The book designer strives for perfection; yet every perfect thing lives somewhere in the neighborhood of dullness and is frequently mistaken for it by the insensitive. In a time that hungers for tangible novelties, dull perfection holds no advertising value at all. A really well-designed book is therefore recognizable as such only by a select few. The large majority of readers will have only a vague sense of its exceptional qualities. Even from the outside, a truly beautiful book cannot be a novelty. It must settle for mere perfection instead.