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Selections from the 2010 Gift Guide for Book Lovers
Hot Off the Press
If someone you know swoons over letterpress or beautiful typography, a set of lead type is a distinctive gift. M&H Type, established in 1915 and located in San Francisco, is the oldest and largest type foundry in the United States. They cast all kinds of type. For traditionalists, try Baskerville or Garamond. For more modern typophiles, try a sans-serif, such as Helvetica or Univers. With this offering, you might encourage a rewarding hobby and cultivate your very own fine printer. $65 and up
(415) 668-2546 \\ www.arionpress.com/mandh
Leather-bound Cocktail Table
Hand-tooled like the finest eighteenth-century leather bindings, this tome table always finds admirers. The stacked books are covered in brown leather, and each “book” is a working drawer. Measuring 37 by 29 by 16 inches and weighing in around 150 pounds, it is generously proportioned without losing its grace. This is the kind of table that turns any room into a sophisticated reading sanctuary. Around $2,000
Game On
Forget Monopoly. Now there’s a board game for book people, created by the masterminds at Art Meets Matter, an English purveyor of amusing and inventive pop-art products (Abbey Road wallpaper or Penguin Classics deckchair, anyone?). When you play Bookchase, you can finally put the skills you’ve honed in decades of reading, researching, and collecting to good use. What was Proust’s first name? What was the first novel Austen ever published? Who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998? Game night never sounded so good. $43
44 (0) 870 24 22 851 \\ www.artmeetsmatter.com
Transcendent Pen
Even the ascetic Henry David Thoreau might have ditched his usual writing instrument for this this prized pen. Graf-von-Faber-Castell, world-renowned makers of fine writing instruments, created a rollerball and fountain pen to honor the classic American writer. Crafted from ash wood salvaged from fallen trees in Walden Woods, the pen’s barrel features a Thoreau quote in his handwriting style. Each pen is individually numbered and almost guaranteed to be a collector’s item. Plus, a new tree will be planted for every pen sold, and a portion of the sales will support the Walden Woods project. It’s a win-win-win. Rollerball: $600; fountain: $750
(781) 259-4700 \\ www.walden.org/fabercastell.htm