As founder and CEO of Juniper Books, Thatcher Wine ’94 has earned a chapter in publishing history thanks to his controversial invention: the book mural, his patented technique that splashes one image across the spines of multiple books. The result is eye-popping—a 4-foot-tall Eiffel Tower splintered into dozens of covers gracing a design showroom, a wall-spanning Brooklyn Bridge stretching across hundreds of books for the shelves of a homesick ex-Manhattanite.

Juniper’s murals are mostly for corporate clients—hotels, bars, country clubs—that want to dazzle visitors. During the past 18 years Juniper has sold more than a million books. They include classics by authors who range from Toni Morrison to Tolstoy. Each sports Wine’s custom-made dust jacket. 

Half the company’s revenue comes from custom curation of libraries. More than 3,000 well-heeled bibliophiles, including Oprah, Jessica Chastain, and Shonda Rhimes ’91, have enlisted Wine to decorate their homes with books that read well and look good. While some jobs have run into the six-figures, the average cost is $2,500.

All images courtesy Juniper Books.

Read more about Wine in our November/December 2019 issue.