Even more book arts

Lately I've been a bit feverish in my antique book re-purposing. I love having projects to work on. Here are some of the antique book cover collages I've been building:

Old Silver Grizzle the Badger by Ernest Thompson Seton

I thought this title was just wonderful. And by wonderful, I mean hilarious.

Galahad: Enough of his Life to Explain his Reputation by John Erskine

Close-up of text passage used in Galahad collage

This is one of my favorite books of all time. And I loved the castle engraving on this battered hardcover copy that came through the library donations. This is my favorite collage so far.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Close-up of text passage used in Castle collage

And I'm not the only one who loves to use books for crafting. Apparently quite a few crafters have been using old books as materials and medium. 

A couple of good related books I've been looking through recently:

• The Repurposed Library by Lisa Occhipinti
• Books Make a Home by Damian Thompson

Great ideas and photos. Both are definitely worth your time. In the latter title, there is a passage that caught my attention that I wanted to share here. It actually sounds a bit like something I said a few months ago: 

Whether you'd place yourself at either extreme or somewhere in the middle, is there any point in investing in shelves and bookcases in the digital age? When a Kindle can easily hold some 1,500 titles, perhaps all our books are headed for landfill. It is true that publishers are facing the biggest upheaval to their industry since Gutenberg invented his press in 1439, but reports of the death of the book have been greatly exaggerated. Some 80,000 books were published in Britain alone last year. It is true that writers can self-publish online, cutting out the middle man and thereby boosting what they earn. But publishers are a key quality filter; they have expertise about what constitutes good writing and how to reach readers; their editorial, design and picture-research staff bring experience and add quality to the finished article. Hand-held devices are a boon to the traveler, no question, but traditional books have visual and tactile qualities that are irreplaceable. Indeed, the net effect of digital publishing may well be that 'real' books will become more expensive, more like the 'niche' products they were in the past; but the process may force us to value them more, to become more discriminating about their aesthetic qualities. As the philosopher Alain de Botton has argued: 'We should stand to swap a few of our swiftly disintegrating paperbacks for volumes that proclaim, through the weight and heft of their materials, the grace of their typography and the beauty of their illustrations, our desire for their contents to assume a permanent place in our hearts.

P.S.
Looking at this post now, I'm not quite satisfied with how the photos of the book cover collages turned out. They really are much better in person, but you can get the general idea of them from these pictures at least. Someday I must invest in a new digital camera. The one I have now is from 2006, I think. Far too outdated at this point.