Have you ever though about doing this...or done it?

[Out to Lunch]

I own between 50 and 80 high-end photo books which are, either in boxes, or on shelves but not in one particular location. This has to do with my expatriate life style. Have you ever though of taking a Stanley knife and cutting-out a particular print from a book, mount if and hang it on the wall? Just curious...

 

[StevenJohn]

My preference is to leave it in the book. Opening a book cover is like entering a gallery and I can block out the rest of the room.

Also many books have double sided printing. I wouldn't want to lose the photo on the next page.

 

[bonatto]

Keep knives away from books! Like you I've accumulated books in various different locations. Eventually I paired down, and am now trying to consolidate all in one location.

 

[oltimer]

Peter, I just could not do it! I like you have many photo books; but 3 issues from the '60's of Life Magazine when I subscribed to it have the complete 6 day war in one issue from the middle east, and 2 full issues on the Vietnam war, and all photos. The photos are all real, and none staged. Some of the absolute best photography for eyes to look it.

 

[robert blu]

No, it's terrible! But I sometimes think to scan a page and make a print out of it just to hang...
robert

 

[John E Earley]

I had an art book that was water damaged. There was one very nice and still pristine image that I had framed and hung. The rest of the book was ruined and tossed but it was beautiful.

Oddly enough, it later got water damaged.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

I never did such a thing, but I knew someone who didn't have any problem mutilating books. We were not friends for long...

 

[Brian Atherton]

No, definitely not!

Though when browsing the used bookstall under Waterloo Bridge or the secondhand bookshops in Stamford or Saffron Walden, I do always wonder how magnificent some of books must have looked from which the engravings and illustrations they individually sell were taken.

Maybe some books were damaged or irreparable and is a way of saving the pictorial content. But to me it seems a shame that a book should be destroyed to claim an illustration.