Do You Know What a "Blook" Is? Neither Did I!

Book lovers will appreciate the coolness

A lighter made to look like a book. Photo: Graham Dickie/The New York Times

Beyond the book safe

If you own a dozen or more books, you might line them up on a shelf and enjoy the colors, the titles, and the varying heights of the volumes.

If you have bookshelves, you may have considered getting a book safe, a box built to look like a book but with a hollow space inside where you could hide cash, credit cards, or keys. Once the book is on the shelf, it looks like any other book, so thieves wouldn't know to pull it.

But I was amazed that in addition to the classic "book safe," a whole world of objects made to look like books exists. An exhibit at the Center for Book Arts in New York showcases bold and daring items that look like books but aren't.

These objects are termed "blooks," a word coined by curator, Mindell Dubansky. It's a contraction for "book look," and, as Dubansky points out, is a word born out of necessity. In the English language, there is no word that describes an object made to look like a book, even though there are many extant examples in our culture.

A side note ...

I have to admit that I got a little excited when I discovered an entire institute devoted to "Book Arts"!

FYI: The Center For Book Arts in New York City is a non-profit organization founded in 1974. Its mission?

to promote active explorations of artistic practices related to the BOOK as ART. As the oldest nonprofit dedicated to uplifting the book arts, we support the field through education, preservation, exhibitions, studio access, and community building.

The Center for Book Arts presents workshops, lectures, and exhibits on all aspects of the art of book making. The exhibit, "The Best Kept Secret: 200 Years of Blooks" runs from January 16, 2025 through May 10, 2025.

Back to the Blooks

If you really want to enjoy yourself but are required to go to the library, you might carry in a blook that conceals a flask in the curvature of its spine.

If you're a spy, you can pretend to read a blook, but inside the cover is a concealed camera that's snapping pictures when you turn the page.

Or perhaps your lantern, your lighter, or your recipes are all designed to look like books.

A decanter set. A gift of wood gum. A deadly weapon in the form of a wooden snake that impales your finger with a sharp spike when the page panel is moved.

Let us not forget the perfect accessory for any practical joker: The exploding blook!

Ah, the delightful but duplicitous nature of the "blook."

Book lovers can't help but appreciate the inherent coolness...

If you, like me, are passionate about books - not just about the the knowledge that we get from them but also from the shape of them, the look of them, the smell of them - then you'll appreciate the inherent coolness of blooks. (Okay. Maybe they're a little weird, too, but they're interesting!)

We've got blogs, blooms, and blokes. Now we've got "blooks" too!

---

If you are a true bibliophile, you will want this book for book lovers about books!

Buy Bibliophile from Amazon (online retailer) 

Buy Bibliophile from Bookshop.org (supports independent bookstores)  

If you buy a book or product in any format that you’ve discovered through Literature Lust,  I earn a small commission on the sale. Thank you!  

---