I stumbled upon these images on the English Muse the other day, and I was instantly smitten. Don’t get me wrong: I read (and re-read) Fitzgerald for what’s inside the cover. But doesn’t reading a pretty book make you even more excited to read it?
These particular images are from a Fitzgerald-specific art deco collection, but I’ve been finding special cloth-bound editions of classic literature all over the internet lately. It’s a revitalization of print in the midst of the e-reader craze! And with the holidays closer than any of us would like to admit, these would make excellent gifts…ahem.
And I would definitely look at these books, without knowing they were Fitzgerald, with the intention of reading them simply based on their aesthetic appeal. And conversely, I’ve cringed at the thought of reading some books with terrible artwork on the front or an uninviting cover. What about you? Judge a book by its cover?