Giving each story in this issue of McSweeney’s its own binding and cover is a great way to work with lots of artists at once and to make ten books when you’re supposed to be making one. The outer cover is just raw board with the type letter pressed into it. We wanted to have a thick rubber band holding the booklets together, but the printer, Oddi Printing of Reykjavik, felt they might buckle within the band, and recommended using a hardcover shell with the books slipped inside. We love the result; it looks like a book in mid-process, before binding—very raw. As always, it was a true collaboration between the authors, Elizabeth Kairys (who commissioned all the illustrations) and Oddi Printing.

“Even when he does put Garamond on the cover, he has the artists do it.”