Rock Paper Classics is a set of classic books with modern, updated cover art from independent artists and was successfully crowd-funded via
Kickstarter earlier this year.
Most reprints of classic books seem to be low quality produced editions with bland covers and unappealing formatting. The goal of Rock Paper Books is to offer an alternative that is both aesthetically pleasing, functional and attractive interior layouts, with a consistent look and feel throughout.
The old saying goes that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover… but you shouldn’t have to look past the cover either!
"The idea for the project came about when I decided to catch up on my reading list. There were many classic books I hadn’t gotten around to reading. I wanted a set of books that matched each other and fit well with my apartment decor. So I went down to my local bookstore to check out their offerings. Unfortunately what I found were mass produced, cost cutting, dull looking versions of some of the most acclaimed books of all time. I was very surprised there were no higher quality paperback sets of classic books available.
I brought up the idea with my friend, Patrick Phillips, to hire an artist and create my own collection. I wanted something with clean, modern, vector-based artwork. We did a lot of research, interviewed a few artists, and ended up picking Mike Mahle to create the first five books. To get started, we chose to go with H.G. Wells and Jules Verne classics in order to target the sci-fi market. To be honest I’m not sure if it would have mattered if we chose different books, as the kickstarter was a huge success. We now have 24 titles in the set and are looking to expand to many more in the future. Rock Paper Classics is our first collection but it sure won’t be our last." - David Mautz, developer of the project.
Go here to buy the books. And check out the set of 24 covers in the Rock Paper Classics collection by artist
Mike Mahle below.
