The title Portable Magic is a deliciously apt description of a book which comes from a Stephen King quote.
Inside these pages, Emma Smith explores the magic of books as physical objects aside from their actual content, and in doing so covers a diverse range of subjects. There's the carefully curated selection of books in what is arguably the first shelfie - The Great Picture, a triptych of Lady Anne Clifford. Later we hear about the mischievous guerilla artwork of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell using (and abusing) books borrowed from Islington library. There are religious tomes and classics alongside Choose your Own Adventure stories and unnervingly creepy anthropodermic books. The chapters are self contained, making it an ideal book to dip into from time to time, although the chapter on book burning does lead neatly into how modern librarians and booksellers handle problematic texts like Mein Kampf in a world that believes in free speech.
It's a fascinating and thoughtful exploration of books as talismanic objects and their importance in human culture. A must for bibliophiles everywhere.
Thanks to Readers First for the review copy.
Inside these pages, Emma Smith explores the magic of books as physical objects aside from their actual content, and in doing so covers a diverse range of subjects. There's the carefully curated selection of books in what is arguably the first shelfie - The Great Picture, a triptych of Lady Anne Clifford. Later we hear about the mischievous guerilla artwork of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell using (and abusing) books borrowed from Islington library. There are religious tomes and classics alongside Choose your Own Adventure stories and unnervingly creepy anthropodermic books. The chapters are self contained, making it an ideal book to dip into from time to time, although the chapter on book burning does lead neatly into how modern librarians and booksellers handle problematic texts like Mein Kampf in a world that believes in free speech.
It's a fascinating and thoughtful exploration of books as talismanic objects and their importance in human culture. A must for bibliophiles everywhere.
Thanks to Readers First for the review copy.