Sometimes your eyes fall on something—a piece of art, a photograph, a dress—and you can just feel it: the inspiration, the love and the talent that went into its creation. We had that feeling when we came across Penguin’s cloth-bound classics series, which was designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith.
The colorful, coverless array of books—once only available in the UK—made the leap across the pond just this week. And we have fallen in major L-O-V-E with these embossed canvas books. The patterns that Bickford-Smith created for each title are just so yummy.
We imagine a whole slew of them on our fireplace mantles—the perfect cozy spots for such amazing showpieces. For now, only eight titles are available in the U.S., including: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wuthering Heights, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Great Expectations, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Jane Eyre and Cranford. Fingers crossed, more will be making their way stateside soon.
Sure, you could turn to ebooks for easily accessible versions of these classics. But there is just a certain warm appeal about these gorgeously designed books. (Did we mention that each text also comes with its own sweet ribbon to mark your progress? It’s a tiny treat that our Kindles are certainly lacking.)
The antique charm of these books just begs you to curl up under a flannel blanket, grab a cup of hot tea and rediscover the stories you fell in love with so long ago. And wouldn’t they make the most thoughtful of gifts?
Gorgeous covers aside, we’re also quite taken with Bickford-Smith’s tale of her book design process, which offers a brief glimpse into her creative world. The senior designer at Penguin UK had this to say in a Q&A with The Casual Optimist:
“The first stage of every new cover is nerves and self-doubt: Can I do something interesting, visually smart and get across the fundamental nature of the book and help it sell? Nightmare. So I get reading and then try to throw away all my concerns and fears and start getting stuff down on the page, sketching on paper and working things out on the computer. Usually that means trying out a lot of rubbish and having to trust that eventually something will emerge from the process that works. When that happens I can breathe a short sigh of relief and then get on with developing and refining until the cover is finished.”
We love an honest woman. (The artistic genius doesn’t hurt either.) Swoon.
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I might be buying these for my girlfriend’s bday. Except I got her books last year. So maybe not.
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