By David Wharton | 8 years ago

Given how much I’ve loved science fiction since…well, pretty much as long as I can remember, it’s strange that my initial encounter with the works of Ray Bradbury didn’t make me an instant fan. While I’ve come to love and appreciate his works in the years since, back in junior high both Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles were assigned projects to read, and that’ll drain the enjoyment out of just about anything, especially when I could have spent that time reading my dad’s closetful of Robert Heinlein and Andre Norton. Still, I like to think if this edition of Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 had been around at that time, it would have won me over immediately. Check it out:

Designer Elizabeth Perez created the book for The Austin Creative Department, and the cover is striking for several reasons. It includes a match standing in for the “1” and the spine is designed to allow you to light the match. You have everything you need to burn it…but hopefully if you’re the sort who’s buying a copy, that thought would make you cringe as much as it does me.

On her website, Perez explains her thinking behind the design:

Fahrenheit 451 is a novel about a dystopian future where books are outlawed and firemen burn any house that contains them. The story is about suppressing ideas, and about how television destroys interest in reading literature. I wanted to spread the book-burning message to the book itself. The book’s spine is screen-printed with a matchbook striking paper surface, so the book itself can be burned.

Sadly, this looks to be one of kind, otherwise I’d already have put in my order.