Beautiful post by friend Lesley Hazleton on the joy of receiving a copy of her new book, The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad, direct from the printer. In particular, she was moved by the cover art, tweaked in final production in a way that took her by surprise — in a good way.
“So I’m still kind of amazed at the physical existence of my own book. Is this stunning production really the same creature as the innumerable drafts of much-scrawled-on typescript pages strewn around my study for years? It’s as though with publication it’s achieved a separate existence. Like a teenager leaving home, it will now make its way in the world on its own terms, an independent agent only tangentially related to me. All I can do is wish it well, cheer it on, defend it when it needs defense — and trust that others will agree that it lives up to the sheer elegance of its cover.”
For anyone who loves books, I strongly recommend reading the original blog post in its entirety on her blog, The Accidental Theologist.