Okay… I am on a tear about some of the things that I’m seeing at Resto Hardware. I get their e-mails, so these ghastly things just pop up before my eyes, and I am compelled to comment on them.
Antique Coverless Book Bundles $29 Liberated from their covers, stitched and bound with jute twine, the foxed and faded pages of old books become objêts d'art. Rich with texture and intrigue. Each bundle is unique; let us pick one for you. Set them on a table, use them as antiquarian accents amid your library tomes, or stack them beneath a console.
tear their covers off, err, liberate them from their covers and bundle them with some hemp string I have for the garden. I’d charge less than $29 a bundle, and I’d even let you pick your own bundle.
I think it sounds like terrorism to me. It's stripping the identity from these books. They were written, they had meaning, and now they're beige decor... Its obvious from the photos that we're talking about old books, with stitched leaves, not pulp mass production fiction. Books as decor, fine, but why destroy them in the process?
ReplyDeleteOh, no sorry this is wrong. The creators of these works don't deserve this. Destoying books in this way ...I don't even want to say what it reminds me of.
ReplyDeleteKarena
Art by Karena
You KNOW there was someone involved in this "product" who thought it was a horrible idea and they were overruled by people who think housewives everywhere will scoop these up.
ReplyDeleteI really, really hope that person is right. I hope these flop. Big time.
This is just WRONG. I use to like to walk through their shops for ideas...then when I discovered the horrible customer service....and how much fun it is to find the right vintage items instead....I walked away. And now this. WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING....
ReplyDeleteI do love books but couldn't be offended by something like this. I like the coloring and texture of these new collections. I doubt they were the wonderful old bindings treasured for their beauty. The contents are still alive and well. It was just an old cover.
ReplyDeleteHi Meg,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what I think about these book bundles. But I do know I'm wild for your cushions. Well done girl! They're gorgeous.
Marjorie
These are just goofy. Does someone actually think this is cool? That is just pathetic. I love books. All books. They all deserve respect - not this mindless 'coolness".
ReplyDeleteI'm with you baby! Write them, wrtie the design group. By the way, I have enjoyed your musings for about a month now, so keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteThis is from a friend of mine, via e-mail:
ReplyDeleteThis is a perfect example of how little we value literacy and civilization. Books are living artifacts. Both the thing itself and what each contains: each book is a world within itself. Bundling books without their covers is no different from burning them. Their value has been destroyed. What is unique is now made anonymous, meaningless.
Here's another comment that came in via e-mail:
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree with you more re the books, etc. Because I love
and collect old things, books among them, I just find these bundles so offensive. Instant book chic for the person who doesn't care much about the contents or the author or the fun of the search itself, just the "look". RH makes it so easy to buy it now.
Ugh.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this post. You nailed it. I find it offensive and sad. That RH would think they are offering something special to the world is even more offensive.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on this one - so much effort and time has previously gone into creating the whole book - after all, it is a piece of art - a creative collaboration. While, yes, it looks good, I have a hard time believing a true book lover would want this in their homes.
ReplyDeleteIt is devolution and it is a great sadness. The sister post to this is a Little Augury about the mindless who color block their bookcases. I think people who do this to books are not truly literate people...and they scare me.
ReplyDeleteOh goody! Something new to detest.
ReplyDeleteIt might actually be fun to receive this mystery surprise package to see or read what's inside.
ReplyDeleteA book's value or soul is in its content, not in its material cover -- if there was even anything meaningful between those covers to begin with. Not all books are worthy of reading. There is so much junk out there, just as with television and movies. Stockpiles of unsold books that can't be given away. Though most would simply toss (burn) them, someone here is trying to be green and recycle the unwanted items.
I would rather view these as an artistic statement than a disrespect of books in general -- the ghostly image of a staple of our society becoming a thing of the past. To maybe someday be extinct, along with so many other things that are succumbing to technological progress -- like our animals, or even the stripped, tattered, and battered remains of this planet.
I much prefer hardcopy to electronic reading and know many people who feel the same.
I agree with the "Book Lover's comments.
ReplyDeleteI am in total agreement! Plus, you see designers using old leather bounds (minus damaged cover) used in the same way. Why? More mold? Dust? Can't really read the books because they are falling apart. Thanks for letting me vent.
ReplyDeleteRestoration is on a path to annoy, I swear!!!
ReplyDeleteI saw beautiful old books in a French antique shop in Charleston called Alexandra AD a few years back. But they were real and fragile and expensive. I still thought what would be the point of buying them? Instead my husband purchased a few old newspapers which he enjoys and finds amusing/interesting. Perhaps I should be concerned RH will be peddling these paper "goods" next?
I hardly have room enough on my shelves for my "real" books never mind these somehow "fake" arrangements of books. I agree, old books are lovely, but, I'll buy mine from book sales and the flea market to not Restoration Hardware! :-)
ReplyDeleteC&G... I totally agree! And the books I have are books I read or have read.
ReplyDeleteI'll refrain from eloquence since its just plain ole ugly!!!
ReplyDeleteAs one who makes her living from writing novels, I'm torn...so many old, obsolete hardback books are sent to dumpsters/thrift stores, why not recyle them into something lovely? On the other hand, I'm deeply suspicious of people who buy books for their looks, like decorators who buy books "by the yard" for clients. Or people who slipcover all their books in vellum, or those who "color block" bookshelves. If you only knew all the thought and talent that goes into book design, you would despair anew at these trends...
ReplyDeletehehe.
ReplyDeletei love this look. sorry i just do.
usually, it's done with really OLD books and the pages themselves become a work of art, hard to explain, but i just love the look. i use it on shelves in client's house all the time.
Thanks for the comment about the used books stores on my site! I have been using the public library a lot recently.
ReplyDeleteAbout these bundles ... beige & boring! I like my bookcases to be full of color, texture, and the life provided by an assortment of well-loved books.
While I have nothing against Restoration Hardware specifically, I have a strong dislike for rooms people have furnished completely from RH. They have this fake feeling about them ... fake finishes, fake wear, and fake history.
Cheers!
Meg, I'm a huge booklover (as you know), and though in general I think Restoration Hardware is an overpriced place, I really love this look.
ReplyDeleteI don't see them as in any way disrespectful to books. So many people throw books away (an unpardonable sin in my, er, book), so why not craft them into something unusual and beautiful? I wouldn't pay 30 bucks for these, but I would copy the idea. In fact, it reminds me of the kind of stuff you see in Anthropologie, and we've often talked here about how great their designs are.
As for people who buy books just for the "look" and who don't read them -- well, philistines are everywhere.
I would just hate when the stood in places where nobody reads anyway, just decorative, that would be a shame.
ReplyDeleteBetter like this on a shelf of book lovers than in the receycle bin and mushed up for whatever...
But I guess I will not buy them, have enough wonderful, meaningful books in my library!
RH has gone a bit ueber trendy, with furniture sizes to match!
Some nice things, but they only fit in Xlarge homes...too bad!
XX
Victoria
Appalling. And of the $29.00, about $25 would be profit.
ReplyDeleteMany many books are not worth preserving, but there's still something just wrong about this...
Well it is a look, but why pay RH for it? Plenty of yard sale books around waaaay cheaper. Almost as bad as the practice of shelving your books spine in for a designer look. How do you find the one you want to read? I love my books front and center, and colors mixed together, not color sorted.
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU for this post. Books are to be read and loved. To be a decorative item is appalling. And to have the covers ripped off is pretty pathetic. Just says how simple some are.
ReplyDeleteTotally not surprised -- "book bundles" were all the rage at High Point last fall, so naturally, they are just hitting mainstream stores now. I mean, they were in so many showrooms/ bizarre!
ReplyDeleteIf this is supposed to be an artistic statement, doesn't it lose it's value as soon as it is mass produced? Unless it is some sort of comment on mass production and commercialization (Warhol-ish)....somehow I don't think this crossed their minds.
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ReplyDeleteYou know, I have enough old books hanging around taking up space with their covers on to never, ever have to bother working that hard to take up more space with old and UNREADABLE books. What is the point, as you say! Silliness.
ReplyDeleteThis practice makes me so angry that I just cannot form words to say how disgusting I find it. Books by the yard is also an indicator of a soul-less domicile!
ReplyDelete