Do you love older books? Many people find comfort in the soft crackle of opening their covers and the smell of paper and ink that follows. As much as we treasure our older books here at Smith Library, there is one thing we cannot deny. Sometimes book covers wear out. It’s a sign of too much love and many years. That’s why in the summer of 2016, librarians Andrew Fair and Trae Middlebrooks set off on a mission to give some of our older books a facelift.
They got in contact with a program called Recovering the Classics. Recovering the Classics sets out to breathe life into classic books, rather than leaving them with outdated or generic covers. Artists and illustrators were invited to recreate covers for the top 100 greatest works in the public domain. The program was so successful it now has the backing of the White House!
You may recognize a few titles such as Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, Little Women and many more. Anyone can contribute and all designs are available for purchase. After carefully looking over many designs, Trae and Andrew picked a select few to purchase for the library.
Once the designs were selected it was time to bring them to life. They were able to be manipulated to fit the specifications of any book by using a photo editing program. Andrew and Trae also worked with our wonderful Media Services team to print out some large posters.
So not only did these designs serve as a pick-me-up for books, but they also added some character and splash of color to the library walls. You only have to look at the poster for The Picture of Dorian Gray to understand why.
Where are these beautiful posters? On the third floor of Smith Library. Stretching around nearly the entire third floor walls, these pictures will immerse you in the wonderful world of the classics. The posters match perfectly to their respective book. As for book covers, you only had to look at our recent display of Russian literature to see a classic decked out in the new finery.
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To see more of the redesigned covers (or contribute your own!), visit https://recoveringtheclassics.com/
So the next time you see Trae or Andrew, thank them for bringing color to our books and to our library.
-Jessica Xiong, Evening Reference Supervisor