"A commonplace book is what a provident poet cannot subsist without, for this proverbial reason, that “great wits have short memories:” and whereas, on the other hand, poets, being liars by profession, ought to have good memories; to reconcile these, a book of this sort, is in the nature of a supplemental memory, or a record of what occurs remarkable in every day’s reading or conversation." - Jonathan Swift, "A Letter of Advice to a Young Poet"

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A deconstructed book

Just noticed that the book I checked out of the library yesterday has been deconstructed and reconstructed in a singular way. It seems they're cut the front and back covers off of a paperback edition and simply pasted them onto the the front and back of the hardcover (which must have lost its jacket).

I used to have a horror of damaging to taking apart books in any way, but now I think it can yield interesting results. A page fallen from an old book, a piece of a book missing its other half, a book encased in the cover of another....

But now I must get back to the contents of books and stop distracting myself with their aesthetics.
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