In this remarkably squat volume, Smith deftly compacted centuries of great literature and philosophy, that might best be left unread. As many soon discovered, The Book of Books was created as a mini-catalogue of Smith’s stock photography. With typical Smith humor, he suggested that creative directors and art buyers could pretend to be lost within a weighty masterwork and do their job at the same time. The desire to make this portly hardback almost impossible to discard, prompted Smith to include a complete reference guide to typography, paper, paper sizes, binding, printing, mailing and more.