leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (01/23/86)
Leather-bound Science Fiction
An article by Mark R. Leeper
For years there has been a small but virulent industry out there in the
real world that takes classic books, like Plato's REPUBLIC, and binds them
in rich leather covers with 14-caret lettering. They are dedicated to the
proposition that it is the sizzle that sells and not the steak. Now
everybody knows full well that there is no point in reading THE REPUBLIC
bound in rich Corinthian leather. These days anyone who really appreciates
THE REPUBLIC has read it in a dog-eared paperback that is at home in the
back pocket of a pair of jeans and would look just atrocious on J. Paul
Getty's shelf. There is, of course, a history of great books coming in fine
bindings. When DAVID COPPERFIELD was on the best-seller list, only the very
rich would buy a book like THE REPUBLIC and it would be well-bound, and a
well-bound edition would be read. But the binding in those days would be
unctional. It wouldn't have the edges of the pages tipped in 14-caret gold
leaf. That is a very pretty touch for a closed book, but it makes the pages
stick together and they are tough to turn. When you see a book with all
that gold trim on the pages, you know it was published to sit on the shelf
as a status symbol with no expectation that it would ever be read.
Easton Press of Norwalk, Connecticut, is trying a new approach to the
status symbol press business. If other companies can make a bundle selling
leather-bound editions of books like THE REPUBLIC, and with education on a
down-swing if fewer and fewer high school graduates have ever heard of
Plato's REPUBLIC, might they not get a leg up on the competition by putting
science fiction in expensive bindings? Surely STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
*must* have more appeal than Plato's REPUBLIC.
Ah, but here is the rub. There was a tradition at one point of having
classic books in expensive bindings. But science fiction came along well
after that period. Frederik Pohl's GATEWAY is most at home in a well-worn
paperback. For fancy occasions you might see it in a modest hardback
edition. Putting GATEWAY in gold-highlighted leather covers with gilt-edged
pages and a ribbon bookmark sewn into the binding is like putting a pig in a
tuxedo. These books will probably be nearly impossible to read. If someone
dares to lay his hands on them for reading, that still will not be the
"science fiction experience." You can't be thinking about the future while
you are smelling the book covers. I suggest that Easton Press make some
sort or arrangement with Grove Press. I can see putting STORY OF O in
leather!
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeperccrrick@ucdavis.UUCP (Rick) (01/24/86)
> These books will probably be nearly impossible to read.
I got Easton's brochure in the mail yesterday. At $32 a shot,
who will want to?
--
--rick heli
... {ucbvax,lll-crg}!ucdavis!ccrrickpreece@ccvaxa.UUCP (01/27/86)
Well, I don't have any evidence of how well the Easton Press books are constructed, but there are SF books that I'd like good, well-printed, well-bound, archival paper copies of. We have bought some books from the Folio Society. They're well made and likely to survive many readings (my wife goes through the complete Jane Austen about once a year and it hasn't shown any noticeable wear). Leather smells nice, too... -- scott preece gould/csd - urbana uucp: ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!preece arpa: preece@gswd-vms