Apple devotees may want to consider adding a new book to their coffee tables, as Iconic offers a photographic tribute to the Cupertino company's products and innovations, from the Apple I on through today's iPads and iPhones.
was four years in the making, and it features images of as many Apple products as the author could locate. Jonathan Zufi, the book's creator, captured more than 150,000 photos in the process of making Iconic, including rare prototypes and Apple packaging. Of those photos, more than 650 have made their way into Iconic, and Zufi displays more than 3,500 others on his Shrine of Apple website.
For the last four years, Zufi has been collecting Apple products, amassing his collection of more than 500 products from online and other sources. It is that collection, along with contributions from Apple fans worldwide, that provided the subject matter for Iconic.
The book is divided into six sections, with the first focusing on Apple's desktop history. It begins with the Apple I — the company's first computer, which often sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction — and follows through to the 2012 iMac. The next section deals with Apple's portables, from the 16-pound first-generation Macintosh Portable on through the MacBook Air.
From there, the book explores peripherals, looking at Apple's printers, digital cameras, and other products. Another section deals with Apple's iDevices, which have led to the company's rejuvenation and ascension, starting with the iPod and following through to recent iPhones and iPads.
The latter sections explore Apple's prototypes — with images taken of devices from Apple enthusiasts' personal collections — and even the company's product packaging, which has long been acknowledged as a small but key differentiator for the iPhone maker.
The book also contains forewards and essays from a number of important figures, commentators, and influencers from Apple's history. Among those are Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, early Apple employee Daniel Kottke, Ken Segall, Jim Dalrymple, and more.
The form of the book itself is meant to align with the design sense of the products it hails, with its landscape layout measuring 12" x 9.625". Iconic is printed on 105lb. GoldEast matte paper, with a dust jacket printed on 105 lb. art gloss with film lamination. The endpapers are printed on 95 lb. white woodfree, plain white paper. The whole production is Smyth sewn-bound. The independently-published book will also be available in a Classic Edition, which comes with a book case designed to look like the form factor of assorted Apple devices from the 1970s and 1980s.
Iconic is available for order now from the book's site. The standard version, available to ship now, costs $75, with shipping calculated at check out. The Special Edition costs $300, and ships in mid-October.