One of the most interesting books I own is this imaginative Christmas, 1968, Westvaco edition of Stephen Crane’s powerful novel about the American Civil War. The tactile design is by Bradbury Thompson.
left: the slipcase with steel engraved design; right: the black embossed hardcover “shot through” by a “bullet”
left: an endpaper; right: the title page–Thompson puts many different ‘bloodstains’ seemingly at random through the text
The “bulletholes” on each successive page become smaller and smaller as you read through the book with the last pages free of marks.
Crane’s classic is truly a poetic, psychological account of battle from the perspective of a raw recruit, Henry Fielding, who goes from novice to coward to hero. It is a riveting read with chaos and fear predominating, and is one of the best, most realistic books on war and war psychology. What is ironic about that is that Crane was not in this war, though he fought in battles elsewhere. Highly recommended.