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Shirley Tucker on Book Design

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was first published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. To mark the book’s 50th anniversary, Faber & Faber have posted a series of fascinating video interviews with Shirley Tucker, who designed the cover of their original 1966 edition.

After studying graphic art at the Royal College, Tucker spent several years working in Penguin’s design department, then headed by the distinguished German designer Hans Schmoller. She joined Faber in 1959 and worked alongside another great German emigre typographer, Berthold Wolpe (who created the Albertus typeface used on many of Faber’s typographic covers). Tucker worked in Faber production department until her retirement in 1987.

Shirley Tucker on Designing Book Covers:

Shirley Tucker on her Favourite Faber Covers:

Shirley Tucker on Berthold Wolpe:

One Comment

  1. […] to women. While I’m notching up the negatives, there’s also the simple fact that the original cover by Shirley Tucker is a thing of great beauty: a timeless classic that is to the new cover as a single-malt is to tar […]

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