Books for the most part are printed on paper. The cover of the books themselves are sometimes printed on paper too, although there are books with more unique covers that act as coffee table books and conversation pieces, which is why we have to say that a limited edition version of Chang-Rae Lee’s novel, On Such a Full Sea, might be one of the more unique books we’ve come across due to the fact that it sports a 3D printed cover, making it the first book to ever sport a 3D printed cover. Designed by the book’s publisher’s art director, Helen Yentus, the cover initially took about 30 hours to print, before it was streamlined to 15 hours, but either way safe to say the end result was not cheap with the book being priced at $150, way more than the normal version which is a fraction of the price.
So what’s the point of a 3D printed cover? Well according to Lee, the goal was to re-introduce the book as an art object, which at the same time could keep the interest in printed books alive. After all with ebooks and e-readers being so widely available and sometimes more affordable than their printed counterparts, there really is not much reason to purchase hard copies, especially when they take up a lot of space. It’s starting to look like the print industry is headed where the music industry once was with CDs, which not only took up more room, but was not as convenient compared to its digital counterpart. For those who don’t mind forking out $150 for the 3D printed version of Lee’s book, you can head on over to Penguin’s website for the details.
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