December 24, 2012 |
A book is like the diamond of the publishing universe. If there were some scale that compared publishing to gemstones, a newspaper would be a cubic zirconia, a magazine an aquamarine of some sort, whereas a book would be a diamond. A first edition would be the Taylor-Burton diamond. In fact, Italian Portraits by Tod’s is the Taylor-Burton diamond of the book world. It looks just as good held in your hands as Liz’s rock looked round her neck. The book itself is the story of a journey. Of a journey throughout Italy – “Milan and Rome, Tuscany and Sicily, great cities and countryside from north to south” – and the men you meet on that journey. “It’s a galore of pictures that mix both traditional habits and contemporary life,” Tod’s tell us. Really, it’s a celebration of the elegance of Italian men. For Italian men are very elegant. For example, they wear Tod’s shoes. And purchase diamonds for their lady friends. Sometimes they choose shoes and gems in bright colours to offset their tans. Tod’s shoes are very elegant. On a shoe-gemstone scale they would be the Taylor-Burton diamond of the shoe world. But less sparkly. No matter now hard you polish, leather can never sparkle in the manner of a diamond. A book, though, can always sparkle. Wrap the cover in a layer of Cellophane as you would a library book, shine a light on it and be blinded by the glare. The Cellophane cover also helps to protect the book from any damage or unfortunate spillages that could potentially devalue it. Which would be a shame. As it’s a first edition. The diamond of the book world. So it should be treated with kid gloves.
by Natalie Dembinska
