The Digital Age

Since I didn't get a chance to attend the roundtable discussion on digital books, and I don't have my journal, I thought I would just give my thoughts on digital books. 

I love reading for fun. I have at least five shelves full of books and then several boxes full of books because I ran out of shelf space. A couple of Christmases ago, I got a Kindle Touch, my first foray into the world of eBooks. 

Here are my pros and cons of Kindles and eBooks:

PROS:

• I have access to most of my Kindle library anywhere I go. I find I do most of my reading on the Kindle app on my iPhone or iPad, because I always have one of both of those devices with me. I don't have to carry around a physical novel, and if I finish one, I can pick another instantly. You can also read books from your Kindle library online or on a desktop application on a computer. I don't use my actual Kindle much because I like carrying as few things as possible.
• My Kindle and iPad both weigh less than a pound. Together, they don't weigh much over one full pound. I have around 50 books in my Kindle Library. The only way those same 50 books would weigh just over a pound as physical copies would be if they were very, very tiny and the pages were made out of tissue paper. 
• Having access to my books at all times (since my phone is always on me) means I can read literally anywhere without having to have a physical copy of the book. I can read while waiting at the doctor's office, while I'm waiting for the doctor to see me once I'm in the room, in the car, under the covers without a flashlight, while eating dinner (and the "pages" are safe from spaghetti sauce stains!), and while waiting for food at restaurants. 
• You can change the font size and style. On the Kindle apps, you can change the color of the pages (to black or sepia, if white hurts your eyes). You can highlight (in four colors on the apps), bookmark, and search for words or phrases throughout the book. It's all very handy.
• The book is delivered instantly. No leaving your house to go to the bookstore or waiting for the book to be shipped to you.

CONS:

• You can't buy Kindle books directly from the iPhone or iPad app. You can buy books from an actual Kindle, on Safari on an iPad, and of course from any Internet browser on a computer.
• I've noticed a couple typos and spacing issues in some of the digital copies of the books. 
• Reading on a computer screen is bad for your eyes.
• I miss real book smells and turning real pages. 
• "Print replica books" (it's like a .pdf style copy of the book; the pages look like the pages in the print copy) can only be read on an iPad, Kindle Fire, or computer. 
• Not EVERYTHING is available as a Kindle eBook. I still have to buy physical copies on occasion.
• You miss out on the dust jackets and other beautiful elements of the book.

Even though Kindles are super convenient, nothing really beats turning real pages and the smell of a book. Kindles just smell like...electronics. And those don't smell good even when they're not about to catch fire. I usually go for Kindle books now though, just because they're convenient, especially for school. My iPad weighs less and takes up less space in my backpack than a stack of textbooks. I've gone digital, but physical copies of books will always hold a special place in my heart.

Bookplates

Bookplates have been around since at least the 15^th century. I touched on them a bit when I did my blog on provenance, but I’d like to go more in-depth about them.

First and foremost, bookplates are an individualized way for the owner of a book to identify him or herself. But bookplates can also be works of art. Artists and engravers such as Albrecht Dürer, M.C. Escher, Paul Revere, Rockwell Kent, and Leonard Baskin have designed bookplates.

Hieronimi Ebner's bookplate by Albrecht Dürer

Rockwell Kent's bookplates

Bookplates can be created with a number of techniques, from the classic pen and ink to woodcuts, linocuts, metal engraving, etching, and even silk screening. It is common for these small-scale works of art to be hand printed on fine paper.

Both individuals and institutions can have bookplates. Notable people who have a personal bookplate include Queen Victoria, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Sigmund Freud, Walt Disney, and Jack London. Institutions that are likely to have bookplates are public and private libraries, universities, law firms, and museums.

George Washington's bookplate

Walt Disney's bookplate

As part of this class, we were encouraged to design our own bookplate. Mine (so far) incorporates a stack of books, because I have always loved reading, and a cat perched on the stack that looks like my cat, because I love animals (especially my cat). I also want to incorporate a magnifying glass, because I love mystery novels, Nancy Drew, and I am a criminal justice major.

Semi-rough sketch/idea for my bookplate

2nd Annual the Book Beautiful Edible Book & Tea

This year, I was a participant in the Book Beautiful's 2nd Annual Edible Book & Tea. I'm fairly certain that our tea was inspired by this event, held every year at the George A. Smathers Library at the University of Florida, as it seems to be the original edible book contest (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). 

My friend Max and I teamed up to create "Tor-Till-A Mockingbird", our twist on Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. We made cinnamon tortilla chips, fruit salsa, and chocolate mousse. Max and I actually won Best in Show! :)

All in all, it was an interesting experience, and it seems that everyone had a good time at the tea. I really enjoyed looking at everyone's books. They were all too pretty to destroy by eating! 

From my point of view, here are the pros and cons of this project:

PROS:

• Different kind of assignment. Much better than writing a paper or taking an exam.
• FOOD. Who doesn't love food?!
• The tea was really nice. It was a nice, relaxing event amid all of the other schoolwork I had to do.

CONS:

• Kind of expensive. Not nearly as expensive as I thought it would be, but still. It doesn't really cost anything to write a paper. Reminded me of how much money I had to spend on materials for my art projects in the ONE art class I've taken at Marshall, on top of the textbook (luckily, the textbook for this course was about 10 dollars).
• Time! By this, I don't really mean that it took forever to do our project. It was just kind of a hassle, because with food, you can't do it way ahead of time, because you want it to be as fresh as possible. I knew we couldn't do any hot food, and we didn't want to make a cake, because we figured there would be a lot of cakes. We had to buy all of the produce and everything the day before the tea, and then make the food. With a paper, you can write it the day you get the assignment sheet, if you really want to. With this, you had to do it at the last minute, and it felt a little rushed. 

Here is a link to photos of our bookmaking! 

Provenance

Merriam-Webster Online defines provenance as "the history of ownership of a valued object or work of art or literature." For a book, this would include personal or library bookplates, notes made by an owner, or things left between the pages (flowers, notes, photographs, receipts, etc.).

My personal copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland will probably never have provenance, as I don't make a habit of writing in my books. A few of my books have my name written in them because I loaned them to a friend once upon a time. Some of my picture books have crayon scribbles in them because four year old me thought it was okay to color in ALL the books.

I did write in my copies of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events because they have built-in bookplates. It seemed kind of silly not to, since there was a line right there, telling you to put your name on it.

This is in Spanish Neato.

Each bookplate varied slightly between volumes. The picture of Count Olaf at the bottom changed to reflect his disguise in the book, as you can see in the two images above. Just a fun fact. ;)

I also have a Big Book of Beatrix Potter that has both a built-in bookplate and a matching bookplate with a nice note from my neighbor on it.

The Big Book of Beatrix Potter!

The matching bookplate with a nice note from Ms. Logan, who moved to Florida.

The built-in bookplate and my younger self's terrible handwriting

I did, however, find a few copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland online that have provenance. This copy, found at AbeBooks, is inscribed to "Edith Mary Alice Berkeley from the Author May 15/80" on the half title and includes Caroll's bookplate on the front pastedown. This past lot from Christie's is for Alice's Adventures Under Ground (a facsimile of the original manuscript that was later developed into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) that is inscribed on the half title "Mrs Standen from the Author Jan 1887." Carroll noted in his diaries that he spent a forenoon at Macmillan's inscribing copies. Forty-four of these copies are known to exist. I also found several more recent copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that have been signed by the illustrators.