too small a circle
Books as History, a rich
new publication “on the importance of books beyond their texts”, still draws too small a circle. The exposition is about the artifact, but not about the vehicle. How are conceptual works conveyed by such a graceful reading mechanism? Physical books invite contact, manipulative investigation and persistent re-reference. They echo our pace of comprehension and stand patiently among others keeping the reader company. This ergonomic is a larger circle, beyond text transmission. And why do we convey conceptual works in physical objects? Is a physical book a silent shape of ideas that we need to grasp?
And what about the less abstract issue? This is the
interplay of print and screen reading and where that new interdependence is going.
Here artifactual fades and the routes of the vehicles and their common and distinctive transmission functions become important.
intertype
Its such a pleasure to see a
line caster in such perfect running order such syncopation. The difference between Intertype and Linotype is the same as that between Ford and Chevy.
hardcover binding
The
library binding industry is responding to a migration of their market from libraries to print-on-demand. The product, a single title hard cover binding, is basically the same, but the books are sent to directly to the readers rather than sent via collections. Like other cloud dispersions the paper libraries are now everywhere. Of course too many clouds produce storms. The
Expresso provides local ATM like production. But this is not a hardcover.
Certainly the physical book is in a new and lively competition for market and reader attention but the real spoiler for the future of the paper book is not book mimicry on a screen. The much more serious threat is faulty “on-demand” production of the book itself. Poor quality of the physical book subtracts directly from efficiencies that have long enabled its success.
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