Much has been written, often in books themselves, about the imminent demise of the book as we know it. To compete with dynamic new media, major book publishers, especially in design and art categories, are repackaging books as fetishized cult objects.

In terms of scale and price, the most hyperbolic exercise in recent book promotions is photographer Helmut Newton's Sumo, published by Taschen. Selling (or more likely not selling) for CDN $3750, the enormous 50 x 70 cm, 30 kg book is displayed and sold with its own Phillipe Starck designed table.

Given an uncertain market and perpetual space concerns, traditional booksellers tend to be wary of publishers' demands for showy promotional displays. So publishers are now turning to alternative outlets such as fashion and furniture design shops. Phaidon Press's Fresh Cream has been displayed and sold in large clear plastic inflatable bins by such diverse retailers as Paul Smith clothing boutiques in London and Vancouver furniture store Inform Interiors.

A compilation of critics' choices of one hundred emerging artists, Fresh Cream is more cultural artifact than book. Phaidon art director Julia Hasting designed an inflatable pillow to protect the book, maintaining its pristine condition until its owner is required to destroy the pillow to remove its contents. What Hasting didn't anticipate is that the books would become a collectible. "A lot of people told me they wouldn't open their pillows. They are just keeping the book inside, or they bought two and only opened one."

Phaidon has furthered the trend by enlisting Prada photographer Norbert Schoerner and art director David James to produce a collection of unpublished work by Schoerner. Sold in a hat box, The Order of Things is presented in a circular binding, without front or back, page numbers or any text at all. Schoerner is intrigued by the publishing industry's current preoccupation with fashion and packaging. "I think they see fashion having a very strong presence in the media," he says, suggesting that the motivation behind the packaging may be commercial, rather than creative or cultural.

Designer Karim Rashid approaches book design as he does any three-dimensional object. The hardcover edition of his new book, I Want to Change the World, pulbished by Rizzoli Universe and scheduled for release in July, is sold in a reusable translucent plastic briefcase.

Rashid explains, "The idea is part of my philosophy that secondary and tertiary packaging should be useful and not thrown away, which is what I've been doing for the last five or six years for people like Issey Miyake and the cosmetics industry."