http://www.cogandsprocket.com/2010/03/01/physical-books-as-privileged-artifacts/ Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:11:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://www.cogandsprocket.com/2010/03/01/physical-books-as-privileged-artifacts/comment-page-1/#comment-40551 fran stevens Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:40:20 +0000 http://www.cogandsprocket.com/?p=139#comment-40551 Alexis I've wondered all these things myself. The old books in your picture invite curiosity and impel visual & tactile responses & desires. Pictorial representations in very old books are actually pasted onto the page--they are "reproductions"--so that such old books essentially contain works of art. Also, any book created before about 1985 was type-set the old fashioned way, by hand, and the fingers can in some cases feel the impressions on the page, which also show through to the other side. I wondered, before the e-book came along, whether this meant that certain type-set books would have more "collector" appeal as the decades passed, just as the hand-written & illuminated books of past centuries have great value. Alexis I’ve wondered all these things myself. The old books in your picture invite curiosity and impel visual & tactile responses & desires. Pictorial representations in very old books are actually pasted onto the page–they are “reproductions”–so that such old books essentially contain works of art. Also, any book created before about 1985 was type-set the old fashioned way, by hand, and the fingers can in some cases feel the impressions on the page, which also show through to the other side. I wondered, before the e-book came along, whether this meant that certain type-set books would have more “collector” appeal as the decades passed, just as the hand-written & illuminated books of past centuries have great value.

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