BookFinder.com Journal

Bookbinding can flourish in the digital age

I just found a very interesting interview with bookbinder Michael Greer.  While some folks are quick to suggest that high quality bookbinding is a dying art Greer feels that this doesn't have to be the case.  He sees the expansion of print-on-demand publishing as the perfect partner for his luxury craft.

In the US, hand bookbinding as a trade has been nearly dead for many years. A few of us quixotic dreamers hang on. Still, the revolution in the last decade in on-demand publishing could create a space for us. Twenty years ago, self-publishers paid a hefty sum to print maybe 250 copies of their family history. They gave away ten and the rest went into the attic. For about the same amount of money, I can print and bind ten full leather volumes and create others on demand. The difficulty is letting people know that this kind of thing exists. When I do fairs, people often approach my table full of books with a mystified smile and say, “I didn’t know anybody did this stuff anymore.” If bookbinders can get the word out, we might be able to carve out a place for our services in the growing world of digital publishing.

I think this is a fantastic coupling of old and new technologies.  Imagine your own family history album, complete with photos, bound beautifully in leather and preserved for your grandchildren.

(Via Moby Lives)

Marilyn by Norman Mailer to be republished

The two time Pulitzer Prize winning author Norman Mailer will be knocked off the BookFidner.com Report next year now that fine press publisher Taschen has paired the text from his biography Marilyn with photographs of the bombshell by Bert Stern.  The publishing house, who is famous for fantastically designed and exorbitantly priced art books such as the Muhammad Ali tribute G.O.A.T., will publish their version of the model's life later this year. You may recognize Mailer's biography "Marilyn" from its many appearances on the BookFinder.com Report, the book was first published in 1974 and was last published in the US in 1987.

In typical Taschen fashion no expense was spared on the final product and a "basic" version (shown below) of Norman Mailer, Bert Stern: Marilyn Monroe by Norman Mailer will set you back about a grand, and the more elaborate "art edition" ends up costing a cool $2,500.