[VocaloidDude]

So I swear to you I'm not an easton press shill. I've been sort of obsessed with these books for short while now. I've spent sort of a stupid amount of money on acquiring some copies.
 
I think they're amazing. They're bound in genuine leather, on acid neutral paper, have sewn binding, 22k gold gilded edges. They feel sturdy and thick and heavy in your hands. I find it to be something special holding them, they're like the sort of books that you would go to your grandparent's house and pick up, and marvel at their oldness. Except these are like new versions of that, and would probably still be on your shelf in 100 years for your grandkids to pick up.
 
Seriously, it's stuff like this that's the reason I prefer physical books over the kindles. How depressing are those little flat plastic squares, there's nothing to hold and gaze at on your shelf, and pick up and feel the nostalgia of the memories of your life at the time you read that book. On a kindle it's just a little disposable file, which is practically just a little invisible spark which was just an illusion anyways. Digital is depressing, man.
 
These are some of the copies I ordered. These are not my pictures though, because I don't have a good camera. What does it matter if they're my pictures or their pictures? A copy of a book is a copy of a book all the same.
 

Ulysses <---- ------> The Picture of Dorian Grey (neither of these are pictures I took, my camera sucks)

 
 
 
The Myth of Sisyphus (this one has yet to arrive in the mail) <----- ------> Neuromancer (The one in the picture is in plastic wrap. I'm getting that one for my birthday and I don't have it yet)
 

 
Leaves of grass <------- --------> dubliners 
 

 
 
wuthering heights <------- --------> the great gatsby
 
There's a ton more that I wish I owned. I sort of feel like if you're gonna own a book, go all out. Get something nice, especially if it's a classic. Idk why you'd read anything other than classics or cult classics anyways though. Getting to know the greatest works of literature throughout the ages, which have actually influenced modern thought as opposed to some transient crap which entertains you, seems like a more worth while endeavor to me. Harold Bloom, professor of the humanities at yale and omnipresent literary critic, will tell you the same, that there's only so much time to read in life which is why you should read the canon, and not waste time with crap. Also famous for saying that harry potter is, and I paraphrase, essentially crap. 

 

[obobskivich]

They look very nice and all, but not to rain on the parade: leather bindings are known for the various sorts of maladies they can contract over the years (like red rot), and most 100+ year old leather books have been rebound (or otherwise heavily serviced) specifically because of that (and that's assuming whatever century-old funk, bugs, etc didn't eat into the paper inside). Having spent a good deal of time working with old manuscripts and books in my life, I'll take buckram bindings eight days a week. That said, I'm a sucker for gilded pages and bindings, especially if I'm not paying for it.

Advice would be to keep them in a cool, dry-ish, dark place, and be gentle with them.

No comment on "literary quality" or anything of the sort (well okay I'll comment a little: its art and art is subjective and relative, so there is no "absolute bar" or anything of the sort, and nobody is any more of an "authority" than anyone else as a result - every one of the "classics" was once "transient crap" at one time).

 

[VocaloidDude]

They look very nice and all, but not to rain on the parade: leather bindings are known for the various sorts of maladies they can contract over the years (like red rot), and most 100+ year old leather books have been rebound (or otherwise heavily serviced) specifically because of that (and that's assuming whatever century-old funk, bugs, etc didn't eat into the paper inside). Having spent a good deal of time working with old manuscripts and books in my life, I'll take buckram bindings eight days a week. That said, I'm a sucker for gilded pages and bindings, especially if I'm not paying for it.

Advice would be to keep them in a cool, dry-ish, dark place, and be gentle with them.

No comment on "literary quality" or anything of the sort (well okay I'll comment a little: its art and art is subjective and relative, so there is no "absolute bar" or anything of the sort, and nobody is any more of an "authority" than anyone else as a result - every one of the "classics" was once "transient crap" at one time).

Very interesting post! I've never heard of red rot. I suppose if you've worked with books then you'd know your stuff. I know that they say that literary quality is subjective and stuff like that, but I can't help but feel that a book like The Trial by Franz Kafka has more literary value than reading a book like clifford the big red dog. That's not to say they can't be equally enjoyable, but in terms of the literary value you can derive from them, in terms of meaning. I can't argue why, but it seems almost intuitive that the trial has more literary value than clifford the big red dog.

 

[obobskivich]

Very interesting post! I've never heard of red rot. I suppose if you've worked with books then you'd know your stuff.

I thought about this post a bit more and wanted to say my goal wasn't to come across as "leather is evil" - they look gorgeous and all that, its just something to consider as they age compared to something more "inert" like buckram. They're certainly able to outlast any modern perfect-bound junk!

I know that they say that literary quality is subjective and stuff like that, but I can't help but feel that a book like The Trial by Franz Kafka has more literary value than reading a book like clifford the big red dog. That's not to say they can't be equally enjoyable, but in terms of the literary value you can derive from them, in terms of meaning. I can't argue why, but it seems almost intuitive that the trial has more literary value than clifford the big red dog.

I had another thought on this too, and I'm not sure what to make of it: both of the examples you've used now are children's books (Harry Potter and Clifford the Big Red Dog). But I think I get more of what you mean, you're not looking for pulp novels or similar, and honestly come to think of it, apart from romance novels, I can't think of any other modern equivalent - that kind of "pulp novel" I think has been supplanted by things like reality TV these days. h34r: