Cooking the books: the rise of fake libraries | The Spectator

A recent New York Times article highlighted the trend. It featured various interior designers offering spurious arguments in favour of fakes over real books: they can be a practical solution for hard-to-reach shelves; a smart example of upcycling unwanted volumes destined for landfill; useful and humorous storage boxes. Neat, quirky design solutions are, however, the least of it. This fashion signals a profound shift in our attitude to books. Rather than perceiving them as holders of information, stores of stories, we are increasingly perceiving them as just things - albeit pretty things.

Books have never been more beautiful. Even the paperback, first conceived as a cheap option for the masses, has become seductive, with eye-popping covers featuring expert designs and shiny colours. Jamie Keenan, a veteran book designer whose clients include Penguin, Knopf and Vintage, explains: ‘It's easier now to get special colours, or metallics for covers, to get them dye cut or embossed. Everything's much more sophisticated than it was 20 years ago.'