Read Me

A book of vintage book advertisements? A book of vintage book advertisements! It didn't take much to sell us on New York Times book critic Dwight Garner's latest project. Read Me (Ecco) is a visual survey of book ads that appeared in newspapers and magazines across the United States in the twentieth century. "Together these random advertisements tell a story -- a kind of secret history, narrated in public -- about America's literary culture," writes Garner in the opening chapter. Settle in to browse ads for classics such as The Great Gatsby, Ulysses, and Lolita while gaining insight into interesting collisions of the literary and design worlds. One of our favorite bits of trivia: Ezra Pound disliked Knopf's distinctive Borzoi logo, lobbying for a redrawn dog that sat up straight, "solid, more or less heraldic and respectful."