How do you accommodate an improbably large quantity of information in a book and still keep it manageable? This almanac of dead women is a marvel of proportioning. Height and width are modest, but combined with the thickness they work perfectly.
The fact that the pages were so crammed full was something everyone understood. This book is not meant to be read for longer than an evening; after that, it is a work of reference. It may have 1500 pages, but a single male hand can certainly hold it for the evening. The pink paper elicited some debate – wasn’t the colour a bit too much of a good thing? On reflection the answer was no, and it’s sufficiently far removed from the dreadful princess-pink of marketing to young girls. The glossy picture sections provide a nice counterpoint and insert extra articulation into the object. Even the bar code is in your face.
Everything in this book – and more on the same subject – can also be consulted in an online database. The book’s success demonstrates that in the boundless digital ocean there is still room for the selecting and ordering hand of publishers and editors. And designers. A conclusion that makes you feel good.