Books are rectangular blocks. Even e-books, intangible as they are, have a rectangular form when stored in their e-readers. Is there any way to deviate from this?
When considering books as a medium for communicating ideas, convenience and accessibility are important. Having to fiddle around too much with the medium can lead to a distracted reading of the ideas, so the medium's design must consider this. Separate the ideas from the medium, and the book itself can become like an art object.
One way to retain the ideas, and still produce an art object, is to work on the slipcover. Often, a slipcover is a simple open box slightly larger than the book it contains. The book slides into the slipcover with edge in and spine out. Some slipcovers can be highly decorative but they still follow the traditional design.
Let's introduce 3D-printing to book design then. In the case of Chang-rae Lee’s On Such a Full Sea, a limited edition gets a fancy slipcover. On it, the letters of the title rise off the surface at an angle, and line up with those on the book's cover (see photo). There are only 200 copies of this special edition, partly because it took 15 hours to produce each slipcover.
Interested in only reading the book? The regular hardcover retails for US$27.95 with the Kindle edition at US$11.99. Looking for an art object to display on the bookcase or coffee table—face out, right? Let's see your US$150 first.
