September 6 and 7 saw the "festive opening of the new book season" in the Netherlands with Manuscripta in Amsterdam (pdf in English here). While the rest of the world is still coming to grips with e-Readers, Kindles and the like, this book fair introduced a new book concept, launched with the assistance of crime writing duo Nicci French. Called the dwarsligger - which translates as "sleeper" - the book is a hard copy and was described by Sean French as "the size of a match box, almost". The aim is to make the book much smaller and therefore more portable. The average weight comes in at 145 grms. In the Netherlands prices are comparable to existing PB formats, and distribution is planned for the Netherlands and Belgium.
There is a video of the launch here, where you can see the size of a dwarsligger production versus an existing publication. When Nicci Gerrard and Sean French go on holiday Sean French normally takes a rucksack of books, but in the future said Nicci Gerrard, they will be able to take a handbag of books.
The question is: could it catch on here and elsewhere? What do you think of the dwarsligger? Would you like a book in this format?
(Photo taken from Reformatorisch Dagblad, with more info at the link, but in Dutch.)
cfr your eyes are a lot younger than mine, and forty years of staring into dark caverns has left me with a longing for larger fonts.
Larger fonts and world peace. ;o)
Posted by: Norm | 08 September 2009 at 17:58
Yes, but it comes with a rucksack sized magnifying glass
Posted by: Rob Kitchin | 08 September 2009 at 16:37
Yes, it is serious Norm. If you click on the picture you will see it is very definitely readable and the font is in a normal size to read. It's the paper that reduces the bulk.
Posted by: cfr | 08 September 2009 at 15:45
Is this serious?
I can hardly read some of the small paperback fonts now, why on earth would anyone want to use this format.
If it is only really useful when you go on holiday I can't see it catching on. But then I am a short sighted dinosaur so probably this will be the book format of the future.
Posted by: Norm | 08 September 2009 at 15:41
Not sure why this exists? is there a demand for teeny books? with teeny font? I don't imagine i'll be rushing out to buy then
Posted by: Bernadette | 08 September 2009 at 13:38