classic tales retold
while at the university, i gained my love for fine print. letterpress & bookbinding that is. once i had submerged, i began to notice {and appreciate} the quality and weight of paper, binding materials, the choice of endpapers, headbands, color of ink, layout of the type, etc. in a whole new way. my teachers in both courses are swimming in their own expertise from years of experience. they live and breathe for what they do, which makes an excellent teacher in my opinion. when someone has a passion for what they are teaching, you can't help but get caught with their contagious enthusiasm.
i suppose i owe all that i know about the subjects to them. that and the fine print i was surrounded with as a child. i was blessed by the fact that my parents are the kind that believe books lined up on shelves bring life to any room. we were encouraged to read and fall into the fantasy of words at a young age. to this day mom has bought me a book every time we enjoy a trip to the bookstore. dad started giving me blank books as a child. even the fancy kind with marbleized papers and lovely linen covers. he believed in my words even back then. which is my wish for every child to have that kind of feeling - a father who thinks their thoughts are important and worthwhile and a mother who motivates reading, even if it is with a flashlight and a comic book.
once in college, i began enjoying the labor and creation of a hand-bound book. although the blank book is highly revered in my mind, there comes a time wherein the binder wants to sew up something with substance.
this is where Project Gutenberg comes in. whether your favorite author be Austen, Homer, Darwin, Kafka or Poe, Project Gutenberg is a phenomenal website to find books to download for free, print or letterpress onto the finest of papers & bind for your own collection. Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks. with a simple mission statement: To encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks. this is an incredible bookstore of ancient classics, right at our fingertips. the idea is genius and i love it. the vast collection is truly astounding. this website has been a wonderful resource for me. to peruse the volumes of verse kicks any writer's block i may be having.
if i had the know-how, the fast fingers, the perfect paste, and the time to sew up books all day, i might begin with these..
Peter Pan
The Last of the Mohicans
Les Miserables
Romeo & Juliet
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Treasury of Beatrix Potter
Huckleberry Finn
Treasure Island
Wuthering Heights
The Real Mother Goose
5 comments:
thank you for this. i admire those artists who create (and preserve) our literary heritage. and, wuthering heights, love it:) i've read it at least a half dozen times over my life. will, more than likely, read it again:)
"It's in books that most of us learn how splendidly worth while life is..." Christopher Morley
"Books, books, books in all their aspects, in form and spirit, their physical selves, their sight and smell, their touch and feel, sing to the thoughtful brain and loving heart; books are to me the best of all symbols, the realest of all reality...." Lawrence Powell
Thanks for the great blog entry. I love books and journals, too. My favorite place to be indulgent is the library. I usually check out at least one children's book (and I don't have any kids). I can't wait to explore the free eBooks.
What a beautiful tribute to your parents. I was blessed in the same kind of way. I still tear up when I hear some of the poetry my dad read to me as a child. It's a gift really, I don't know very many people who aquire a love for poetry as an adult. To give a child the gift of a literary childhood is to give them the whole world. :)
I am addicted to books, too! I love the look and smell of old ones best...
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