Review: How to Make Books

By: Tsia

Rare is the how to book that opens one mind. The simply titled How to Make Books by EK Smith is just one of those books. With its elegant letterpress cover, its warm and eccentric first person narrative, and its elegant photographs and illustrations, it's clear you have a gem in your hot little hands. Banished is the standard fare of overly precious scrap books covered in leather and lace, visually busy covers with its obligatory grid of projects and "snappy" subtitle, complimented by lousy typography and incomprehensible instructions.

Now let me make it clear: generally I hate making books, I hate little arty books, and I hate books about making books. So it was with some skepticism when I received a note from the illustrator Lindsay Stadig that this was a perfect book for SuperNaturale. After years of receiving press releases that tell me that "scrapbooking" ( that's not a word, by the way) is really "hot" I figured this was yet another mediocre title trying to revive craft born out of nostalgia and practiced with stunted cookie cutter creativity.

However my good friend Karen gave me a copy of How to Make Books for Christmas exclaiming "I love this book!" From the minute you feel the chipboard cover and crack it open you know you have a different kind of book on your hands. I was enthralled from the first "Instant Book" chapter which tells you how to make a book out of a single sheet of copier paper to the last chapter on coptic binding. There is not false note in this book. Heavily illustrated with perfectly photographed examples you can see that this book is a true labor of love.

Smith's text clearly explains how to do these book projects while never losing her unique take on things. Like a memoir she introduces each technique with a personal story that contextualizes how she acquired each new skill. Smith designs at Purgatory Pie Press in New York City and a book arts teacher. Her teaching background shines through in this book, making it a pleasure to read.

And one of my favorite aspects is how she acknowledges the team of people who put this book together: herself, Dikko Faust, Purgatory Press Pie founder and typographer, Lindsay Stadig, the illustrator, David Michael Zimmerman, the photographer and Kathleen Phelps, the designer. How refreshing.

See Also

Review: Alabama Studio Style
Review: Kids in the Garden
Seeds of Inspiration