The lamp motif of this website, designed by my friend Melissa Armstrong, was inspired by mid-century Modernism. In the 1940’s and 50’s designers like Alvin Lustig and Paul Rand created book jackets for works by authors ranging from Henry Miller to Gertrude Stein. The designs were simple and bold, ideal for paperbacks and reprints. These were books to be dog-eared—to be passed around, beat up, contended with. Passages were underlined. They fell out of bed. Today, they are found at bookstalls and garage sales, musty pages recalling a thirst for obscurity and a thrill of the illicit that has lost its potency. Like all things past, we cannot recreate the time or place, but only pay them homage—a nod (or a bow) to three colors and a silkscreen.