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CHICAGO
— When architect and design firm owner Steve Kadlec
was asked recently whether bookshelves were becoming
obsolete in the iPad age, he wisecracked: “Who reads
books? We buy them for pretty!”
He was
only half-joking. With digital competition, hardcover
books are being judged by their covers more than ever
before, some earning their keep in the home and heart by
doubling as objets d’art.
“It’s
sort of a trite phrase, but when you have people over,
you don’t show off your iPad library,” said Josh
Baker, art director for Taschen, publisher of books on
art, architecture, design and photography. “There’s
something about physical books that allows owners to
make a statement about themselves in their home and life
that other people can immediately pick up on and relate
to or not relate to.”
Baker
enjoys reading fiction on his iPad.
“But
for oversized art and photos and biographies of Leonardo
da Vinci, it’s a lot more difficult to get impact on a
7-by-9-inch thumbnail of a book cover.”
That
sustains coffee-table books’ popularity as holiday
gifts.
“Coffee-table
book sales during this time of year are much, much
higher than during the rest of the year,” said Chris
Schluep, senior editor for books at Amazon.com. He
expects hot holiday sellers to include:
“Lady
Gaga x Terry Richardson” (Grand Central Publishing,
$50), a provocative year-in-pictures of the pop star
onstage, behind the scenes, shot by the acclaimed
photographer Richardson.
“Alexander
McQueen: Savage Beauty” (Metropolitan Museum of Art,
$45), the hologram-covered companion to the museum
exhibit, which closed in August in New York. “The
cover is a hologram,” Schluep said. “It blew me
away. … And it’s working. It’s the biggest seller
so far by far.”
“The
Louvre: All the Paintings” (Black Dog & Leventhal,
$75), which comes in a slipcase and includes a DVD with
images of all the paintings.
Technological
capabilities — and competition — have pushed
publishers to experiment with other enhancements to
coffee-table books.
“DC
Comics did ‘The Batman Files’ (Andrews McMeel,
$100),” Schluep said. “It’s a dossier, and you
take it apart, and there are all these pieces to it.”
More
books are becoming pricey collector’s items.
Assouline’s limited-edition “The Impossible
Collection of Cars” ($650) comes in a tire-rubber box
with a metal plate. Inside, on cotton paper, it features
100 exceptional cars such as the 1997 Porsche 993 Turbo
S.
Taschen’s
new “Marilyn Monroe” pairs Norman Mailer’s 1973
biography “Marilyn” with Bert Stern’s photographs
of the 36-year-old sex symbol, shot at the Bel-Air Hotel
for Vogue six weeks before her death. Signed by Stern
and limited to 1,962 numbered copies in a clamshell box,
it’s $1,000. There are also two Art Editions of 125
copies each, which include a signed pigment print, for
$2,500. Often, a lower-priced trade edition without the
bells and whistles comes out later.
That’s
the case with Taschen’s editions of Norman Mailer’s
“MoonFire,” the story of the Apollo 11 mission.
Taschen’s Lunar Rock editions feature an actual chunk
of moon rock and a framed print signed by Buzz Aldrin.
They come in a case made from a single piece of
aluminum, its surface a 3-D topography of the moon. One
of the 12 sold for $112,500. There’s also a
Collector’s Edition ($1,800), which includes the print
and comes in a custom-molded white resin box with a
domed Plexiglas window. Those amenities are dropped in
the more recent trade edition, $39.99.
“We’re
producing these historical objects that are about a
moment in time,” Baker said.
The
desire for cultural souvenirs is why Steve Tager, senior
vice president and publisher at Abrams, calls “The
Oprah Winfrey Show: Reflections on an American Legacy”
($50) one of the biggest releases in Abrams’ history.
With a Nefertiti-like image of Winfrey on the cover, it
presents the queen of talk’s aha moments through
photos, tributes and essays on personal growth, social
action and literature, from Nelson Mandela, Ellen
DeGeneres, Bono and others.
Landing
that deal with Harpo Inc., the show’s parent company,
gave Abrams access to behind-the-scenes images and
information that other outlets don’t have.
“We’re
competing with a lot of media out there,” Tager said.
“Buying an illustrated book isn’t like buying a
mystery novel. You’d better appeal to a passionate
fan.”
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SPINE-TINGLING
DELUXE EDITIONS
Among
many coffee-table books worthy of a second glance for
holiday giving, these held my eyes:
—With
its sooty spine and cover image of the massive,
abandoned Packard Motor Car Plant, “Detroit: 138
Square Miles” (Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit,
$65) provides a gritty, gripping picture of a metropolis
in the balance.
—“One
Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes”
(Rizzoli, $30) is part cookbook, part coffee-table book,
with recipes for mouth-watering treats.
—Taschen’s
first children’s book “The Fairy Tales of the
Brothers Grimm” ($39.99), enchants with its purple
cloth cover, vintage illustrations and a few
lesser-known stories (“The Devil With the Three Golden
Hairs”) along with “Cinderella,” “Rapunzel”
and “Puss in Boots.”
—“Rock
Seen” (Abrams, $45) features 40 years of sweaty,
skinny rock stars in their pulse-quickening prime
through the camera lens of Bob Gruen. The Clash, Led
Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Debbie Harry, The Rolling Stones,
Ramones, Wendy O. Williams, Bon Jovi, Sex Pistols, John
Lennon, Tina Turner, Green Day — there’s someone for
anyone who has ever played air guitar.
—“Private
Acts: The Acrobat Sublime” (Rizzoli, $45) is a
collection of sensuous black-and-white portraits of bare
bodies against surprising backdrops such as a Nevada
desert, the New York subway and the side of a San
Francisco building. With photographs by Acey Harper and
text by Harriet Heyman, it’s both an athletic and
artistic marvel.
—For
the coffee or bedside table, “The Penguin Anthology of
20th Century Poetry” ($40) includes a broad range of
voices. It’s edited by Rita Dove, Pulitzer
Prize-winning poet and former U.S. poet laureate.
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