why we love books

Why We Love Books, 2nd Edition

Why We Love Books, designed and edited by Rachel Simmons, June 2024. A collaborative one-of-a-kind artist’s book created with typewritten participant responses, risographs, and stab bound with metal rivets. 5.125” tall x 10.75” wide x .5” deep. This book is 77 pages long and printed on French paper. Downloads available and reprinting is permitted.

Why We Love Books is a collaborative community book arts project organized by Rachel Simmons for “Critical Reading,” the CBAA annual meeting hosted at Rollins College June 7-9, 2024. Over 30 artists, librarians and book enthusiasts contributed to the pages of this book by responding to a set of prompts developed in collaboration with participants. Each prompt was displayed on a different manual or electric typewriter (including a rare IBM Selectric with three fonts) and participants were invited to type their way around the studio, embracing the unique experience of working on typewriters, and giving themselves permission to leave typos behind as a record of authentic, in-the-moment reflections. Writing in a studio vibrating with a symphony of typewriter keys, bells and chatter shaped energetic responses full of honesty and humor. 

After the responses were submitted, Rachel gathered the pages to trim and edit (without correcting typos) and collaged them over a variety of vivid risograph-printed patterns. The vibrancy of the backgrounds echo the dynamic qualities of the writing and bring focus to each writer’s voice. After scanning all 77 pages, Rachel bound them together with metal rivets in a unique stab bound book. There are two digital copies available for download, one with the pages turned horizontally for better viewing, and one where the pages are set vertically for easier printing on a US letter sized sheet.  Contributors are welcome to download, print and reproduce these files.

The first volume of this book was created in 2019 with members of the Book Arts Guild of Central Florida. In that version, we asked contributors to respond only to the prompt, “Why We Love Books.” Similar to the first edition, the new responses communicated a range of ideas about the preciousness of books as both conceptual and physical objects that readers, writers, librarians and artists connect with deeply. We love books because they are objects of infinite possibility— a thought expressed by many participants through memories of their first books ever read or made, confessions about disliking altered books, and musings on whether or not writing in a library book is ever okay. The format of the workshop was instrumental in this exchange; as folks moved around the room in game of musical typewriters, each sheet loaded into a machine became a conversation as writers chose to react to the person who typed the previous response or start a new sheet. 

These were the prompts for the second volume paired with some  responses:

1. Describe, in detail, the first book you ever made. Before I could read, I stapled my drawings together and gave them to my mother. Book after book after book.

2. Which bookmaking activity do you like best, folding, gluing or sewing? (Follow up: which one do you hate most?) GLUING IS HIGH STAKES. Folding calms me right down, sewing makes me feel productive and industrious.

3. What kind of book or art materials would spend a lot of money on? I spend my money on the triangles. I love the triangles so very much. All the triangles. 

This response was followed by: I love that answer. I’m the same way about triangles, especially brass ones. I’m not allowed near a leather seller. :) Triangles and squares are lovely, but I have to add paper. PAPER!

4. Is there a book that you like to keep with you? A sketchbook, a book for lists, a book of debris that is not always useful.

5. What is a book you’ve read over and over again? I’m such a cliché because I read over and over is the Great Gatsby. Gaaaaaaaatsby, Old sport.

6. Would you ever draw or write in a library book? I would NEVER write inside a library book! I also don’t like to make altered books. They are creepy and sort of horrifying, though I realize that many people don’t agree with me and have a lot of fun “recycling” old books that way. Which is why I keep quiet about this opinion and don’t sign up for any altered books workshops.

7. Do you keep journals or sketchbooks and would you ever share them in public? I have shared my sketchbooks in public. It was kinda okay.

8. Which story do you remember most vividly from childhood?/Which author or artists have influenced you? Margaret Atwood and Audrey Niffenegger. 

And, i had a book called 100 dresses and i think it’s why i enjoy thrifting so much. 

9. What would the most mysterious book in the world look like, smell like, feel like? Would it be heavy or light? Large or small? 70% imagery. 30% text. has a lot of funny jokes. Measures 6” in height. Some pages open out into 3D models of different things that represent cultures. 

And, Your face is on the cover. The plot is the opposite of every choice you’ve ever made. But it ends the same.

And, The most mysterious book will change every time someone reads it. Sometimes it would be big, sometimes it would be tiny. Sometimes it would smell sweet.

10. The typewriter asks, “Do you have any questions for me?” Do you like being attended by nimble fingertips? What does a typical day look like? Where are the exclamation marks? Do you feel obsolete?