September 09, 2002
Bibliophile

Erik Naggum is exploring the possibility of producing a nicely printed and bound version of the ANSI Lisp standard.

Since I mentioned it, I got quite a handsome number of positive responses, so I think I shall go forward with an idea I got as I came across amazingly beautifully printed and bound versions of the Bible and the Qur'an (which are admittedly aimed at larger markets than standards) and noticed that Webster's New World College Dictionary comes in a black leather-bound and gilded edition for their 50th anniversary. As a bibliophile I would so very much like to produce the last public draft of the Common Lisp standard in a nicer font and in the high-quality binding that I think it deserves. Since it is not going to change any time soon and we should try not to worry about its status as ANSI standard, I should hope there is a sufficiently large market that I am willing to take on the job of producing this book in a lasting and beautiful version. The problems are the print run, the cost of the binding, and the financial risks involved. I have no idea what the costs might be, but will investigate in the coming week. It will be substantially more than the USD 18 for the PDF file, however. Please indicate your preliminary interest to me by mail with some indication of the price level at which that interest would wane.

I know what you're thinking, but a binding made from the skin of brutally flamed c.l.l posters wouldn't be nearly as durable as a leather one.

Posted by jjwiseman at September 09, 2002 10:15 AM
Comments

Perhaps, but the supply of the former vastly exceeds the supply of the latter...

Posted by: Ziv Caspi on September 9, 2002 01:42 PM

You, sir, officially cracked me up.

Posted by: Edward O'Connor on September 9, 2002 04:56 PM

Turns out this is called "Anthropodermic bibliopegy"[1].

[1]"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropodermic_bibliopegy

Posted by: John Wiseman on May 24, 2007 03:13 PM
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