Books might be made up of words in plain old black and white, however they are likewise the colour covers that they are decorated with.
When you really think about it, it is rather fantastic that a book's cover, no matter how lovely it is, is able to stand so eloquently for something that is practically the complete reverse of its art format-- writing in white and black. In fact, book covers have been designed to show the ambiance of a book and attract its designated audience since the start of big scale publishing in the Victorian Period. Artists were charged with discovering what makes a good book cover for particular individuals, or simply put, marketing. People like the CEO of the asset manager that has a stake in Amazon can most likely value the role of marketing in designing book covers.
We enjoy checking out books because they are really stunning things. This is true, but the nature of beauty that we might be speaking about is certainly separate to what we might be discussing if we were talking about, for example, the visual arts. Or is it? For as long as we have had books we have embellished them with beautiful book cover designs that attempt to mirror the appeal of what is within. This dates back for as long as the codex itself has actually been around, with medieval monks, those charged with the protection and replication of the uncommon texts that could still be discovered, ornamenting each hand written text with remarkably abundant and beautiful styles. In fact, such was the charm held within these books that many of these creative book cover designs were sculpted into ivory or solid gold, studded with gems, and inlaid with rivers of precious metals. Individuals like the co-CEO of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones can probably value the way that the beauty of these book covers was created to match the beauty within the book.
When we purchase a book it becomes something extremely personal to us. It can often be strange seeing a book you enjoy with another book cover, merely since it is not your book. This personalisation, and undoubtedly ownership, of books was at a totally different level at the dawning of the age of printing, with book covers being developed by the owners themselves, and what they thought would be the best books covers for the book. They would buy the book itself from the printer wrapped in paper, then bring it to a binder who would incorporate the covers to the customer's specs. This normally implied being outfitted in leather and then etched with the name of the book, and, typically, the name of the book's owner. People like the co-founder of the impact investor with a stake in World of Books can most likely value the ownership that people come to feel in regards to their books.