The OF Blog: Beautifully-bound books

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Beautifully-bound books

I received two books in the mail. Although purchased from third-party vendors rather than via Amazon, each was in "New" condition and for the prices paid (about $40 combined), I consider to have purchased them at a nice discount. But in looking and holding the two, they are two of the more beautifully-bound books I've held in quite some time.

The first is the limited-edition Aio Publishing edition of Ian MacLeod's The Summer Isles. Amusingly, while the book was numbered #274 out of #500, MacLeod's signature did not appear on the page. Oh well, that's a minor issue considering the feel of this book, with its brown suede cover:

Beautiful, isn't it? The next book is a collection of stories by Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, The Seventh Heaven. Published by The American University of Cairo Press, this book is just solid, with very heavy cardboard covers and glossy, coffee table book-like pages:

Hard to decide which of these I shall read first, but considering that I'm also a fan of other stories that each has written, at least I shall go into the reading with the expectation that the stories will be worth reading. And even if they are below each author's high standards, I can rest assured that at least these books will feel great in my hands.

So, what about you? Any of you have any beautifully-bound books that you want to mention here to taunt/tempt us into wanting?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I actually have three books from Aio. I did reviews for them and they are a quality publisher. It's a shame they don't publish more stuff. I'd recommend their books. They are put together really well.

Larry Nolen said...

I have three by them as well and I do enjoy how their books are constructed. PS Publishing's hardcovers aren't too shabby either. Don't have much, if anything, from the other limited-edition publishers.

Vanin said...

Just out of curiosity - have you contacted Aio to correct this (lack of MacLeod signature)?

With the dollar weak as never before, I'm considering buying it from Aio, but it's still close to $40 and I wouldn't want to be forced to send it back overseas...

 
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