five cents per nonsense

1. Seigneur-terraces (French) Coffee shop dwellers who sit at tables a long time but spend little money. 2. Ya’arburnee (Arabic) This word is the hopeful declaration that you will die before someone you love deeply, because you cannot stand to live without them. Literally, may you bury me. 3. Schlimazel (Yiddish) Someone prone to bad luck. Yiddish distinguishes between the schlemiel and schlimazel, whose fates would probably be grouped under those of the klutz in other languages. The schlemiel is the traditional maladroit, who spills his coffee; the schlimazel is the one on whom it’s spilled. 4. Packesel (German) The packesel is the person who’s stuck carrying everyone else’s bags on a trip. Literally, a burro. 5. L’esprit de l’escalier (French) Literally, stairwell wit—a too-late retort thought of only after departure. 6. Hygge (Danish) Denmark’s mantra, hygge is the pleasant, genial, and intimate feeling associated with sitting around a fire in the winter with close friends. 7. Spesenritter (German) Literally, an expense knight. You’ve probably dined with a spesenritter before, the type who shows off by paying the bill on the company’s expense account. 8. Cavoli Riscaldati (Italian) The result of attempting to revive an unworkable relationship. Literally, reheated cabbage. 9. Bilita Mpash (Bantu) An amazing, pleasant dream. Not just a “good” dream; the opposite of a nightmare. 10. Litost (Czech) Milan Kundera described the emotion as “a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.” 11. Murr-ma (Waigman, language of Australia) To walk alongside the water while searching for something with your feet.

Dualism in Storytelling by Hiroko Matshushita

Hiroko’s accordion fold book reflects the dualistic elements commonly explored within fairytales, such as good vs. evil and old vs. young. She then cleverly illustrated both sides of the long strip of paper with two versions of the same story- one with a happy ending, and the other with an unhappy one.

“The point is that these two stories are connected to each other through holes represented as windows and a mirror, reversing inside and outside, and giving the perspective of different points of view.”

Dictionary Desk Pillow

A lot of people write in to me saying they’d love to practice book arts for themselves, and wonder what kind of books would help them work from home. For anyone wanting to learn some core book arts/book design skills, general knowledge and book-making tutorials without taking a course, these books (which I happily received myself for Christmas) are a great starting point and cover all the basics (and more!)

I’d recommend them to any artists, illustrators, graphic designers and writers out there wanting advice on how to self-publish their work :)