Naoki Matayoshi, Shinsuke Yoshitake: The Neverending Book (translated by Kendall Heitzman) (Norton ed., 2026) [IBR2026]

There was this one book with the names of two, er, unusual men printed on the cover. It had been created in the Kingdom of – no need to get into details. What was the book about? The story went something like this: After I finished reading this book and sat with it for a while, I realized a song was playing in my head. I kept thinking of a line from Elton John’s ‘Empty Garden,’ his tribute to John Lennon: “He must have been a gardener that cared a lot.” That’s how I felt about the people behind this book, the authors, illustrators, translator, publisher: They must’ve cared a lot. That’s particularly interesting to me because when I first got it (mailed from my local independent bookstore) and opened it, I thought there’d been a mistake. I’d ordered a new copy, and the pages were browned around the edges, like it’d been sitting in someone’s attic for a hundred years. Then I realized: the paper itself was shaded around the edges to appear aged. Except for the chapter beginnings, which…