Tales to Take Your Breath Away

In conjunction with the ban on smoking in public places in the UK on July 1, 2007, the publisher Tank Books is launching a series of miniature books that mimic packs of cigarettes. Each book is the same size as a pack of cigarettes and packaged in a flip-top carton sealed in cellophane. Titles include such literary classics as Joseph Conrad's “Heart of Darkness”, Ernest Hemingway's “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” Franz Kafka's “The Metamorphosis,” Rudyard Kipling's “The Man who would be King,” Robert Louis Stevenson's “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Leo Tolstoy's “The Death of Ivan Ilych.” Tank Books says that cigarette packs are iconic objects and believes that, over time, Tank Books will become iconic objects in their own right.

The subversive aspect intrigues me and they are a triumph in design, but if you're going to quit smoking and pick up a book instead, do you really want to read “Heart of Darkness” or “Metamorphosis?” It might make more than a few people reach for a cigarette again.