When unusual handwritten treasures, books are now mass-produced items that have not lost any of their beauty.
We are very fortunate in this day and years to be able to very easily purchase a stunning book by judging its cover and discovering it to our liking. Although we are informed not to, book covers are specifically created for us to do so. Modern book covers are formed out of marketing, something that began around the very same time that the publishing industry that the CEO of Penguin Random House's parent company understands today. With fabric book covers for literary affairs and mushy paperbacks for not such high-brow reading, you might be able to see how various covers appealed to various people, and still do today.
It is just quite just recently (in the grand scheme of human history) that people have actually been able to gain access to printed books. When the printing press was first developed, it sent shock waves throughout Europe, as the number of individuals who might read and write began to increase. Nevertheless, they were still rather scarce, often individuals of higher classes. Their libraries would have lots of leather-bound books that they would have had bound at their regional specialist binder after having actually purchased the book itself from the printer without a cover. These may not have actually been the best book covers in all of history, but a big leather-bound book is definitely not something to be sniffed at, and you would treasure if you bought it from the co-founder of the impact investor with a stake in World of Books.
Books are extremely unique, very stunning objects. Not only are they naturally pleasing to hold, however they are likewise decorated with gorgeous, creative book cover designs to raise them from something merely pragmatic vessels of art into art pieces in and of themselves. This is not a modern-day phenomenon by any means, but in fact dates back almost as far as the codex, the format in which the book now comes, does (over one and a half thousand years). In the dark centuries that followed the crash of the Roman empire in Europe, really few people might read or write, and lots of classic works were lost because they might not be reproduced. However, those that could read or write, specifically monks, were entrusted with protecting the surviving works, copying them out by hand and then binding them in shielding covers that showed their special condition as unusual and special treasures. These beautiful book cover designs were often made of ivory or precious metal, flashing with precious stones; not the kind of thing you would find the co-CEO of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones selling, but then again, those stunning works were most likely not really for sale at all!