Quirk Books : Publishers & Seekers of All Things Awesome

Whither clipart? The ubiquitous, cartoonily slapdash style of grab-n-go graphics has faded into technological memory as fast as the ZIP disk (case in point: my first clipart library was stored ON a ZIP disk).

But no more! Clipart deserves to be an immortal art form, and what better way to make it so than by pairing it with deathless works of classic literature? (Don't roll your eyes—this is a Very Good Idea.) Here are seven new clipped-up covers, in all their garish glory.

Via New York Public Library's Facebook

Libraries have always been an important part of my life. When I was younger, going to the library was a regular occurrence for my family. Since we lived in New York City, there were a few of them that we would frequent and each one was special in its own right. The one closest to us had three floors and I remember climbing up and down those stairs to the different levels, each section brimming with books.

This was the first library I became familiar with and I can still picture it even though I haven’t been there in a very long time. One thing I’ll never forget is the feeling when a librarian guides you to the book you had inquired about, takes it off the shelf, and puts it in your hands. It’s a magical transaction, like being given a ticket to journey to another world.

The library of my teenage years was in a turn of the century Carnegie building and also the largest library in my borough. One time, I spent hours there with my father collecting data for a science project, something that would have taken a fraction of the time if the internet had existed, but it’s a happy memory that I would not have had if that were the case. When I was old enough, I went there by myself to work on research projects for school, looking for resources as I navigated the stacks.