“Some things simply can’t be replicated digitally.” —Assouline

It’s been very interesting watching book-related news and blogs over the last few months. Lots of buzz about what’s to become of books made with pigment and paper. I’ve also been having vigorous discussions with other book-lovers, people who emphatically champion the physicality of books. I refuse to use the term “conventional book” in this case. The word conventional has a slightly negative connotation, and besides, if it’s not a book using pigment and paper, it’s something else and warrants a better moniker.

But I digress. Assouline is a publisher of  lavishly-produced and correspondingly-priced books. These are typically large format illustrated books, books of the coffee table variety. Assouline’s response to death-of-the-book-sayers is to launch a series of handmade, limited editions. They’re billed as one-of-a-kind works of art. Collectible objects for the “true connoisseur.”

Books as luxury objects—another niche market. Few people can own an original painting or sculpture. Given that the cost of such original works often run in the thousands, luxury books are a comparatively inexpensive art form. $500 is still a lot of money. How many makers-of-books can such a niche market support?

The prohibitive cost of original works of art fostered a subsidiary industry: affordable reproductions. It’s a great way to have a famous work of art on your wall. Books are in the category of affordable reproduction. How will publishers decide which books have pages composed of paper and ink and which books will have pages composed of bytes?

Assouline’s “Ultimate Collection” is a publisher’s (not an artist’s) limited edition—the text and photography have been expressly commissioned, and the artisanal quality has mostly to do with packaging (binding, slipcase, endpapers).

This is book-as-object in a way that is very specific. It’s not about art so much as it’s about marketing. For my money, Steidl does a much better job with this sort of publishing: books as books remains paramount.