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Library Necklace
Etsy is an online community where people buy and sell handmade items – it’s a wonderful place for people who value craftsmanship and creativity. Book jewelry is one brilliant example. Designer Margaux Kent of Black Spot Books has made a miniature book necklace, crafted from antique and scrap leather in autumnal tones and archival paper (yes, you can actually write or draw in the books). If this one seems too elaborate, check out the other amazing items in her shop – a miniature journal on a chain, antique parchment earrings, and a necklace made from an old leather postcard.
etsy.com/shop/theblackspotbooks $350
Alphabet Soap
Debbie Chialtas, owner of Soapy Love, created her own silicone mold to make this unique Typography Soap. You can tell how much she loves her job—these soaps are completely handmade, consisting of all natural glycerin soap scented with natural peppermint oil. Each side is different and features raised lettering and punctuation marks. Packaged in a clear box to show off the detail. Chialtas also makes soap popsicles and cameo soaps and has a book coming out this fall called The Art of Soap.
etsy.com/shop/soapylove $10
BookBook
Yes, it’s called the BookBook and it covers your MacBook. Designed exclusively for MacBook Pro, this leather hardback cover is designed to look like a vintage book. Slip in your computer, and voilà, protection from the elements and any Luddites lurking nearby. Available in classic black or vibrant red, each BookBook has been hand-distressed, ensuring that no two look exactly alike. Zip it closed, and it masquerades as any old book. The Charleston, South Carolina-based designer Twelve South is currently at work on a BookBook for iPad, too.
twelvesouth.com/products $79.99 and up (800) 858-1276
Beautiful Books
Last but not least, you can’t have a book lover’s gift guide without a nice gift book or two. Here are two recently published beauties. Don Etherington’s autobiography, Bookbinding & Conservation: A Sixty-Year Odyssey of Art and Craft, is amazing to consider—the breadth of his life’s work relayed through a personal narrative and rich illustration is simply remarkable. The book is available from Oak Knoll, and buyers can opt for a jacketed hardcover or unbound sheets. Gibbs M. Smith’s The Art of the Bookstore contains reproductions of the sixty-eight oil paintings the author/publisher created while visiting bookstores around the country. Accompanied by short essays, Smith captures these shops with reverence and whimsy. A jacketed hardcover in a slipcase, this gorgeous book was made for people like us.