The Days of Judgment 02/03/08

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The Days of Judgment

February 3, 2008

I have been a longtime book design judge for the Benjamin Franklin Awards that are given out by the Publishers Marketing Association. This is an organization for small publishers that helps them grow by providing advice, workshops, seminars, newsletters and marketing opportunities through industry trade shows.

Though not all of the books are professional—new publishers are often unaware of the importance of professional design—many are, especially in the areas I most often judge: Arts (art, fine art photography and music) and Coffee Table/Large Format. I have the latter category this year, and last week the second batch of books arrived.

Sitting in three piles in a corner of my living room are some of the most beautiful books I’ve seen. I cannot disclose the titles yet, but they cover architecture and home design, countries, travel, nature, history, places, animals and more. Each book is filled with gorgeous photography on rich, creamy paper. You can immediately see how much effort, thought, talent and money has gone into them.

What amazes me most is the love I see in the piles. Publishing is an expensive, risky business. The products—books—rarely have a guaranteed audience. Those that do tend to be specific types such as romance and mysteries. But all others, including these, are produced with the hope that they will find their audience in a severely overcrowded field where their time for public attention is limited as it is with almost any book. It’s the nature of the business that the new gets more attention. Also the big. But not necessarily the better. I’ll tell you more about the books in March when my judging is finished.

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Cooking by the book? Not for Nicki Leone who admits, rather proudly, of cooking as a hit-or-miss proposition. The funny thing is that she is a spectacular if unconventional cook, and her story this week in A Reading Life details one such dinner’s efforts—and its results.

Frank X. Roberts returns with a history on the origins of bookmarks. What the earliest ones might have been is pure speculation, but the development of reading matter from clay tablets to papyrus sheets to scrolls to the codex surely marked the rise of the bookmark as a device useful to finding particular passages quickly. In this week’s On Marking Books you’ll find this fascinating account.

The ancient worlds of Greece and Rome were culturally rich. Education and thought were valued. This week, in Readings, Henry Carrigan looks at three new books that offer unusual views into those cultures through their professions, through a case of domestic violence, and through a look at the Byzantine empire’s government, art, and education to world history (including the story of a woman’s own own Odyssey-like historical epic, the Alexiad).

Patricia Nell Warren grabbed the literary world by the throat in 1974 when she published her book, The Front Runner, a love story between two gay men. Her impetus was her own experience in the sports world. Her experiences, background and her writing since then makes for incredible, compelling reading as Daniel Jaffe sits down with her this month in Talking Across the Table.

It can be no surprise that Lisa Guidarini, who is earning her degree in Library Science, has passionate views of the role of librarians. She takes on a couple of the myths (and not just the sensible shoes myth) surrounding librarians when she asks, “If this profession doesn’t exist to guide readers toward books with literary merit that are genuinely worth reading, what profession is?” Find out this week in Reviews & Reflections.

Being sick is not fun especially if one is hospitalized. But books can bring a time out from the illness as they offer “a source of hope and pleasure and comfort.” They are, as she notes in Seasoned Lightly, “good medicine.”

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Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscript Library , which is part of Yale University Library, offers a number of things of interest to bibliophiles including master classes, an incredible array of collections, manuscripts and other acquisitions, online digital images and, for those not in the local area, blogs and podcasts as well as web exhibitions. This is a spectacular place, and its use of technology to share their treasures is brilliantly handled. Even their fees for copies, scans and photographs is reasonable. Spend some time here; it’s worth it.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren