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Personalised Baird books

13.12.07 John Ryan

Duncan Baird is offering bespoke book jackets for buyers of its April title UK at Home (h/b, £20). The book, by former National Geographic and Time magazine photographer Rick Smolan, aims to provide a record of the way we live in Britain today.

Buyers will be able to upload any picture they wish to a website; it will then be turned into a book jacket that will be mailed to them. Duncan Baird hopes the option will increase the book’s suitability as a gift.

The idea behind the book is simple: 142,000 photographs taken around the country in one week last September were whittled down to 275 images, representing the work of leading photographers including Mary McCartney, Stuart Freedman and Simon Wheatley, as well as the efforts of thousands of amateurs.

It features an introduction by Sir Paul McCartney and also contains essays by a range of well-known authors—among them Will Self, Alexander McCall Smith and Alain de Botton—writing about what different areas of home life mean to them.

Personalising the dustjacket will cost an additional £5. The gimmick will also feature as part of the marketing for US at Home, the precursor to the UK edition, which is due for publication in March.
Commenting on why other books had not been personalised in this manner, Smolan said: "It’s actually not easy to do. We built a website, and when you’ve uploaded your photograph you can see it mocked up in 3-D as a dust-jacket and then play with the image so that the words don’t cover your dog’s nose."

UK at Home is sponsored by IKEA and will be available from its stores. Marketing will also come through Google’s search sites.

 

John Ryan Books Duncan Baird

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