Spineless Classics makes wall art out of famous books.
Photo courtesy Spineless Classics

Everyone has a favorite book, and now it’s possible to show your appreciation by displaying the whole tome on your wall.

Created by the aptly named Carl Pappenheim, Spineless Classics takes the full texts of classic novels and arranges them into “single paper designs.” Beautiful at a distance, the designs are also legible close up.

Pappenheim created the first Spineless Classic as a last-minute Christmas present for his mother. Having watched “architectural drawings roll off the presses at a friend’s printing company,” he figured that he could fit 100,000 words on each poster-size sheet. The reaction to the resultant poster led to the creation of the company, and posters are now available to be shipped worldwide.

Posters come in sizes from 20 x 28 inches up to 33 x 47 inches. There are more than 60 designs on the company’s website, including Black Beauty and The Wind in the Willows but, Pappenheim said, new ones are being released all the time. If there is a tome that you want that isn’t currently on offer, the company can negotiate the rights for you to see if it is possible to create a poster. The unframed posters retail for between $63 and $220.

In the spirit of Christmas, this is a really novel approach to literature and could provide a solution for all those, like Pappenheim, who need a last-minute present.