By its cover as carefully-curated collections become A-listers’ latest status symbol
Books remind us of who we are, who we once were, and who we want to be
drama; orange for fiction; yellow for miscellaneous; green for crime, above; dark blue for autobiographies; purple for essays; cerise for travel and adventure; and grey for world affairs
When Gwyneth Paltrow discovered she needed “500 or 600 more books” to complete a bookshelf in her newly-remodelled LA home, she knew who to call.
As a celebrity “book curator”, Thatcher Wine has helped to develop, source and assemble libraries for Paltrow and other big-name clients including Jessica Chastain and Oprah Winfrey.
His company, Jupiter Books, sells special editions of classic novels and works of fiction, from Jane Austen to Charles Dickens, covered in decorative dust jackets that can be customised to fit the colour scheme, design or even size of a chosen room. And with customers in 57 countries around the world, it’s clear more and more people are looking to turn their book collection into a luxury library, worthy of an Instagram post. Thatcher said: “I began selling books in 2001, and when I started the business a lot of my friends in the tech industry would say, ‘Why are you bothering with printed books? Didn’t you get the memo – they’re going to be obsolete!’ “So I made it my personal mission to give people more reasons to buy books and keep them forever in their homes. I thought what can a printed book do that an e-reader can’t?
“It can’t decorate your house or lift up your personality on to the shelf. So, our custom book covers really try to accomplish that. “Originally the business was about rare books and first editions, then it was custom libraries. Now, the decorative side with the book covers has been growing the fastest part yet.”
He added: “A book collection says a lot about who we are, and most of our books are just sitting around waiting for us to come back and read them.
“So, 99% of the time books are for decoration.
“They are put on our shelves, they make our homes look beautiful, and they say something about who we are – not just to people that come into our house, but also to ourselves as a reminder of who we once were, and who we want to be.”