Do you love to hold an old book in your hands, feel its weight, contemplate the cover that reflects the contents to be read, study the title page to learn the topics the author will cover, appreciate the layout of each text page, run your fingers across a page to feel the depressions made by the type pressed into the paper, admire the illustrations, listen to the sound of turning pages, smell the comforting fragrance of a leather binding, and admire the attention to detail by the book designer and binder who even decorated the book’s edges? Most people haven’t.

Books have become a commodity, something to deliver a story or information as efficiently and cheaply as possible. With printed books this means smaller print and narrow margins, and with E-books this is especially true. E-books are delivered to an electronic device within seconds. There is virtually no attention given to book design – the primary consideration is to deliver the text instantly and cheaply. This was not always the case. There was a time when books were designed to make the originator proud, and the reader impressed.

Beyond Words takes a look at the history of books and their design from medieval manuscripts to modern books that, for the most part, are printed with only a slight nod to the history that preceded them.

Michael C. Dooling is the former archivist at the Mattatuck Museum, an historical author, and has collected antiquarian books for over 45 years.