Designers today often judge a book by its color.
On shelves across the country, books are organized not by subject or author, but by the color of their spines. Color block books are a design trend that began a dozen years ago in hotels and design magazines, but continues to grow in popularity. Although it’s a bit of a hot potato in the design world, it’s a popular topic on blogs and on pinterest. DIYers stalk antiquarian book sales, ripping off their dust jackets to see what color lurks underneath.
You are reading: Books sorted by color
Demand has spawned a slew of online businesses that will sell you a shelf’s worth of black books for a library or a row of tangerine books for a sunroom. A designer recently contacted booksbythefoot.com looking for 30 feet of robin egg blue books.
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chuck roberts, president of wonder book, a frederick company that buys and sells books and also owns booksbythefoot.com, says the color-coded book business is thriving. “We had a lot of books that no one would buy to read. this reuses books that we cannot sell to read or collect. this gives many books one more chance; otherwise many would be sent to a pulper, which takes the paper and recycles it.”
roberts says that prices vary according to supply and demand. Since black is the most common color, it costs about $12.99 per foot (about $1.10 per book). gray, a popular interior color, costs about $69.99 per foot. Roberts says that lime green, seafoam, and pink are more difficult colors to store in bulk.
The choice of book color is part of the publishers design process. “For the most part, we choose our cover color from a color in the cover design,” says Suet Chong, senior design manager at HarperCollins Publishers. “The most common colors are blue, green and black.” but she says the author specifically requests some colors, like the former playboy bunny she insisted on hot pink for her memoir.
nancy martin started selling color coded books on her etsy site about a year ago. her clients are designers, homeowners, theater producers, hairstylists, and wedding designers. “I grew up surrounded by books. we always had old books that were nice,” she says. Martin says that the most popular sellers of hers are blue, green and turquoise. red is the easiest to find and the hardest to sell. “It’s an easy way to introduce color into a room without making bold, long-lasting decisions.”
a hotel chain told roberts that they wanted red books for all their presidential and ambassadorial suites. martin says: “i made a joke. “If someone spends $400 a night and sees a book he wants, he could take it away,” but it turns out that wouldn’t be possible. they were sticking them on the shelves.”
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The idea of books by color receives mixed reviews in the design community.
“It’s definitely a trend that can work in some interiors, like kids’ rooms,” says joe ireland, a washington-based designer. “for a sophisticated library or living room, it’s a bit nifty.”
bethesda designer kelley proxmire just fixed up shelving for a client’s office in falls church. “We remove the covers and organize them according to the loins.” says next. “The customer loves the color.” pink, black, yellow, white and green books are grouped separately.
“Personally, I prefer my books to be more organized by subject or author to make it easier for me to find the book I need,” silver spring designer charles almonte wrote in an email.
And then there are those who see books as more than props. “the books in your house tell the story of who you are and where you will go,” boyds designer lynni megginson wrote in an email. “why try to color coordinate something so wonderful?”
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