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Notable Book Covers of 2019

2019 has felt interminable. It has also felt like there are never enough hours in the day to keep up. You can’t talk to me about TV shows or movies. I haven’t seen any.

When it comes to books, I’m fortunate enough to work in the industry. But what hope do casual readers have of finding the good stuff when the same few titles dominate the conversation and there is so much else competing for their attention?

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood and Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid were inescapable this year.

Daisy Jones and the Six had a glamorous, louche 1970s look. The US and UK editions, designed by Caroline Teagle Johnson and Lauren Wakefield respectively, took slightly different directions with the type, but the photograph (a stock image apparently) felt ideally suited to social media.

The Testaments was everywhere and, like the recent Vintage Classics reissue of The Handmaid’s Tale, the cover illustration was unmistakably by Noma Bar. We live in an age where every cult movie and TV show gets a ‘minimalist’ poster now, and I found that The Testaments looked too familiar for me to find it engaging. It didn’t help that the cover of the 2017 US reissue of the The Handmaid’s Tale by Swedish illustrator by Patrik Svenson had already featured a similar 3/4s silhouette. Nevertheless, it was perhaps a bolder cover choice than I’m giving it credit for. If nothing else, it showed that bright green on book covers — once cursed and reviled — is suddenly all the rage!

In terms of trends, 2019 felt more like a continuation of previous years rather than a break with the past. There was a kind of conservatism to a lot of the covers I saw. My sense was that highly polished designs that looked comfortingly familiar were being approved over riskier ones that stood out from the crowd. The most interesting covers often came from small publishers, especially New Directions who seem to be giving a bit more creative license to the designers they work with (some of whom have 9-5s at much bigger publishers!).

Big centred blocks of utilitarian white type over elaborate backgrounds continued to be a mainstay. It’s the book cover as poster, and it works at any size, so I don’t think it’s going away any time soon.

Handwriting and hand-lettering remained popular too, although my sense is that enthusiasm is starting to wane as publishers are opting for greater legibility and designers are turning back to vintage type styles to give a sense of authenticity and craft. (I’m willing to admit the evidence might not back me up on this, however!)

Fun, swishy 1970s-inspired serifs like Benguiat Caslon revival Cabernet are back. People keep trying to make ITC Avant Garde — another iconic 1970s typeface — happen again too. I don’t think it works for the most part, but I can see why designers think it’s cool in a coked-up New York way. Warren Chappell’s earnest calligraphic sans serif Lydian, originally released in 1938, continued its unlikely rise as a go-to literary typeface. It even got an explainer at Vox.

Black and white portrait photography has been the staple of biographies and classics for years, so it was interesting to see closely cropped black and white photographs used on the covers of a couple of new literary novels this year. This isn’t entirely new obviously. Black and white photography has long been used to signify that something is “art” (as opposed to, say, “pornography”). But I think the latest iteration of trend was started by Cardon Webb‘s 2015 cover for A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara which used a black and white photograph by the late Peter Hujar.

Coincidentally the cover of the US edition of Garth Greenwell’s new novel Cleanness, publishing early 2020, was designed by Thomas Colligan and uses contemporary black and white photograph by Jack Davison. (The UK edition, designed by Ami Smithson fits this trend a little less neatly, but features black and white photograph by Mark McKnight)

Something that I didn’t anticipate was the use of contemporary landscape and figure painting on the covers of some the big literary releases of the year. Like black and white photography, it felt almost pre-digital — a grasp at traditional values of craft. I don’t know if I would go as far as to say it is a rejection of post-modernism. But maybe it is? I don’t know. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Thank you to all the designers and art directors who’ve been in touch and helped me identify covers for my posts. I’m sorry if I haven’t replied to your message. It’s been a year.

The Affairs of the Falcóns by Melissa Rivero; design Allison Saltzman; lettering Boyoun Kim (Ecco / April 2019)

Also designed by Allison Saltzman:

All the Lives We Ever Lived by Katharine Smyth; design by Michael Morris (Crown / January 2019)

Aug 9 —  Fog by Kathryn Scanlan; design by Na Kim (Farrar Straus & Giroux MCD / June 2019)

Also designed by Na Kim:

Baron Wenkheim’s Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai ; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / September 2019)

Berta Isla by Javier Marías; design by Kelly Blair (Knopf / August 2019)

Also designed by Kelly Blair:

Big Bang by David Bowman; design by Jamie Keenan (Corsair / August 2019)

Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James; design Helen Yentus; art by Pablo Gerardo Camacho (Riverhead / February 2019)

Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant by Joel Golby; design by Linda Huang (Anchor / March 2019)

The cover of the UK edition, published by HarperCollins imprint Mudlark in February, was designed by Bill Bragg and is also very good:

The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman; design by Sarahmay Wilkinson (W. W. Norton / August 2019)

Also designed by Sarahmay Wilkinson:

Categorically Famous by Guy Davidson; design by Michel Vrana (Stanford University Press / June 2019)

Also designed by Michel Vrana:

The Colonel’s Wife by Rosa Liksom; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / December 2019)

Also designed by Kimberly Glyder:

Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer; design Rodrigo Corral (MCD / December 2019)

Also designed by Rodrigo Corral:

Doxology by Nell Zink; design Jack Smyth (Fourth Estate / August 2019)

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk; design by Alex Merto (Riverhead / August 2019)

Driving in Cars with Homeless Men by Kate Wisel; design Catherine Casalino (University of Pittsburgh Press / October 2019)

Also designed by Catherine Casalino:

The Dry Heart by Natalia Ginzburg; design by Pablo Delcan (New Directions / July 2019)

Also designed by Pablo Delcan:

The Dutch House by Ann Patchet; design by Robin Bilardello; painting by Noah Saterstrom (HarperCollins / September 2019)

Even That Wildest Hope by Seyward Goodhand; design by Megan Fildes (Invisible Books / September 2019)

The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada; design by Janet Hansen; photography by Arthur Woodcroft (New Directions / October 2019)

Also designed by Janet Hansen:

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold; design by Jo Thomson (Transworld / February 2019)

Follow Me To Ground by Sue Rainsford; design and illustration Beci Kelly (Transworld / August 2019)

Follow This Thread by Henry Eliot; design by Elena Giavaldi (Three Rivers Press / March 2019) 

Holy Lands by Amanda Sthers; design by Tree Abraham (Bloomsbury / January 2019)

Also designed by Tree Abraham:

Humiliation by Paulina Flores; design by Nicole Caputo (Catapult / November 2019)

Also designed by Nicole Caputo:

Indelible in the Hippocampus by Shelly Oria; design by Sunra Thompson (MacSweeney’s / September 2019)

Lanny by Max Porter; design by Jonny Pelham (Faber & Faber / March 2019)

Learning from the Germans by Susan Neiman; design by Tom Etherington (Allen Lane / August 2019)

Tom Etherington is also the designer of Penguin magazine The Happy Reader:

Life Support by Julia Copus; design by Helen Crawford-White (Head of Zeus / April 2019)

The Light That Failed by Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / October 2019)

Malina by Ingeborg Bachman; design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions / June 2019)

Mind Fixers by Anne Harrington; design by Matt Dorfman (W.W. Norton / April 2019)

Mothers by Chris Power; design by Grace Han (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / January 2019)

Also designed by Grace Han:

Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin; design by Stephen Brayda (Riverhead / January 2019)

Muscle by Alan Trotter; design by Gray318 (Faber & Faber / February 2019)

Also designed by Gray318:

Never a Lovely So Real by Colin Asher; design by Jonathan Bush (W. W. Norton / April 2019)

Not Working by Josh Cohen; design by Matthew Young (Granta / January 2019)

Also designed by Matthew Young:

One Day by Gene Weingarten; design by David Litman (Blue Rider / October 2019)

Also designed by David Litman:

Our Women on the Ground edited by Zahra Hankir; design by Rosie Palmer; hand lettering by Lily Jones (Harvill Secker / August 2019)

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson; design by Jaya Miceli (Riverhead / September 2019)

Also designed by Jaya Miceli:

Safe Houses I Have Known by Steve Healey; design by Alban Fischer (Coffee House Press / September 2019)

Also designed by Alban Fischer:

Say Say Say by Lila Savage; design by Jennifer Carrow (Knopf / July 2019)

Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke; design by Anne Jordan & Mitch Goldstein (Open Letter Books / December 2019)

Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / August 2019)

Oliver Munday wrote about designing the cover for New Directions at Literary Hub earlier this year.

He also designed a lot my favourite covers this year…

Turbulence by David Szalay; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Scribner / July 2019)

The Unwanted by Michael Dobbs; design by Tyler Comrie (Knopf / April 2019)

Also designed by Tyler Comrie:

The Volunteer by Salvatore Scibona; design by Rachel Willey (Penguin / March 2019)

Also designed by Rachel Willey:

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates; design Greg Mollica; art Calida Garcia Rawles (One World / September 2019)

The White Death by Gabriel Urza; design by Joan Wong (Nouvella / June 2019)

A Year Without a Name by Cyrus Grace Dunham; design by Lucy Kim (Little Brown & Co. / October 2019)

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Book Covers of Note January 2019

Here are this month’s book covers of note. Better late than never I suppose! (And so much for that New Year’s Resolution to better at blogging in 2019!). I’ll be starting on February’s post next week…


Cusp by Josephine Wilson; design by Alissa Dinallo (UWA Publishing / August 2018)

Starting my first 2019 covers post with a book from 2018 is not ideal, is it? Ah well… Take a look at some of the rejected covers on Alissa’s Instagram.   


The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker; design by Anna Kochman (Random House / January 2019)


Holy Lands by Amanda Sthers; design by Tree Abraham (Bloomsbury / January 2019)


Joy Enough by Sarah McColl; design by Catherine Casalino (Liveright / January 2019)


Maid by Stephanie Land; design by Amanda Kain (Hachette / January 2019)

You guys are weird… 

The cover of the UK edition of Maid, published by Trapeze, also features rubber gloves FWIW. Sadly I don’t know who designed it.  


McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh; design by Ben Denzer (Penguin / January 2019)


Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin; design by Stephen Brayda (Riverhead / January 2019)


No! by Charles Nemeth; design by James Paul Jones (Atlantic Books / January 2019)


Not Working by Josh Cohen; design by Matthew Young (Granta / January 2019)

I saw this in a bookstore on a recent visit to the UK. It stood out in a display of new nonfiction. I think it was the doodle-like looseness of the approach that initially caught my eye, but I also like that it feels like a parody of the contemporary nonfiction cover template. 


Old Newgate Road by Keith Scribner; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / January 2019)


An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma; design by Gray318 (Little, Brown & Company / January 2019)

Jon also designed the cover of Chigozie Obioma’s previous novel The Fishermen:

The cover of the UK edition of An Orchestra of Minorities, published by Little, Brown, was designed by Nico Taylor.

Also in the UK, Pushkin Press have a new edition of The Fishermen with a cover by Anna Morrison:


Salt On Your Tongue by Charlotte Runcie; design by Gray318 (Canongate / January 2019)


Savage Frontier by Matthew Carr; design by Dan Mogford (Hurst / November 2018)


The Soprano Sessions by Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall; design by Mike McQuade (Abrams / January 2019)


To the River by Don Gillmor; design by Five Seventeen (Random House Canada / December 2018)


The Wall by John Lanchester; design by Alex Kirby (Faber & Faber / January 2019)


The Weight of a Piano by Chris Cander; design by Kelly Blair (Knopf / January 2019)

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Book Covers of Note October 2018

Here are the book covers that caught my eye this month… 


Beirut Hellfire Society by Rawi Hage; design by Lisa Jager (Knopf Canada / August 2018)


The Boatbuilder by Daniel Gumbiner; design by Sunra Thompson (McSweeney’s / May 2018)

This goes rather nicely with Sunra’s cover for the hardcover of All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews…


The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke; design by Elizabeth H. Clark; illustration by Will Staehle (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / October 2018)


The Death Scene Artist by Andrew Wilmot; design by Michel Vrana (Wolsak & Wynn / October 2018)

I guess skulls aren’t going out of fashion any time soon! 


‘Exterminate the Brutes’ by Sven Lindqvist; design by Luke Bird (Granta / October 2018)

One for the maps list


The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis; design by Pete Garceau (W. W. Norton / October 2018)

I feel like I should at least try to collect some of the best political covers from the past year or so together into a post at some point. On the other hand, I really don’t want to…  


Gin: Distilled by Gin Foundry; design by James Paul Jones (Ebury Press / October 2018)


The Infinite Blacktop by Sara Gran; design by Alex Merto (Atria Books / September 2018)


Nervous States by William Davies; design by Suzanne Dean (Jonathan Cape / September 2018)


No Country Woman by Zoya Patel; design by Astred Hicks (Hachette Australia / August 2018)


Océans by James Hyndman; design by David Drummond (Les Éditions XYZ / September 2018)


Rabbit & Robot by Andrew Smith; Design by Lucy Ruth Cummins; art by Mike Perry (Simon & Schuster / September 2018)


Red Birds by Mohammed Hanif; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / October 2018)


Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand; design by Aurora Parlagreco; illustration by Ruben Ireland (Katherine Tegen Books / October 2018)


Something Great and Beautiful by Enrico Pellegrini; design by Gray318 (Other Press / September 2018)

I’m not entirely sure why, but cover of Something Great and Beautiful brought to mind the 2014 cover of the UK edition of The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison, designed by Tom Darracott for Granta. They’re really not that similar, and yet… 


Son of Amity by Peter Nathaniel Malae; design by David Drummond (Oregon State University Press / October 2018)


Statistics Without Tears by Derek Rowntree; design by Matthew Young (Penguin / June 2018)


There Will Be No Miracles Here by Casey Gerald; design by Grace Han (Riverhead Books / October 2018)

Are black and white stripes / op art having a moment in New York?  

Both these covers reminded me of Riverhead art director Helen Yentus’s black and white cover for The Stranger by Albert Camus: 


Wasted Calories and Ruined Nights by Jay Rayner; design by Dan Mogford (Faber & Faber / October 2018)

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Notable Book Covers of 2017

Since 2010, I’ve posted an annual survey of the year in book covers. The post has expanded and developed over the past 7 years, but essentially it is a collection of the covers published in the previous 12 months that I found interesting or noteworthy in some way. As with the previous couple of years, the 2017 list is organized by covers (alphabetical by title), and by designer so that I can show a greater variety of work, and no one designer or studio dominates. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported the blog this year, and special thanks to all the designers, art directors, authors, publishers, and fellow design enthusiasts who have helped me with covers and design credits. My sincere apologies to the designers and publishers not on this year’s list and whose covers I have overlooked in the past 12 months. 

A post looking back on the YA covers of 2017 is to follow.    


Adult Fantasy by Briohny Doyle design by Laura Thomas (Scribe / July 2017)



Age of Anger by Pankaj Mishra; design by Matthew Young (Allen Lane / February 2017)



The Age of Perpetual Light by Josh Weil; design by Nick Misani (Grove Press / September 2017)



All We Saw by Anne Michaels; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Jouke Bos (Knopf / October 2017)

Also designed by Janet Hansen:



Always Happy Hour by Mary Miller; design by Elena Giavaldi; art by Lee Price (Liveright / January 2017)

Also designed by Elena Giavaldi:



The Angry Chef by Anthony Warner; design by Steven Leard (Oneworld / June 2017)



Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou; design by Gray318 (Serpent’s Tail / April 2017)

Also designed by Gray318:



The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa; design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions / August 2017)

Also designed by Peter Mendelsund:



The Cutaway by Christina Kovac; design by Laywan Kwan (Atria / March 2017)

Also designed by Laywan Kwan:



Don’t Save Anything by Jame Salter; design by Zoe Norvell (Counterpoint / November 2017)



England Your England by George Orwell; design by David Pearson (Penguin Modern Classics / March 2017)

Also designed by David Pearson:



English Uprising by Paul Stocker; design by Jamie Keenan (Melville House / September 2017)

Also designed by Jamie Keenan:



The Experiment by Eric Lee; design by David A. Gee (Zed Books / September 2017)

Also designed by David Gee:



The Fall of Lisa Bellow by Susan Perabo; design by Alison Forner (Simon & Schuster / March 2017)



The Futures by Anna Pitoniak; design by Lauren Harms (Lee Boudreaux Books / January 2017)

Also designed by Lauren Harms:



Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag; design by Luke Bird (Faber & Faber / April 2017)

Also designed by Luke Bird:



The Good People by Hannah Kent; design by Rachel Vale (Picador / February 2017)



The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; art direction by Christopher Moisan; illustration by Patrik Svensson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / April 2017)

This HMH cover was my favourite of the new editions of The Handmaid’s Tales, but Noma Bar’s cover for Vintage UK was also nice.



The Hearts of Men by Nickolas Butler; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / March 2017)

Also designed by Allison Saltzman: 



Heating & Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly; design by Alex Merto; photograph by Gregory Reid (W.W. Norton / December 2017)

Also designed by Alex Merto:



Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / October 2017)

Also designed by Kimberly Glyder:



Hollow by Owen Egerton; design by Matt Dorfman (Counterpoint / July 2017)

Also designed by Matt Dorfman:



How Will I Know You? by Jessic Treadway; design by Catherine Casalino; illustration by Henrietta Harris (Grand Central Publishing / August 2017)



I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell; design by Yeti Lambregts (Tinder Press / August 2017)

Also designed by Yeti Lambregts:



The Idiot by Elif Batuman; design by Suzanne Dean; illustration by Aino-Maija Metsola (Jonathan Cape / June 2017)

Also designed by Suzanne Dean:



The Idiot by Elif Batuman; design by Oliver Munday (Penguin / March 2017)

Also designed by Oliver Munday:



Insomniac Dreams: Experiments with Time by Vladimir Nabokov compiled and edited by Gennady Barabtarlo; design by Chris Ferrante (Princeton University Press / December 2017)

Also designed by Chris Ferrante:



Jerusalem Ablaze by Orlando Ortega-Medina; design by La Boca (Cloud Lodge Books / January 2017)

Also designed by La Boca: 



Jerzy by Jerome Charyn; design by Alban Fischer (Bellevue Literary Press / March 2017)



Little Deaths by Emma Flint; design by Justine Anweiler (Picador / January 2017)

Also designed by Justine Anweiler:



Lotus by Lijia Zhang; design by Adly Elewa (Henry Holt / January 2017)



Manly Health and Training by Walt Whitman; design by Richard Ljoenes (Regan Arts / February 2017)



Midlife: A Philosophical Guide by Kieran Setiya; design by Amanda Weiss (Princeton University Press / October 2017)



Narcissism for Beginners by Martine McDonagh; design by Tree Abraham (Unbound / March 2017)



Nicotine by Gregor Hens; design by John Gall (Other Press / January 2017)



One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul; design by C.S. Richardson (Doubleday Canada / March 2017)

Scott was also responsible for my favourite of the (many) Ninety Eighty-Four redesigns this season. 



The Parcel by Anosh Irani; design by Allison Colpoys (Scribe / September 2017)

Also designed by Allison Colpoys:



Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / May 2017)

Also designed by Rachel Willey:



A Separation by Katie Kitamura; design by Jaya Miceli (Riverhead / February 2017)

Also designed by Jaya Miceli:



Sex & Rage by Eve Babitz; design by Kelly Winton (Counterpoint / July 2017)


Strange Heart Beating by Eli Goldstone; design by Jo Walker (Granta / May 2017)

Also designed by Jo Walker:



Swimmer Among the Stars by Kanishk Tharoor; design by Tyler Comrie (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / March 2017)

Also designed by Tyler Comrie:



The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Scribner / March 2017)

Also designed by Lauren Peters-Collaer:



Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash by Eka Kurniawan; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / August 2017)

Also designed by Erik Carter:



Virgin and Other Stories by April Ayers Lawson; design by James Paul Jones (Granta / January 2017)

Also designed by James Paul Jones: 



We All Love the Beautiful Girls by Joanne Proulx; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Viking / August 2017)

Also designed by Jennifer Griffiths:



Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / June 2017)

Also designed by Greg Heinimann:



Why Poetry by Matthew Zapruder; design by Sara Wood (Ecco / August 2017)

Also designed by Sara Wood:



Would Everybody Please Stop? by Jenny Allen; design by Na Kim (Sarah Crichton Books / June 2017)

Also designed by Na Kim:



The World Goes On by László Krasznahorkai; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / November 2017)

The cover of Sahre’s “graphic memoir” Two Dimensional Man is also great. 



Writing Not Writing by Tom Fisher; design by  Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (University of Iowa Press / July 2017)(University of Iowa Press / July 2017)

Also designed by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein:



The Zoo of the New edited by Nick Laird & Don Paterson; design by Richard Green (Particular Books / March 2017)

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Penguin Short Stories

Penguin book of the British Short Story Tom Gauld

Cor Blimey! Tom Gauld for The Guardian.

And, if you’re curious, the rather splendid covers for the actual two volumes of The Penguin Book of the British Short Story were designed by Matthew Young:

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Book Covers of Note November 2015

Next month I’ll say goodbye to 2015 with my annual list of my favourite covers of the year. Until then, here’s November’s book covers of note, my last monthly covers post for the 2015:

baddeley brothers design David Pearson
Baddeley Brothers by The Gentle Author; design David Pearson (October 2015)

9780374166670
The Big Green Tent by Ludmila Ulitskaya; design by Devin Washburn (FSG / November 2015)

(I previously included Devin’s cover in my November 2014 post before discovering that publication had been postponed until 2015. It’s so good that I figure it deserved a second shot now the book is finally coming out this month.)

A Brief History of Seven Killings Special Edition design James Paul Jones
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (Special Edition); design James Paul Jones (Oneworld / November 2015)

Book of Magic design Matthew Young
The Book of Magic by Brian Copenhaver; design Matthew Young (Penguin / November 2015)

Dont Suck Dont Die design by Lindsay Starr
Don’t Suck, Don’t Die: Giving Up Vic Chesnutt by Kristin Hersh; design by  Lindsay Starr (University of Texas; October 2015)

Drinking in America Rex Bonomelli
Drinking in America by Susan Cheever; design by Rex Bonomelli (Twelve Books / October 2015)

Early Stories of Truman Capote design David Pearson
Early Stories of Truman Capote; design by David Pearson (Penguin / November 2015)

Eternal Zero design by Peter Mendelsund
The Eternal Zero Naoki Hyakuta; design by Peter Mendelsund (Vertical / November 2015)

Hausfrau design by Gabrielle Bordwin Photographer Mihaela Ninic
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum; design by Gabrielle Bordwin; Photographer Mihaela Ninic (Random House / August 2015)

Home is Burning design by Rodrigo Corral
Home is Burning by Dan Marshall; design by Rodrigo Corral (Flatiron / October 2015)

Just an Ordinary Day design Edel Rodriguez

Just an Ordinary Day by Shirley Jackson; design Edel Rodriguez (Random House / August 2015?)1

Let Me Tell You design by Edel Rodriguez
Let Me Tell You by Shirley Jackson; design by Edel Rodriguez (Random House / August 2015)

The Mare design by Oliver Munday
The Mare by Mary Gaitskill; design by Oliver Munday (Pantheon / November 2015)

Mass Disruption design CS RIchardson
Mass Disruption by John Stackhouse; design by Scott Richardson (Random House Canada / October 2015)

Norwegian Wood
Norwegian Wood by Lars Mytting; design by John Gall (Abrams / October 2015)

Only Street in Paris design by Strick&Williams
The Only Street in Paris by Elaine Schiolino; design by Strick & Williams (W.W. Norton / November 2015)

The Reflection design by Adly Elewa
The Reflection by Hugo Wilcken; design by Adly Elewa (Melville House / September 2015)

busylife_cover_hi-res
Some Recollections of a Busy Life by T.S. Hawkins; design by Jessica Hische; illustration by Wesley Allsbrook (McSweeney’s / November 2015)

Souffles-Anfas design Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein
Souffles-Anfas edited by Olivia C. Harrison and Teresa Villa-Ignacio; design Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Stanford University Press / November 2015)

Southern Insurgency design by Jamie Keenan
Southern Insurgency by Immanuel Ness; design by Jamie Keenan (Pluto Press / November 2015)

trace design by Debbie Berne
Trace by Lauret Savory; design by Debbie Berne (Counterpoint / November 2015)

Unfaithful Music design by Spencer Kimble
Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello; design by Spencer Kimble (Blue Rider Press / October 2015)

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Front Row: The Art of Book Cover Design


BBC Radio 4’s Front Row talks to Suzanne Dean, creative director at Random House UK, about the art of book cover design. Dean, who was very publicly thanked by Julian Barnes for her work on his book The Sense of an Ending, has been responsible for more Booker-winning covers than any other designer apparently.

Host John Wilson also chats with designer Matthew Young about the relaunched Pelican Books, while authors Ian McEwan, Tom McCarthy and Audrey Niffenegger, and Telegraph books editor Gaby Wood, share their thoughts on what makes a good book cover.

BBC Radio 4 Front Row: The Art of Book Cover Design mp3

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Book Covers of Note May 2014

Another month, another selection of beautiful book covers…

9781447258896
The Axeman’s Jazz by Ray Celestin; design by Jo Thomson (Mantle May 2014)


The Bees by Laline Paull; design by Steve Attardo (Ecco May 2014)

DorothyMustDie
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige; design by Ray Shapell (HarperCollins April 2014)

enlightenment
Enlightenment 2.0 by Joseph Heath; design by David A. Gee (HarperCollins April 2014)

goodbye-to-all-that
Goodbye To All That by Robert Graves; design by Matthew Young (Penguin May 2014)

Karate-Chop
Karate Chop by Dorthe Nors; design by Carol Hayes (Graywolf February 2014)

lunch-at-the-shop
Lunch at the Shop: The Art and Practice of the Midday Meal by Peter Miller; design by John Gall (Abrams April 2014)

one-and-only
The One and Only by Emily Giffin; design by Jennifer Heuer (Ballantine May 2014)

other-language
The Other Language by Francesca Marciano; design by Ben Wiseman (Pantheon April 2014)

raising-hell
Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell) by Jane McAlevey; design by Gray318 (Verso Books May 2014)

9781447229759
Vanishing by Gerard Woodward; design by Jamie Keenan (Picador UK March 2014)

young-skins
Young Skins: Stories by Colin Barrett; design by James Paul Jones (Jonathan Cape March 2014)

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Triangles, Quadrangles, Shards, and Fragments

This is my last post on book covers and triangles — for the time being at least. I hope you’ve enjoyed this three-sided, three-post design diversion (you can see the previous posts here and here):

Adjacent
The Adjacent by Christopher Priest; design by Martin Stiff, Amazing15 (Titan Books April 2014) 1

book-of-heaven
The Book of Heaven by Patricia Storace; design by Linda Huang (Pantheon February 2014)

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The Books of My Lives by Aleksandar Hemon; design by Jonathan Pelham (Picador February 2014)

box-of-birds
A Box of Birds by Charles Fernyhough; design by Dan Mogford (Unbound May 2013)

close-to-the-machine
Close to the Machine by Ellen Ullman; design by Clare Skeats (Pushkin Press March 2013)

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Connectome by Sebastian Seung; design by Matthew Young (Penguin June 2013)

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Contradance by John Peck; design by Natalie F. Smith (University of Chicago Press October 2011)

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Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky; design by Peter Mendelsund (Vintage August 2004)

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Gun Dealers’ Daughter by Gina Apostol; design by Jaya Miceli (W. W. Norton August 2012)

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November 1916 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Farrar, Straus & Giroux August 2014)

August 1914 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Farrar, Straus & Giroux August 2014)

Stories and Prose Poems by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Farrar, Straus & Giroux November 2014)

Design by Oliver Munday

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The Scandal of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton; design by Matthew Young (Penguin

snowdrops
Snowdrops by A. D. Miller; design by Emily Mahon (Doubleday February 2011)

time-machine
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin May 2012)

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We Are Animals by Justin Torres; design by Gray318 (Granta March 2012)

your-face-mine
Your Face in Mine by Jess Row; design by Oliver Munday (Riverhead August 2014)

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Some Recent Book Covers of Note

I haven’t posted a lot of book covers recently, so to amend the situation here’s a completely unscientific selection of a few designs that have caught my eye recently:

Middle C by William Gass; Design by Gabriele Wilson

Sorry Please Thank You by Charles Yu; Design by Cardon Webb

On the Map by Simon Garfied; Design by Roberto de Vicq

Me and the Devil by Nick Tosches; Design by Keith Hayes

Lionel Asbo by Martin Amis; Design by Jamie Keenan

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner; Design by Charlotte Strick

London Underground by Design by Mark Ovenden; design by Matthew Young

The Silence of Animals by John Gray; designer unknown (image: Animalia N.1 by Carnovsky)

 

NB: You can find more book cover designs at The Accidental Optimist and my Pinterest.

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Favourite Covers of 2012

For the past couple of years now (since Joseph Sullivan put the Book Design Review on ice in fact), I’ve been posting a short list of my favourite covers for books for the year. Now that thing for the New York Times is out of the way, I’m free to post my list for 2012.

To make a couple of very general observations about book design this year, the cover that probably made the greatest impact was Fifty Shades of Gray. It was a design that made it OK to read erotica in public, something which surely contributed to the book’s breakout success — a point not lost on other publishers who rushed to re-package their own erotica titles in a similar fashion. The results inevitably lacked the finesse of the original, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as they say…

But while the cover of Fifty Shades of Gray smartly defied the conventions of its genre, it wasn’t an exciting cover and some publishers seemed to be more conservative in their design choices, playing it safe or relying on formulas. The jacket for The Casual Vacancy could hardly have been more forgettable, and it was not alone. A bland sameness crept in. Perhaps that could be said every year. I suspect, however, that smaller budgets, tighter deadlines, and readers browsing thumbnails rather than shelves had an effect.

Nevertheless, some publishers were willing to trust their art directors and designers, and publish interesting and challenging covers. If I was to identify a common theme to my choices this year, it would be hand-drawn lettering and illustrated designs. With the ubiquity of stock photos and uninspired type-choices, that seems to be where the interesting things are happening, at least to my mind. Perhaps photographs will make a come back next year?

After Freud Left edited by John Burnham; designed by Isaac Tobin
University of Chicago Press

All Men Are Liars by Alberto Manguel; design by Jason Booher
Riverhead

El asenino hipocondríaco by Juan Jacinto Muñoz Rengel; design by Ferran López, illustration Santiago Caruso
Plaza & Janés


Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss by Philip Nel; design by Chris Ware
University Press of Mississippi

Cruel Britannia by Ian Cobain; design by FUEL
Portobello Books

The Dubliners by James Joyce; design by Apfel Zet / Richard Bravery
Penguin Essentials, Penguin (UK)

The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus; design by Peter Mendelsund
Knopf

A Free Man by Aman Sethi; design by Ben Wiseman
W.W. Norton

Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood; illustration by Vania Zouravliov

Vintage Isherwood, Vintage (UK)

The Heart Broke In by James Meek; design by Jennifer Carrow; illustration by Michele Banks
Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Hope: A Tragedy: A Novel by Shalom Auslander; design by John Gall
Riverhead

How to Sharpen Pencils by David Rees; design by Christopher Brian King
Melville House

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson; design by Jonny Pelham
Hesperus Press

Husk: A Novel by Corey Redekop; design by David A. Gee

In Praise of Nonsense by Ted Hiebert; design by David Drummond
McGill-Queens University Press

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; design by Cardon Webb

Vintage (US)

Lost at Sea by Jon Ronson; design by Matt Dorfman
Riverhead

May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes; designed by Alison Forner
Viking

Men in Space by Tom McCarthy; design by John Gall
Vintage (US)

NW by Zadie Smith; designed by Gray318
Hamish Hamilton

Office Girl by Joe Meno; design by Cody Hudson, photograph by Todd Baxter
Akashic

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; design by Jessica Hische / Paul Buckley

Penguin Drop Cap, Penguin (US)

Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton; design Leanne Shapton / Matthew Young
Particular Books

Watergate: A Novel by Thomas Mallon; design by Paul Sahre

Why We Build by Rowan Moore; illustration by Diane Berg
Picador (UK)

Honourable Mentions:

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You can find my lists for 2010 and 2011 here and here, and if you haven’t seen my 50 covers post from earlier this year, you can find that here. Happy Holidays!

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