Reliquary
They called them books
It is not hard to imagine, in a not-so-distant future, a time when all but a few physical books have been destroyed. Perhaps to make room for more people, perhaps because everything has been digitized, or perhaps because they are no longer valued.
Reliquary represents the rarity of the last remaining paper copies. As with the fragments of the holy, the volume is too precious for anyone to hold in its entirety. Instead, small preserved pieces are parsed out to those most suitable to protect them, or those wealthy enough to acquire public treasure for private use.
Each Reliquary features 5 different books, 50 titles in total. Books are library discards that are shredded and displayed in glass test tubes with a cork stopper, sealed with beeswax, and tied with tag titles cut from the original books. Each set of 5 test tubes is presented in a display case. ©2015 Edition of 10, $200. {1 copy remaining}