Located in the heart of Bordeaux, Librairie Mollat predominantly prides itself on a few achievements: its long and successful 121-year history, its role as France’s first independent bookstore, and, now, Book Face, its wildly popular photographic series that seamlessly blends book covers with faces.
Book Face presents a literary twist on Sleeveface, a strikingly similar trend that prompts participants to merge real-life people with album sleeves. In both cases, an individual is photographed with perfectly placed cover art obstructing all or part of their face. While Sleeveface typically incorporates photographic portraits of musical artists, however, Book Face features a myriad of art forms. This includes paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs, all of which often adorn book jackets. What results is a delightfully diverse and comical assortment of trompe l’oeil portraits. In the series, employees of Libraire Mollat playfully pose with the books. Each novel ranges from contemporary works of fiction and classic novels to comprehensive biographies and art history books. Whatever the genre, however, Mollat’s staff is sure to turn each book into a modern masterpiece.
The bookstore posts each silly snapshot on their Instagram page, where you will also find inventory highlights, creative displays, and other in-shop treats.
Scroll down for a selection of ingenious Book Face photographs!
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h/t: [Laughing Squid]