Spines of Beauty

Unexpectedly, I was in a new-to-me used bookstore the other day and found myself gaping at the beauty of the spines the owner had displayed:


The floral borders on this volume of Milton... the letter shapes of the title, especially the "C" in "Complete"... ah. Victorianism at its best.


Of these three, the Twain book on the right is the one that caught me first, especially the initial letters of the title, then the other two whispered to me more quietly.


This row of spines was full of gold stamping and various patterns, but these three in the center each make me sigh for different reasons. The vibrant red and botanical pattern of the Chaucer, the relative simplicity and symmetry of the Rabelais, and the aggressive hyphenation and asymmetry of the de Maupassant each has its own beauty.

As seen in The Village Booksmith, Baraboo, Wisconsin.