Juniper Books – Thatcher Wine

Franklin Library Signed Editions and First Editions

Posted on 07. Nov, 2012 by Bob in Blog, Book Styles

The Franklin Library was one of the largest and most sought-after publishers of fine leather-bound books from 1973 until their permanent closure in 2000.  Franklin Library Limited First Editions are true limited first printings, and are some of the rarest and most sought-after leather-bound books.  A Franklin Library First or Signed Edition represents the highest quality in fine binding with elaborately designed premium leather covers, hubbed spines, 22kt gilt stamping, sometimes even custom-designed slipcases, and in the case of Signed Editions; hand-numbered authenticity certificates, and original Author signatures.

These photos represent some of the Signed and First Editions we have in stock or have previously procured for clients.

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Among our many specialties, Juniper Books is one of the largest buyers and sellers of fine leather-bound books from publishers like Franklin Library and Easton Press in the world.  We buy and sell nearly all of these beautiful leather bound volumes privately, so it is best to communicate with us directly about selling your collection or buying these books from us.  Our inventory of leather-bound volumes changes rapidly yet we keep “want lists” for customers and we have helped our clients build collections over years.

Modern leather-bound books make marvelous gifts and we have more experience than anyone in assisting clients with selection and sourcing; from a single book to a curated collection of thousands. And, as these books are collectibles that appreciate in value over time, we are also very experienced in evaluating and appraising these volumes and we quite often advise clients on appropriate prices to pay for these books as many times they are overpriced in certain venues.

NB: We are posting this page as sort of a visual bibliography, please ask for permission before using our photos for any commercial purposes, thank you.

To inquire about this style of books, please feel free to call 303-946-1494, e-mail thatcher@juniperbooks.com or contact us through the form below.

Tags: books as art, decorative leather books, franklin library, leather bound classics, modern leather books

Folio Society Single Volume Editions

Posted on 07. Sep, 2012 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Book Styles

The Folio Society publishes beautiful editions of some of the world’s most famous and important books.  Each book is its own work of art – with a rare attention to style and detail.  This gallery represents some of the Folio Society editions we have sold and that we have in inventory.

We are posting this page as sort of a visual bibliography, so please ask for permission before using our photos for any commercial purposes, thank you.

To inquire about this style of books, please feel free to call 303-946-1494, e-mail thatcher@juniperbooks.com or contact us through the form below.

Tags: books as art, books for interior design, decorative books, Folio Society

Folio Society Multi-Volume Sets

Posted on 07. Sep, 2012 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Book Styles

These photos represent only a small fraction of the beautifully designed sets produced by The Folio Society over the years.  Designed with exquisite attention to detail on the covers as well as often on the slipcases, a Folio Society set makes a statement on the shelf.

We are posting this page as sort of a visual bibliography, so please ask for permission before using our photos for any commercial purposes, thank you.

To inquire about this style of books, please feel free to call 303-946-1494, e-mail thatcher@juniperbooks.com or contact us through the form below.

Tags: books as art, books for interior design, decorative books, Folio Society

Bayleaf on Pearl

Posted on 12. Apr, 2012 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Recent Projects

Juniper Books worked with Bayleaf on Pearl, a specialty retailer in Boulder, Colorado, to create a number of customized cookbooks and wine books for sale, as well as to provide antique leather books for merchandising the shelves.

Bayleaf ‘s store is all about beautiful and luxurious goods, mostly European design or influenced.   The idea for the custom book jackets was to take parts of their existing inventory and upgrade it to be more special and exclusive.  Juniper Books custom designed and printed a number of book jackets – both sets that make up graphical designs, as well as individual books in leather style book covers.

Juniper Books has worked with numerous retailers ranging from Kiehl’s to Pottery Barn to provide decorative books for sale as well as for visual merchandising.

• Specialty retailer in Boulder, Colorado
• Juniper Books provided antique leather books including several oversized antique leather books, for the retailer to use in merchandising their new store
• Juniper Books also custom designed and printed book jackets for some of their wine books and cookbooks for sale.

To contact us about your project, feel free to e-mail thatcher@juniperbooks.com, call 303-946-1494, or use the form below.

Tags: books as art, books for interior design, custom printed book jackets, visual merchandising books

Academy Awards

Posted on 21. Mar, 2012 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Recent Projects

For the backstage Green Room at the 84th Academy Awards®, we created a library unlike anything anyone has ever seen before.  AD100 designer Waldo Fernandez brought us into the project, which is an annual Architectural Digest event.  Immediately we conceived of the idea to create a homage to film history using our custom printed book jackets.

What we created was made possible by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which gave us access to their extensive archives.  We curated a book collection that included many titles on film and entertainment subjects, then wrapped groups of four to eight books in custom book jackets so that they make up individual film scenes.  The printed jackets were designed with film sprockets on top and bottom so that the entire library looks like a film reel.

Spanning the bookshelves are scenes from Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Sunset Boulevard, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and several dozen other films, arranged chronologically.  Actors including Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and Marlon Brando are all featured prominently on the bookshelves.  Thatcher installed the project at the Kodak Theatre personally several days before the Oscars® broadcast.

See also:

Academy Awards Green Room Book Sets

Juniper Books Oscars Green Room Press Release

Press Coverage of the Green Room

Oscars Green Room Unveiled

Short Video We Made Starring The Academy Awards Book Sets from Juniper Books

Tags: AD100, books as art, custom book collections

Academy Awards Green Room Sets

Posted on 25. Feb, 2012 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Recent Projects

Here are the book sets we created for the Green Room of the 2012 Academy Awards, each individually photographed.  A few weeks ago when Waldo’s Designs asked us if we wanted to get involved with creating a library for the Architectural Digest Greenroom, I jumped at the chance and immediately pitched him the idea of creating a film strip with classic film scenes across the bookshelf.   I knew we could make this concept a reality and it would be something that nobody had ever seen before – a challenging given the creative talent who will be in the room on Oscar night!

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences gave us access to their archives and I spent many hours selecting images to use for the project.   As a fan of classic films, and at one time an aspiring screenwriter, I enjoyed every minute of combing through the archives, choosing pictures, then printing them on book jackets and with my team in Boulder, Colorado making them line up perfectly so when you push multiple books together they form many classic movie scenes from the past 85 years!

Enjoy, and feel free to let me know which ones are your favorites!

Thatcher

thatcher@juniperbooks.com

Tags: books as art, curated library, custom book collections, custom book covers, library artist, thatcher wine

Movies and Videos about Books and Booksellers

Posted on 29. Jan, 2012 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice

Movies based on books are plentiful of course, but movies about books, bookstores and booksellers, in the broader sense are fewer and far between.  A few of our favorite movies and videos with book themes – [old books, rare books, bookstores, booksellers, book mysteries, etc.] are listed below.  When you’re not reading a book, these are good entertainment!

1 .The Joy of Books

A delightful creation from Type Bookstore in Toronto Canada – what happens in the bookstore after everyone has gone home.  Sort of a Toy Story with books making use of stop animation and a tight soundtrack to pull off an original production.  I love how the books rearrange themselves by color and also the part where the little book reads the big book.  Definitely a fun one for the whole family to watch.

2. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Just nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short.  The Louisiana based production company Moonbot Studios created this 15 minute gem.  It conveys the magical power of books in a way I haven’t seen captured before.   I love the scene where the main character performs surgery on an old book – just charming.  Hopefully this one wins the Oscar!

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore from Moonbot Studios.

3. 84 Charing Cross Road

“Their love for books became a love for each other.”  This 1987 movie features Anthony Hopkins as a British bookseller and Anne Bancroft as an American writer.  They fall in love via their letters to each, but alas they never meet.  So you can imagine it is a rather restrained and subtle work.  It’s serious and authentic to the book trade, unlike many elements of the next two.

4. The Ninth Gate

Movies featuring booksellers or set in bookstores are a little harder to choose from.  I’m not thrilled with all of them in their entirety (maybe movie about books make for better short films, such as the above, which is ironic of course given how long a real book can hold your attention!)  There are high points and low points in this movie directed by Roman Polanski and starring Johnny Depp.  It’s about a rare book dealer hired by a bibliophile to validate his copy of a demonic text.

5. You’ve Got Mail

The polar opposite of the dark and gloomy Ninth Gate is this happy romantic comedy from Nora Ephron.  Starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as competing booksellers (Tom Hanks = big corporate evil bookseller and Meg Ryan = small independent struggling to survive) who are having a secret (unbeknownst to them) online e-mail relationship.  The whole AOL inspired title seems dated but the bookseller war of big vs. small, continues . . .

6. The Love Letter

Before there was  e-mail in You’ve Got Mail, there was real mail!  The Love Letter stars Kate Capshaw as a bookstore owner in New England.  Through a chain of events tied together by a mysterious love letter of unknown origin, a romance unfolds. Based on a novel of the same name by Cathleen Schine, the movie and the book are entertaining and romantic without flashy effects.

I’ll have to return to this post or write up a new one to include my deep thoughts on Pamela Anderson as a bookseller in Stacked!

Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

- Thatcher

Tags: books as art

Going Big – Large Scale Custom Book Jacket Installations

Posted on 10. Jan, 2012 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice, Recent Projects

One of our plans for 2012 is to work with clients to make  large scale book installations using our custom book jackets unlike anything the world has ever seen before!  But first a little background . . .

Custom book covers have a lot of uses and we have worked with clients on some very beautiful projects over the past couple years since introducing them.  The basic idea for custom book covers (aka custom book jackets) is to quickly change the look of a book without the time and expense of rebinding it AND be able to achieve any color and style desired.

Some clients have had us personalize their book collection with modern / contemporary jackets, others have opted for a classical look using leather or vellum designs.  In 2011, we designed, printed and shipped our custom creations to clients all over the US and Canada, Europe and Asia.  We supplied approximately 1,000 of our vellum wrapped books to Darren Henault Interiors for his show house design at the Rumson Stately Homes-by-the-Sea. Other jacket related highlights of 2011 included having our elephant set appear in the New York Times, our vellum style jackets mentioned in Veranda, and also a couple of projects for yacht libraries that were incredibly fun and unique to work on but for very private clients so we can’t disclose much else about them!

Now back to the large scale designs – the concept for these is straightforward – turning book spines into a canvas for personal expression.  Push the books together and they make up a single unified design and that design can be anything.  We have a patent pending on this multiple book cover creation system.

This product/service has both home and commercial applications.

• Home libraries can be modernized, shelves turned into art displays, with book titles integrated into the jacket designs if desired -  we can make book jackets out of  photos, paintings, illustrations, engravings, maps, other artwork, typography and text designs, etc.
• Hotels, restaurants and retailers can have book displays with corporate logos, product photos, nature images, or just about anything else.

Here are a few of our recent creations:

Giant Book Elephant

George Hincapie Bike Racer Library

Medieval Knight Books

Ridley Road Bike

Bookcase Biker

As one can imagine, some very cool installations can be created for homes, galleries, retail stores, trade show booths, showrooms, hotels, spas, restaurants, and so on!

If you have an interest in learning more about this type of work, please contact thatcher@juniperbooks.com or call 303-946-1494.  We are always interested in working with designers, architects, visual merchandisers and private clients who want to do something creative and unique with books.  We look forward to working with you.

Thatcher

Tags: books as art, creative book art, creative ideas, custom printed book jackets, library artist

Cool Book Artists and Book Art Projects

Posted on 01. Jan, 2012 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice

These are projects from other artists and sculptors whose work we admire for using books in creative ways.  Please enjoy the links and feel free to suggest other creative works that we have not mentioned.

Thanks to thisiscollassal.com for helping us discover these first two.

• Cool suspended book installation in Istanbul.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanifoto/5450655732

Istanbul Modern Art Museum

• The Book Face

Numa Book Face

• The Work of Brian Dettmer - very intricate, detailed, complex sculptures carved out of books – you have to see these to believe them.

• The Work of Su Blackwell - magical creations bringing books to life in different forms

http://www.sublackwell.co.uk/portfolio-book-cut-sculpture/

• John Marshall’s Book Sphere

http://www.neatorama.com/2011/03/01/book-sphere/

Book Sphere

- Thatcher

 

Tags: books as art, creative book art, creative ideas

Decorative Books

Posted on 29. Dec, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice

Q. What are decorative books and who buys them?

A. The answer to this question used to be simple, however I’m trying to change the definition of decorative books and also expand the market for them.

There once was a time when the line between people who put books on their shelf only for decoration with no intention of ever reading them or even caring what their titles were on one side and the true readers who would never think of buying a book for its cover were on the other side.  However, since I founded Juniper Books 10 years ago, what I have been trying to do is make all books, book collections, and libraries more visually appealing and integrated into their surroundings.

The results have been pretty successful I think.  Perhaps it has something to do with the evolution of the e-book market and the increasingly recognized trend among publishers and the media that you have to give the consumer more reasons to own a printed book.  For more on this see Selling a Book by Its Cover and also Selling Books by Their Gilded Covers, both articles in the New York Times.

My approach is to provide beautiful decorative books that are exactly what a homeowner wants to have on their shelves with respect to their content.  Sometimes this is achieved by curating a collection of books by author, or by binding type or both, and sometimes it is achieved by curating these collections AND making custom book jackets for the books.

Consider for example these various styles of books and book collections with varying levels of decoration:

Solid Wrapped Books

Custom Wrapped Rainbow of Colors

William Faulkner Hardcovers

William Faulkner First Edition Library Book Facsimiles Collection

Modern Leather Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Austen Pink Leather

Antique Vellum Books

Vellum Custom Book Jackets

Juniper Books Elephant

Read Me Literary Classics

Literary Classics 8 Book Set

So, as you can see decorative books are not what they used to be and they are appealing to many more people than ever before.  Juniper Books is decorative books much more decorative, but also much more useful, readable, and collectible.  We have done everything in the world of decorative books from making the cover-less book bundles for Pottery Barn to designing unique collections in our custom book covers for several of the world’s finest homes, yachts and hotels (a big range I know but it illustrates how we work with all customers love books and love the look of books).

Coverless Book Bundle

Gwyneth Paltrow featured some of our books in GOOP this year, as did Elle.com, and a huge variety of websites and media.  We are hearing from interior designers, architects, builders and homeowners every week how they love discovering our book products and services and how they are unlike anything they have seen before – I think that’s saying a lot for a medium that’s been around for 500 years!

Oh, and did I mention that we are just getting started?  Look for some incredibly creative new ideas in the world of decorative books in 2012 . . .

Thatcher

thatcher@juniperbooks.com

303-946-1494

Tags: books as art, books by coor, books for interior design, books without titles, creative book art, custom book covers, visual merchandising books

Holiday Party 2011

Posted on 13. Dec, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Press and News

On December 11th we hosted our second annual Juniper Books holiday warehouse party.  We had a great turnout of friends, customers, local designers, retailers, booksellers, and various others in our local network.  Thanks to everyone who attended.  If you are in the Denver/Boulder area next December and interested in what we are doing, send me an e-mail and we will invite you to the next party.

The centerpiece of the party was our Christmas tree made of books.  Last year we made one out of about 800 green books. This year, the creation took up a little less space, and was an elegant design using all olive green law books.  We carved the edges of the books to be shaped like tree branches (don’t worry there are enough law books in the world to justify this), then hung ornaments from the page edges, draped it in lights, then topped it with a star.

In addition to the Christmas Tree made of law books we also showed off some other recent creations:

• A giant version of our elephant that spans about 100 book spines in the balcony
• We also used the elephant image under cutting boards in the food area
• And elephants with Christmas hats marched across the warehouse door
• More law books were used to build a kids book fort where my kids entertained their friends
• The book with jackets that form a Ridley bike (part of a contest I entered but didn’t win) were on display
• Hundreds of Victorian decorative books, antique leather books, Easton Press books, Folio Society, Limited Editions Club, and other decorative books were arranged
• Of course many of our custom book jacket products were out as well – including our pink Jane Austen, vellum Jane Austen, black Literary Classics, Cook’s Books, Blue Victorian Classics, and our Read Me Set.
• Plus the various “6-packs” we have created that are re-purposed law books (sense a theme?) with book jackets on top that look like red leather, vellum, black and white leather, brown leather, or elephants (another theme).
• And lastly many of the books from publishers that we like were out for sale too including the Penguin Classics, Penguin Threads, Taschen edition of the Brothers Grimm, First Edition Library facsimile editions.

If I can help pick out any holiday book gifts please let me know.  The Juniper Books Gift Certificate is always a good choice for the book lover who you aren’t sure exactly what they want, but they probably want something to do with books!

Happy Holidays,

Thatcher

Tags: antique leather books, antique vellum, books as art, books by the foot, custom printed book jackets, easton press, thatcher wine

Christmas Tree of Books 2011

Posted on 13. Dec, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice, Recent Projects

It’s becoming somewhat of a tradition at Juniper Books – every year we build a Christmas tree constructed out of  books, but we change how it is made each year as the possibilities are truly endless.   Last year we made a 7 foot tall tree made up of about 800 green books stacked layer upon layer.  This year we made a more subtle creation – a tree made up entirely of olive green law books, some of which we carved form the tree’s branches.

Before anyone gets upset about cutting books we should explain a couple things – first of all we re-purposed about 10,000 law books this year this year that law firms and law libraries no longer needed as their content has all been digitized.  Thousands of these very nice substantial matching books went to retailers and designers for decoration and visual merchandising, and hundreds more we have used many for Juniper Books’ custom  jacket creations such as our Elephant Six-Pack.  So, cutting, chopping, carving or drilling through a few books that we know are plentiful and may face worse fates if we don’t do something creative with them makes perfect sense to us!  We won’t be dismembering a first edition of Pride and Prejudice anytime soon, don’t worry.

The tree is about 8 feet tall on 7 shelves, plus the star.  Christmas ornaments dangle from the page edges – we shaped them to hold the ornaments – a very organic and 100% natural approach.  Christmas lights are wrapped around the tree so it glows beautifully.

The tree was the centerpiece of our holiday party this past weekend where we invited numerous friends, customers, suppliers, designers and others to celebrate the holiday season and browse our warehouse for various book gifts to buy for their friends and family. Thanks to everyone who attended and complimented us on the tree.  There were a number of lawyers in attendance (my wife is a law professor) and they all got a kick out of the creative use of law books.

Technical questions: 30 books were used in the creation of the tree, of which 24 had to be cut in some way to create the tree.  While we originally considered gluing the parts together or constructing supports to hold the books up, we did not end up doing so as the law books are substantial enough to support themselves, even after being cut.

Happy holidays to you and yours, I wish you the best for the holiday season and a happy healthy 2012!

Thatcher

thatcher@juniperbooks.com

Tags: books as art, creative book art, creative ideas, decorative books, library artist

New Decorative Book Six Packs Available

Posted on 08. Nov, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Recent Projects

After years of working primarily with interior designer on custom projects, we are starting to take some of our most popular designs and make them available directly to the public, including some for purchase on our website.  Customers, including homeowners, are always welcome to inquire directly about anything they see on our website and we can let you know if specific books or sets are available or often if an equivalent product is for sale.

Today, I’m pleased to announce a new product line of “six packs” – these are groups of 6 uniform size books (made using re-purposed law books which are large!) with our custom designed and printed book jackets wrapped around them.  They come in several styles, all reasonably priced at $90.

All of the books have similar dimensions -

14″ wide

10.25″ tall

7″ deep

Please click on the photos below to be taken directly to the item in our store:

Elephant Six Pack

Vellum Six Pack

Red Leather Six Pack

Brown Leathe Six Pack

Black and White Leather Six Pack

Tags: antique leather books, antique vellum, book accessories, books as art, books by the foot, custom book covers, library artist

Jack London Graphical Book Jackets

Posted on 13. Oct, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Recent Projects

Earlier this year, a client called with the type of request for books that we love and excel at it – he wanted a complete collection of the works of Jack London but he also wanted us to use our imagination to create custom book jackets for the books that would make his collection unique.   Thus was born the Juniper Books Jack London project which is featured in the Autumn 2011 issue of Fine Books & Collections magazine.

The first step in the project was sourcing 57 Jack London books.  London was an amazingly prolific writer who turned out classics like The Call of the Wild, The Sea-Wolf, Adventure and White Fang – as well as dozens of other less memorable books.  For some of the books we were able to find reasonably priced first editions, however for the majority of the collection early vintage reprints were sufficient.

Next up was executing on the idea of taking the excitement and color contained in the pages of the books and put them on the outside of the books!  London had amazing life full of real life adventure in Alaska, California, Hawaii, and beyond – we knew there was lots of material to draw from in London’s life from train hopping hobo to utopian farmer, socialist agitator, sailor, gold miner, dog sled musher, battles with alcoholism, etc.

In order to bring these ideas to life, we hired our friend, the artist Mario Miguel Echevarria who paints amazing murals and other public art.  Mario sketched out various concepts then created original paintings, which we photographed and printed onto book jackets.  Using our unique approach to printing individual book jackets that together form a single image on a bookshelf, the final step in the process was complete.

Note that Jack London is just one of the possibilities for this approach to book collecting and library design – we can work on collections of any author or subject and come up with similarly creative ideas that make your library unique and beautiful.

To contact Thatcher about this project or a similar project you have in mind, please e-mail thatcher@juniperbooks.com, call 303-946-1494 or use the form below.

Tags: books as art, books for interior design, creative ideas, curated library, custom book covers

Our DIY Book Mobile on Instructables.com

Posted on 13. Oct, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice

We recently turned some old books into a new “Book Mobile” hanging sculpture to decorate the Juniper Books warehouse.  We thought it would be fun to share instructions on this one as a DIY (do it yourself) project so we posted it to Instructables.com.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Book-Mobile/

The editors liked our write-up and featured it on their homepage.

Yes, we admit that some books were harmed in the process of making The Book Mobile – but in keeping with our theory that more books in the world and more books in the house (or warehouse) are good for the world, it doesn’t really matter if they are being read or can be read, we like to think of new ways to keep them around as inspiration.   The Victorian books used for the project are so gorgeous and yet there are only so many bookshelves to put them on that I’m constantly inventing new ways to display them – stay tuned for more on this thought!

Thatcher

Juniper Books Book Mobile Sculpture

Tags: books as art, creative book art, creative ideas

The Book Wall

Posted on 02. Oct, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice

This was another idea I came up with with my kids as the inspiration, but I also took some inspiration from the architecture where we live in Boulder, Colorado.

For our playroom, I wanted the kids to have a reading nook / library corner where they could read books quietly and relax.  However, being a creative bookseller, always interested in displaying books in interesting ways, I didn’t just want to settle for a simple bookshelf and library chair in the corner!  I wanted the area to be interesting and fun and be the first of its kind!

Thus, the book wall was born – first, we wrapped hundreds of books in linen for a nice uniform color effect (these books were just for decoration, their colorful children’s books were the ones I wanted to stand out), next we constructed panels with the books glued to them, then anchored them into the walls.  The effect is similar to the rock walls found around Colorado and elsewhere made of flagstone in a nice layered design, however these are made with books.  The walls are soft and while the books on the wall are not meant to be read, it is nice to be surrounded by books.

- Thatcher

This design can be adopted for just about any construction project where the look of books is desired in a creative manner – the books do not have to be covered in linen in this way, they can be left unmodified, or leather books can be used, etc.

For more information on this project and potential related commissions, please contact me at thatcher@juniperbooks.com or 303-946-1494.

Tags: book accessories, books as art, custom wrapped books

The Book Mobile

Posted on 02. Oct, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice, Recent Projects

I have always loved the word “bookmobile” even before I found myself the book business – the concept of a traveling library is fun and useful to society.  About a year ago I drilled some holes in books and spun them around and the first “book mobile” was born.  We have since evolved the concept to become a much more balanced and decorative item – it is very fun, but hardly as useful to society as the bookmobile that drives around and brings books to the world!

Thanks to Alexander Calder for some inspiration on this, and thanks to Zac for perfecting the production and balancing act required for the new book mobile.

This project is current on Instructables.com with complete DIY instructions.  The editors of Instructables apparently liked our concept and featured the project on their homepage!

Tags: books as art, creative book art, creative ideas, library artist

Suspended Book Fixtures and Lighting

Posted on 30. Aug, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice

Thatcher made these suspended books stacks using our custom wrapped books in linen fabric hung with steel cables from the warehouse ceiling.  The light fixtures were also conceived by Thatcher using retro Edison style bulbs and the alternating books and lights makes for a unique divider.

To inquire about Thatcher’s art projects made from books including commissioning custom works, please feel free to e-mail thatcher@juniperbooks.com or use the form below.

Tags: books as art, repurposing books, thatcher wine

Wrapped Book Towers

Posted on 30. Aug, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice

This isn’t really an art project but more of a design concept for cool ways to modify and display books, perhaps in a merchandising / retail environment.

Thatcher sometimes uses the book warehouse as somewhat of an R&D lab for how to use books in new and creative ways.  The book towers are a creative idea for displaying stacks of books. The concept starts with using wrapped books in neutral tones in order to allow the viewer to focus on how the books are arranged, instead of being distracted by their original colors and/or titles.  The books I chose all had deckled page edges so they look great from all sides.

To inquire about Thatcher’s art projects made from books including commissioning custom works, please feel free to e-mail thatcher@juniperbooks.com or use the form below.

Tags: books as art, repurposing books, visual merchandising books

Book Stairs

Posted on 30. Aug, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice

The stairs in the Juniper Books warehouse always seemed very naked and I considered painting them or carpeting them, neither of which really would have solved the problem (or made use of the opportunity!)  Then I came up with the idea of using some of the plentiful modern fiction bestsellers I have around to make book panels for the risers.  The result is a very cool book staircase with real book spines on each step, giving the impression of an abundance of books under the stairs and adding to the overall literary decor of the warehouse!

To inquire about Thatcher’s art projects made from books including commissioning custom works, please feel free to e-mail thatcher@juniperbooks.com or use the form below.

Tags: books as art, repurposing books, thatcher wine

American Flag Made of Books

Posted on 30. Aug, 2011 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Recent Projects

Back in the Fall of 2010, Thatcher constructed an American Flag made from red, white and blue books.  This work, on shelves in the Juniper Books warehouse in Boulder, Colorado, was photographed and published in the New York Times article Selling a Book By Its Cover.

Tags: books as art, thatcher wine

Thatcher Makes a Creative Hanukah Menorah from Books

Posted on 26. Nov, 2010 by Thatcher Wine in Blog, Ideas and Advice

I’m always thinking of creative things to do with books – whether it’s building book collections on specific themes, printing cool graphics on book jackets, or re-purposing old books into something new.  The Book Menorah concept is something that just hit me one day – the basic structure of a menorah (8 candle holders at one level with 1 candle at a slightly higher level) lends itself perfectly to being re-built with books that can be assembled in similar sizes.

Menorahs are for celebrating Hanukah, the festival of lights that commemorates the ancient miracle wherein the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and they only found enough oil to burn for one day, but it lasted for 8 days!

I grew up in New York City and we had this beautiful family menorah that we lit every night for eight nights during the festival of Hanukah each year.  So, this is what I have always assumed a menorah should look like.

But the family menorah can only be in one place at one time and so right it lives at my mother’s house in upstate New York, a few thousand miles away from me in Boulder, Colorado.   So my idea was to combine an image of my family menorah with the custom printed book jackets that I have been making and create the first ever Book Menorah!

I built a few prototypes first just to play with the concept of using books for the structure and candle holders and these turned out to be quite interesting and creative in their own right.  The first one I made built on the concept of vintage book bundles – these are old books with their covers removed, giving a nice neutral vintage paper look.

Vintage Book Bundle Menorah

From there I went on to play with the concept of re-purposing an antique leather book into a menorah.  I used a damaged book and drilled the candle holes into the book through the cover this time instead of top down into the text block.

I thought these two menorahs were great – a cool creative re-purposing of old books and a neat menorahs for a bookseller to have!  They are as you can imagine, highly flammable though, so I had the fire extinguisher nearby when I shot these photos.

My next step before making the final version using the custom printed book jackets and the family menorah was to call one of my clients – the prop master for a Broadway theatre company – and ask him about applying fire retardant to books.  He recommended a product and I purchased it – it’s the same stuff that is required by some states to be applied to all props in public theaters, so it’s good stuff.  That being said, I am a professional and do not try this at home!

The Book Menorah

This is the finished product.  My sister Winifred Abramson took the photo of the menorah in New York and e-mailed it to me.  I picked out some random books from our inventory – the titles will never be seen and I didn’t want to use any good books as they now have big holes in them.  The photo required some manipulation in photoshop to get the image to fit the books exactly – sometimes I start with the books and sometimes I start with the jackets when custom printing book jackets for clients.

Hanukah Book Menorah

Personally I think I ended up with an incredibly beautiful menorah that has a lot of family history with my own added artistic interpretation!  The Hanukah menorah has always been an object that has inspired a lot of creativity from artists, sculptors and others.  If you look for menorahs you will see a lot of fun ideas and designs.  I’m happy to be able to add my own contribution to the mix.

The Book Menorah is not presently for sale, but if you are interested in more information or buying one either as an art piece or a product in the future, please feel free to contact me.  Of course you can feel free to contact me with just about any request for books – in their traditional format, or more creative concepts.

Happy Hanukah everyone!

Hanukah Menorah Made from old books

Tags: books as art, creative book art, custom printed book jackets, repurposing books