Friday, February 8, 2019

Objectifying FM books


I know some of you have recently acquired some of the new Furrowed Middlebrow titles from Dean Street Press. I've just received mine as well, and it felt a bit like Christmas opening the big box with nine new titles. I was showing them off to Andy, and then of course I had to get all the earlier books off the shelf as well, and see how they all looked together.

Now that there are 29 titles in all, however, I had some challenges trying to take pictures of them all.

I tried using them as carpeting, but it was a grey day in San Francisco and the result didn't really do them justice:


Covering the top of our small dining room table with them was attractive, but quite challenging to photograph effectively (my days of standing precariously on a chair and hovering over a table should probably soon be over). Not to mention the difficulty of focusing or properly framing the shot while teetering:


Where is Annie Leibovitz when you need her?

Of course, they do look tidy and appealing in pillar form:


But in the end, the best shot I got was (perhaps not surprisingly) when I put them all back on the shelf, together with some of my older copies of a few of the books and/or authors we've published:


Then I took some more manageable photos of a few small, bedside-table-sized selections—wouldn't these look nice next to your bed?:




At any rate, it's fun seeing them all together, and I hope you're all as pleased with them as I've been! We're currently working on clearing rights for a new batch of titles to be released this summer, so the FM shelf on my bookcase will expand a bit more before too long—stay tuned...

21 comments:

  1. The ex library assistant in me says "alphabetical.... please!"

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  2. What fun to see them all together. I remember photographing my complete (well, almost) DEStevenson collection with DJ's (or replicas if needed), I put them in chronological order on the bed. If (well, WHEN) there are more Furrowed Middlebrow titles the only way to photograph them all in one shot will be on shelves or as pillars. Hope the shelves have to be numerous and long!!

    Jerri

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    1. Good idea, Jerri. Next time I might have to try the bed method!

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  3. Congratulations! Quite an imposing Tower O' Books. I rather like the covers up versions where I can see all the images. Maybe floor-shots in small batches?

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    1. Thanks Christina, that's also a good idea. Maybe they don't all need to be in one shot. Hmmmmm...

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  4. Quite artistic, and a fun post for me tostart this cold and rainy Saturday WORKDAY!
    Thanks,
    Tom

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  5. I think they look wonderful.I already have a few of them, with a couple more of the ebooks. Most recently I enjoyed Alice by Elizabeth Eliot which I may never have come across had it not been for Furrowed Middlebrow. So thank you.

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    1. So glad you've enjoyed Elizabeth Eliot, Ali. She's sort of been overshadowed by the popularity of the DES titles, so thank you for highlighting her!

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  6. Oh wow they look stunning! I am almost tempted to collect them as books rather than as ebooks for reading which is what I have done so far. They could join my Persephone collection...

    Brilliant work again Scott!

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    1. Thank you Gil! The Persephones would still take up quite a bit more space, but we're catching up!

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  7. More? You're spoiling us, Scott.

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  8. This is going to be very bad for my owned-and-unread shelves -- and for my wallet! Oh, well, I have a birthday coming up. But which to choose first?

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  9. They look wonderful! Congratulations! I own a couple already but yearn for more, as soon as I can manage it.

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  10. They look so lovely together! I know I'll eventually end up with all of them, but I am trying not to buy too many...

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