“I think we are an outfit headed for extinction,” commented Ernest Hemingway upon seeing fake books in his fancy hotel room. Later, it is said that Hemingway went back to the bookcase and stood there stiffly and as he looked at the pasteboard backs again he said, “Phony, just like the town.” A town who had criticized his writing and was constantly jockeying for their best position at the expense of those who created art.
I think there are a lot of pasteboard book backs in our world as well. Things that are staged for the sale, but not lived in. Furniture that distressed with sandpaper, not with life. People who are photoshopped (as a verb) and filtered until unrecognizable. So much so that photos posted unaltered and raw on social media are often tagged #nofilter, as the opposite is too common.
This makes the authentic so attractive.