Why are there no beautiful books anymore? I mean really beautiful. Like mediaeval illuminated manuscript level beautiful.
Obviously the blame lies at the feet of capitalism. Ugly books are cheaper to produce, therefore generate more money for less work.
But please bear with me.
A mediaeval monk writing/drawing one of these gorgeous manuscripts would take years to create one, maybe even decades. Now couple that with modern technology. Work years on designing a stunningly beautiful book. Then mass-produce it.
Give me your most breathtaking illumination designs,
the perfect font created by some semi-intelligent algorithm
(as lilypond does for music),
and then
Like, 10.000 times.
Give it a nice wooden hardcover, with cords on the back and a thin leather covering (the real thing, not some vegan replacement that falls apart after you read through it). I would definitely buy that bible.
Probably all that doesn't make sense.
But I want my beautiful books.