The hard way

Bloomsbury Press publisher and editorial director Peter Ginna (pronounced “gi-NAY”) speculated during a recent conversation with Warren Olney that paperback books, made obsolete by e-readers, soon will disappear from bookstore shelves.

As opposed to hardback books.

“One trend that I think is quite likely,” he said, “is for (hardback) books to become more precious, more special … more of a beautiful object … better production values, nicer paper.”

I welcome these developments. Quieter papermills, smaller landfills, more convenience and greater economy for consumers of text, better bindings for collectors. Bring on the silk endpapers and the tipped-in illustrations, I say. And good riddance to bad rubbish.