Litographs: Classic Books as Typographic Prints

Literature and art converge to combat book famine and bibliowaste, another delight from Maria Popova's Brain Pickings (also on Facebook), curating, as ever, eclectic interestingness... and rescuing me when I am behind on posts. PS good writing resources too...


A modern paradox: While the developing world is experiencing the worst “book famine” in decades, yet an estimated 40% of books printed in the “developed world” go to waste, eventually destroyed by the publishers themselves. I have a tremendous soft spot for art and design projects inspired by literary classics, so I love everything about Danny Fein’s Litographs project, which addresses this paradox through beautiful prints by a team of artists, made of upcycled classic texts, many in the public domain, which remain fully legible in the final print. Thanks to a partnership with the International Book Bank, every print sold sends one book to a community in need.

The Moby-Dick litograph is the loveliest take on the Melville classic since Matt Kish’s page-by-page illustrations.

'Think not, is my eleventh commandment; and sleep when you can, is my twelfth.'


This 24 x 36 inch print (full view at top, close-up zoom at bottom) includes approximately the first third of Moby Dick. The 18 x 24 inch print includes approximately the first sixth of the book.


Others litographs include a knock-out litograph of The Catcher in the Rye, an Alice litograph make the heart, a lovely On The Road litograph and more. All the litographs are available in color as well as black-and-white, and you can see the full full collection on the project site. See the rest of Litographs: Classic Books as Typographic Prints Supporting Global Literacy

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