When Books Quit Being Precious
A Photo Essay of Book Art & Interior Decoration
Unable to toss books into the rubbish bin with impunity,
we fashion incredibly creative things out of them.
All of the preceding photos were from my hometown library. I took the following photos of a student art show in the library at Georgia College & State University (I think it was) during a visit.
Is it that we publish a tremendous number of books that are rubbish to start with?
I took this last photo of wallpaper yesterday at a coffee shop in Vidalia/Lyons, Georgia.
1) When I was in the 10th grade in Pulaski, TN, and was assigned my 1st research paper (any topic -- my choice), I picked Egyptian embalming. My best source -- and, yes, I checked with the town's funeral home, the school library, and the local library --- was an 1890's encyclopedia set.
2) One of my best road-trips: Cincinnati, using both an old WPA guidebook, checked out from the library (back in the day before libraries threw books away), and an up-to-date AAA guidebook, a series now being discontinued. We enjoyed finding buildings still in use and compating texts and appearance. 3) You can learn more about a literary movement and/or a period of time by reading less than stellar examples from that time.
Was that one sculpture made from a copy of Atlas Shrugged? Just saying.
My cousin has an 82-acre farm (mostly up and down hills and hollers though). On the property is a 130-year old farm house. When remodeling in the kitchen, we found an outer wall layered with old newspapers and magazines. It was a veritable library of homespun wall insulation. Needless to say, not much else got done that day. Between reading the local gossip and marveling at the cost of a bucket of lard in the 1930s, we had no time to continue working.