If
you love books, be sure to check out a copy of Bibliophile: An Illustrated
Miscellany by Jane Mount. It is one
of the more beautifully put-together books about books in recent times, filled
with many wonderful drawings and lists of things such as:
·
Beloved
bookstores
·
Little
free libraries
·
Books
made into great TV shows and movies
·
Writing
rooms of famous authors
·
Iconic
book covers
·
Cult
classics
·
The
recommendations of bookish people
·
Song
about books
There
were also the usual lists – best books on history, romance, cooking, poetry,
mysteries, etc., as well as great books on animals, adventures, dystopia,
southern literature, and science-fiction.
Something for everyone.
It’s
easy to fall in love with a book that pays tribute to books. It’s even easier when the words are
accompanied by original art work.
Mount, an award-winning illustrator and designer, founded a company a decade ago, Ideal Bookshelf, that makes things for people who love books, including paintings of book covers that have changed people’s lives.
Mount, an award-winning illustrator and designer, founded a company a decade ago, Ideal Bookshelf, that makes things for people who love books, including paintings of book covers that have changed people’s lives.
I
fell in love with her attractive book cover, which is unusually arresting and
textually pleasing to the touch. Her
introduction reveals the A-game perspective that she brought to this book’s
creation:
“And
if you love a book, no doubt many other people love it, too. That shared love connects us and sparks that
miraculous feel of not being alone in the world. Which is exactly the whole point of books,
showing us the world as others see it helping us understand each other,
reminding us we’re all human.”
She
had some quirky content, including drawings of bookstore cats – yes, felines
that occupied bookstores. It honors
great bookstores, such as New York’s Strand Bookstore, just as easily as
discussing cult classic books, striking libraries such as India’s The Rampur
Raza Library, and books about dysfunctional families.
The
only section of her book that I have to call into question is her list of
all-time bestsellers. She doesn’t
identify the source for numbers and they exclude two books – The Bible and Guiness Book of World Records – that I’ve heard by numerous sources
as being in the top 10 of all-time selling books. I also don’t see any Shakespeare books on
here, but maybe there’s a reason why the most famous writer in the world, after
400 years, hasn’t cracked this list.
According
to Mount, these are the all-time top 10 selling books:
Don Quixote 500 million
copies
A Tale of Two Cities 200 million
copies
The Alchemist 180 million
copies
The Little Prince 140 million
copies
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 107 million
copies
The Hobbitt 100 million
copies
And Then There Were None 100 million
copies
The Dream of the Red Chamber 100 million
copies
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 100 million
copies
The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe 85 million copies
I found
the pieces on writer-owned bookstores to be intriguing. Jeff Kinney, Ann Patchett, Judy Blume, and
Louise Erdrich are among authors who own bookstores. Book mobiles, graphic novels, and books that
cover war got their due as well, but I really loved her essay on the pets of
writers, including a dog for John Steinbeck, cats for Ernest Hemingway and a monkey
for Leonard Woolf.
Lastly,
I found a nice section on books that discuss how to write, her illustrated
explanation of physical books, and her essay on illustrated books for grown-ups
to be interesting. I also appreciated
her four-page spread on world-changing book people.
There’s
something for everyone in this book-lover’s lovely book.
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