The Credibility Bookcase

 

Somehow I missed Amanda Hess's "The ‘Credibility Bookcase’ Is the Quarantine’s Hottest Accessory" in the NY Times, May 1, 2020. Beyond summaries and links to twitter accounts grading the bookcase backgrounds in Zoom interviews of various celebrities from politicians to actors, Hess emphasizes the visual effects generated by bookcases:

The bookcase offers both a visually pleasing surface and a gesture at intellectual depth. Of all the quarantine judgments being offered right now, this one feels harmless enough. One gets the sense that for the bookcase-background type, being judged by their home libraries is a secret dream finally realized. ...

But often the titles of the books themselves are not legible through the screen; all that can be ascertained is the overall vibe.  ...

Hess remarks that "The aesthetics of credibility often go overlooked." Well, not on this blog and in SCRIPT research generally. We have emphasized how iconic decoration and display of books enhances the scholarly legitimacy of their owners and manipulators (click "legitimacy" under Labels at left), and has done so nearly since the invention of writing. Hess rightly labels this an "affectation," but by also calling it "insidious" suggests that it is something new:

The credibility bookcase, with its towering, idiosyncratic array of worn volumes, is itself an affectation. The expert could choose to speak in front of his art prints or his television or his blank white walls, but he chooses to be framed by his books. It is the most insidious of aesthetic trends: one that masquerades as pure intellectual exercise.

In fact, as we have documented throughout history and across many different cultures, it is especially when authority is questioned, even challenged, that people use iconic ritualization of books to reinforce it (click "politics" under Labels at left). Hess makes that point as if it was particularly true in 2020:

The appearance of the credibility bookcase suggests that the levers of expertise and professionalism are operating normally, even though they are very much not. There is a hint of tender vulnerability embedded in these authoritative displays. At a time when even our appointed experts rarely know what’s really going on, the veneer of respectability is always at risk of tumbling down. 

In fact, that has always been the case. And this year, it is not only true for celebrities, but also for many run-of-the-mill teachers trying to maintain some semblance of authority in classes that suddenly turned virtual:

Argentine Book Tank

In Buenos Aires, an artist created a "book tank" out of an old military vehicle. He has driven through Argentina handing out free books as an effort for "peace through literature." He calls his creation a "weapon of mass instruction."

See the video on YouTube where it is clear that the sight of this book-clad vehicle raises curiosity and attracts attention.

(h/t to Michael Lieberman of Book Patrol)

Book Wall

Dutch artist, Sanja Medic, created this building facade in 2006 out of tiles that represent specific books. She notes that the building thus reflects its neighborhood, whose streets are named for well-known 18th and 19th century writers.

Books as Furniture

SHARP’s annual journal arrived in the mail recently. It includes an article that should be of great interest to follower’s of this blog: Jeffrey Todd Knight’s “‘Furnished’ for Action: Renaissance Books as Furniture,” Book History 12 (2009), 37-73. He discusses

a set of practices, still operative but generally devalued in modern textual culture, that involve making books useful as material objects or artifacts, not just for reading or owning for their ideational content alone. The “use” of books in the era of early print has recently become a topic of substantial interest of both historians of reading and scholars interested in the materiality of literary works; but conceptions of utility, I would like to suggest, remain largely bound to modern categories, making room enough for texts but little for textual objects [38].

In the Renaissance, these practices included using books as filing cabinets in which to store or write legal documents, recipes, and the like; making desks and beds out of stacks of books; and conversely regarding furniture and walls as inscribable objects. The Renaissance book

was an object with multiple functions, none of which was fully determined by its text. It was a container, a writing tablet or notepad, and a veritable bookshelf all at once. The surviving evidence of reading habits and uses such as these puts pressure on the prevailing categories of book history and related literary-critical approaches that have perhaps been overly rigid in separating out utility and instrumentality from aesthetics and affectivity, and that have furthermore parsed intellectual from material utility—books as information, in other words, from books as objects or things [40].

Knight goes on to demonstrate that the words “furniture” and “furnishing” had broader applications then, applying to both material and intellectual objects in such a way as to cast in question our distinctions between them. He notes that this usage also reflected the physical place of books in the home. The tended to be scattered almost anywhere and everywhere. They had not yet assumed a conventional place, such as on the bookshelves that became common later.

Knight’s article raises all sorts of interesting questions about the relationship between the material book and its textual contents which makes it of interest here. But his discussion does not blend obviously with our category of “iconic” books. That is, we usually assume that books have become less iconic and more utilitarian over time as modern publishing has made them more ubiquitous and more disposable. Yet Knight’s description of book use in the Renaissance home suggests a less iconic view of books, one in which their “proper” place and use had not yet become so culturally defined.

Painting Bookshelves

Australian artist Victoria Reichelt has painted a series of paintings of bookshelves:




Reichert told the InsideOut Blog: "These works are a paradox to paint - as once the books are an image on canvas, they are shut forever and can never be read. In a painting, they serve a very different purpose from their intended function – they are purely objects like the others I paint and you’re forced to judge them by the covers."

After starting with staged bookshelves, more recently she has been painting the bookshelves of people as she finds them. Michael Lieberman on Book Patrol comments: "The leap from painting staged bookshelves to actual bookshelves is huge and opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Imagine high-end collectors having portraits done of their collections to complement their own portraits ...."

Painting Books on 3x5 Cards

Michael Lieberman on Book Patrol profiles Cliff Eyland and his 3x5 inch paintings of books:

At times Cliff Eyland thinks of himself as a "librarian painter." A longtime bibliophile, Eyland has been painting on 3" x 5" index cards for 30 years. ...

To read more, click here.

Top Shelf Scriptures

Librarians in Leicester, England, have been caught between different religions' contrary views of how their scriptures should be treated, reports the Telegraph:

The situation was brought to light in guidance published by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, a quango answering to Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, on how to handle controversial materials.

It said some Muslims in Leicester had moved copies of the Koran to the top shelves of libraries, because they believe it is an insult to display it in a low position.

The city's librarians consulted the Federation of Muslim Organisations and were advised that all religious texts should be kept on the top shelf to ensure equality.

... Some critics have expressed concern that the books will now just be treated as objects to revere rather than books to read.

... Simon Calvert of the Christian Institute said: "It is disappointing if the policy of libraries is dictated by the practices of one group.

"It is particularly disappointing if this is done to put the scriptures beyond reach."

The incident shows the tendency, in religiously pluralistic societies, for the customs regarding treatment of one scripture to be applied to others. Though this story highlights Christian opposition to such tendencies, other stories we've mentioned in the past show Christians themselves making the equation (e.g. in the German TV burning Bible furor of 2007). Though the arguments by contending parties usually cite tradition as if it were invariable, customary practices with iconic books seem to be evolving rapidly. I suspect they always have ...

Books for making icons

Fubiz provides a different interpretation of the meaning of "iconic books":

Book Art Goes to the Movies

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.
(h/t Classical Bookworm)

Fantastic Private Library

Entrepeneur Jay Walker's private library was featured in a photographic essay in Wired Magazine by Steven Levy.

Nothing quite prepares you for the culture shock of Jay Walker's library. You exit the austere parlor of his New England home and pass through a hallway into the bibliographic equivalent of a Disney ride. Stuffed with landmark tomes and eye-grabbing historical objects—on the walls, on tables, standing on the floor—the room occupies about 3,600 square feet on three mazelike levels. ...

(h/t Michael Lieberman on BookPatrol)

Virtual shelves in virtual bookstore

As one more instance of virtual books imitating physical books as much as possible, Zoomii Books offers access to Amazon's books through an interface that looks like books on bookstore shelves. Sebastian Mary on if:book comments:

It's the most bookshop-like experience I've encountered online. Within seconds I'd been reminded of several books I've been meaning to read. ...

It's debatable, though, whether this kind of heavily-mediated pseudo-serendipity, while a pleasant change from the messy Amazon experience, isn't one metaphor too far. After all, how 'serendipitous' are the book thumbnails I find on its digitally-rendered 'shelves'?

From my perspective, this is another reminder that the iconicity of books has spread to social institutions, not just libraries and museums, but also bookstores. So as they become aware of it, web retailers will of course try to assimilate it and capitalize on it.

Athenaeum Article in the NYTimes

Where does one keep that special kind of books? In a special kind of library, of course.

The March 7 online issue of the New York Times presents "Where Greek Ideals Meet New England Charm," an article about several New England athenaeums. The article includes several examples of the users of these "bookish sanctuaries" remarking that it is often the physical appearance of a book that is important, and that the right physical appearance can reveal something about the contents. Some athenaeums catalog their books based on physical qualities rather than by content.

[Richard Wendorf, director and librarian of the Boston Athenaeum] added that athenaeum methods of stacking books (by size or by several different or proprietary systems) also promote serendipitous discoveries.

“This is browsing at its very best,” he said, emphasizing that the entire book stock of the Boston Athenaeum, save for rare vaulted materials, is available for members to explore. “The physicality of books often is very important.”

[. . .]

“Some members look for novels with the most-tattered covers,” Ms. [Jean Marie] Procious [director of the Salem Athenaeum] explained. “They figure these were the most widely read and must be the best.”

Jim Watts: The LA Times recently featured a story on home libraries that also emphasized book display: "In a city derided for its cerebral shortcomings, the home library -- once merely a quaint signature of old money -- is asserting itself as a showcase for personal taste, designers say...."

Bookshelf Design

Michael Lieberman on Book Patrol observes that bookshelf design seems to be flourishing (see this gallery of recent designs, Lu Terceiro's regular "shelf of the day" feature, and the new blog, Bookshelf). He wonders:

Has bookcase design exploded or has the internet simply brought us all closer together with visual (and commercial) opportunities unheard of a generation ago?

Is it possible for the internet to be both withering and strengthening the book at the same time?

I don't know the answer to his first question. The evidence amassed on this blog suggests, though, that the answer to his second question is: "Rumors of the death of the book have been vastly exaggerated ..."

Lunacy and the Arrangement of Books

Lynn Wienck on BookPatrol calls attention to Terry Belanger's slim volume, Lunacy and the Arrangement of Books (Oak Knoll, 2003). The publisher calls it an "essay on the idiosyncrasies of book arrangements by collectors over the centuries," such as in this selection:

One promising method for detecting madness among book dealers, book collectors, and librarians is to examine the manner by which they arrange their books on their shelves. As a modest contribution to the literature of this subject, I propose to discuss the lunatic arrangement of books according to principles of color, size, number, aesthetics, subject order, Grangerization, and kleptomania.

Various sorts of books have, either formally or informally, taken advantage of color in their titles: think of Andrew Lang's multi-colored fairy books, of The Yellow Book (or of the Yellow Pages, for that matter), or of governmental White Papers. Meanings can become complicated: by Blue Book, for example, we might mean a guide to the prices of used cars, a college examination writing book, a handbook of contract bridge bids, the Social Register, or a book of etiquette; and determining the intended meaning depends on context. To a politician, a Blue Book is a government report; and because Blue Books tend to proliferate like Mediterranean fruit flies, one can understand the reply made by an Edinburgh bookseller to a woman who came into his shop one day and said she wanted a set of Blue Books: "I don't keep any, but 1 will procure what you want from the Stationery Office, What is the subject?"

"The subject? The subject doesn't matter, I want them in blue,"

With the help of a piece of blue tapestry which the customer had in her hand, the bookseller at length grasped that it was books of a certain shade of blue binding that she desired-books to match her carpet and the curtains in her living room. Once his mind "had coped with the initial absurdity of the idea of buying books for the colour of their binding," he found her an easy and profitable client. The blue books he sold her included E. H. Young's The Misses Mallett, Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence, and Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows.

The Edinburgh bookseller concluded that he was a house decorator as well as a bookseller: he decorated minds and rooms.

My only quibble has to do with labeling such behavior "madness." Concern for how books look and how they should be displayed are as old as the invention of writing, and remain very widespread, as this blog continues to document. Such common behaviors must be motivated by more than insanity ...

Books Changing Galleries

Several entries here have already commented on the long-standing influences of books' iconicity on library architecture. Now there's a first sign that the rise of book art may influence, if not the architecture than at least the furnishing of art galleries.

Tom Sowden and Lucy May Schofield created "sitting rooms" for book art in the touring exhibition they curated at several galleries in 2007. Sowden explains:

We both wanted to present a show where we could lose the preciousness that can surround an artist’s book. Let them become the tactile and interactive objects that they are usually conceived as being. Take them out of glass cases, out of libraries and away from the artist’s book fairs, resituating them in an environment that was conducive to reading and engaging with the books.

To both of us and to many who choose to work with the book form, handling is of prime importance. The ideas and experience are only available to a viewer if it is picked up and leafed through. We felt we had to create an easier atmosphere for the visitor to spend time with the books. In discussing the components that we would like in the show (comfy chairs, rug, lamps, bookcase or shelves) we quickly realized that what we were hoping to re-create was a sitting room, or perhaps more specifically the impression of a sitting room from a bygone age.

(h/t BookPatrol)