At the heart of it all, I’m a fan. A fan of books and bookstores. A fan of fiction and non-fiction. A fan of authors and publishers. And most of all I’m a fan of great conversations sparked by books. All that to say - I really need more bookshelves.
Jim Reed’s Book Loft has moved from its historic loft space on 1st Avenue South over to 3rd Avenue North. Jim is cramming as much as he can into the first floor of the O’Neill building. It’s a smaller space, but I have to say that you can see more books now. The “shotgun” design of the shop allows for LOTS of bookshelves.
Some might miss the sense of adventure the old loft and all its nooks and crannies created, but those of us stopping by on our lunch breaks do appreciate the new found organization and space.
Looking for some inspiration and a pick-me-up, I recently checked out Fingerprint from my library. Lots of good handlettering, letterpress and screenprinting in this one. But let me tell you how pleased I was when I saw Alabama-based Amos Kennedy’s work sharing pages with some of the world’s premiere shops. Page 116 shows some printed fans he did for Kentuck and page 162 showcases a layered poster he did to commemorate Rosa Parks’ famous bus ride.
Lets hear it for some positive press for us folks south of the Mason Dixon!
I ran across this post over at Reading Matters where people are wallpapering their homes with big photos of stacks of books. As a “book person” I thought they were pretty cool and fun to look at. I know I enjoy my stacks around the house.
But then I read this post over at fade theory about how “55% of people buying books do so just to decorate with them and have no intention of reading them”!!! Can that really be so? That’s really kind of sad.
So maybe these wallpaper books are for people who want to merely decorate with books and do so with no appreciation for books themselves. If that’s the case, then I don’t think this is very cool at all.
