets glued along one side, with a heavy-paper coversheet glued tightly to that spine.