Neon’s A Doll A Day… Again (2020)

[Alliecat]

Oooh, what a fabulous palette of red and black!
The backdrop makes a great display piece for all kinds of things.

So I did the sensible thing and instead of taking one from Mt. Toberead, I bought a new book

Haha, I do this all the time at the library. Despite my own Mt. Toberead, I see something going by in the mail for interlibrary loan, or find something while shelf-reading, and go "OH. Hmmm...."
I'm actually like that with videos too. I have several I "could" watch, but no, I bring home more.

[Elfy]

I always think your Felis and our Toni would get on famously.

[neon_jellyfish]

Thank you very much, everyone!


Day 269

The final 'books about books' photo. These books are still available (or not so hard to find second-hand), but eventhough they're not vintage treasures, they're great and I'm glad I have them. The grey giants are a two-volume edition of encyclopedia of everything book-related from mid 15th to early 19th century, the blue one with silver title is another book-binding textbook, in the same vein as the old one, but modern (I'd say the old one is slighly better when it comes to descriptions of processes, but this one is still very books, and it covers some types of bindings the older one doesn't); and last but not least, there's the wonderful Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding by J.A. Szirmai. This is The Book when it comes to western bookbinding. It is not a textbook of craft, it's a scientific study, but it's so detailed and meticulous, you can recreate those bindings even if there aren't any how-tos.

Posing with it all is Ginger, because she was in the Book Party line of EAH, therefore her being a bookworm is the official canon!

I have more precious books I want to show you that aren't about bookbinding and book culture (they're mostly fairytales), so this isn't the last book pic, just the last one with books about books. Metabooks?

[werepuppy]

I love how Ginger seems so proud there. Like she's going "yes, I've read all of these."

[davidd]

Your "metabook" posts have been fascinating and fun!

And you have partially inspired me to shift the emphasis of one of my Instagram accounts back toward #bookstagram content.

[neon_jellyfish]

Thank you very much, guys!


Day 270

Another one of these, I'm afraid.

[werepuppy]

Ooh, this feels like it's some promo shot for a new dramatic film or tv show. And now my had is trying to work out exactly what that would be. Maybe it's just a drama version of Monster High...

[davidd]

Now I want to snap an Isi photo today! I wonder where I put her?

[Alliecat]

Those are some serious book-history books. And you still managed to capture atmospheric lighting on your “another one of these”.

[Lejays17]

Ginger would love all the books about books, she looks very pleased there. And the contrast between her bright stock and the more muted covers it great.

[neon_jellyfish]

Thank you very much, guys!


Day 271

Another precious book of mine and also one you already know, as I use it whenever I'm doing anything fairytale-related. I love this one so much, not only because of beautiful illustrations, but also because it kept the language as it was in the original edition. These are folk fairytsles collected and edited by Karel Jaromír Erben, Czech author and poet in 19th century, and the way he uses language is magical, but as Czech changed a lot since mid-19th century, it is considered too hard to understand, especially for children, and the modern editions are always 'translated' into modern and fairly simplified language. I get that we need something for the youngest readers, but that doesn't mean we need to completely axe the original, does it? I didn't have problems reading this when I was a kid. Granted, my mom and my grandma went the extra mile to make sure I have the highest quality books, and actively encouraged me to read a lot, so I was raised that way, but that's exactly it - maybe we should do our best to teach kids to understand language before they grow up and it's too late...

So yeah, beautiful book, in more than one way. It has a lot of gorgeous princesses and brave heroes, so I chose Darling to pose with it, to represent them all.

[Elfy]

Darling is the ideal model for something like this.

[werepuppy]

Oh that book sounds amazing, and Darling really is the perfect model to show off such a wonderful book.

[Aichan]

I love the fairy tale one. It seems like books in their physical form are dying and most people just want video not new books,
I am afraid for the future of books that why it makes me happy to see them and yes sniff them.

I love the smell of the paper , old and new. A little weird I know. But I have also always wanted to live in a library since I was small.

[Alliecat]

Pretty girl, and it looks like a very cool and "pretty" book
I also read relatively "complicated" things at a young age & was encouraged to read a lot. Nowadays I see kids at the library reading well below what seems like their grade level should be. It seems many are just not reading much. Once they stop having regular class time, we see many fewer high-schoolers that are really avid readers.
Making more "accessible" translations of things can make them more appealing to more people, but I would be sorry to see more articulate prose fade away in favour of it. I also like a couple of writers specifically for their eloquence & use of language.