Food52 Shop

 The books that line our shelves are expressions of who we are. In a lot of ways, they define the ways we think, the way we see ourselves, and the way we cook. Ideal Bookshelf commemorates all of these things through original paintings of our favorite collections. If you weren’t the lucky commenter who won a painting of Food52’s crowd-sourced bookshelf, here is your chance to get your hands on one. Our top ten essential cookbooks - the ones which molded us into the cooks we are, and which keep us, like our best knives, sharp in the kitchen - were put into a portrait of the spines that define our entire community. Have your own favorites? Jane Mount will make a custom painting, created just for you, as an homage to the bookshelf that characterizes you. In the age of the Kindle, Jane is turning books back into something personal, special, and uniquely yours. 
 

About Ideal Bookshelf
Artist and illustrator Jane Mount created Ideal Bookshelf with the idea that we all have a bookshelf that says a lot about who we are. Sometimes they’re books we read over and over, and other times, they’re books that have helped us find our ways. Recently Jane combined forces with writer Thessaly La Force to turn the project into a book. Called My Ideal Bookshelf, it's a compilation of over 100 creative thinkers' favorite reads, accompanied by interviews delving deeper into the meaning behind the spines that line their shelves.