Classic Paperbacks Memory Game

Every book lover's collection includes a few treasured favorites with frayed edges and covers soft from wear. Richard Baker's remarkable paintings of vintage paperback books capture these intimate details. The "book portraits" feature titles by some of the most iconic writers of the modern era, from Emily Dickinson and Mark Twain to George Orwell and Susan Sontag.

Brooklyn-based still-life painter Richard Baker started painting dog-eared copies of vintage paperbacks several years ago. He scours used bookstores in search of appropriately careworn paperbacks to immortalize in his 12-by-10.5-inch gouache portraits: "No precious first editions, no rare things--just your common companions."