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Notable Book Covers of 2023

At the turn of the year, writer and activist Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshitification.” Although he was specifically describing the process of online services getting worse for users, it was hard not to see it everywhere in 2023.

In his annual look at the year’s best book covers for the New York Times, art director Matt Dorfman recounts a friend describing 2023 as a “year of survival”, a year of “no growth, no withering, just getting by.”

This year saw a centuries-old business contending with rounds of buyouts and layoffs, alongside an endless news cycle involving two brutal wars from which no authors, friends, enemies or strangers were immune from accountability for any unrehearsed sentiment they might voice in passing. Add to this the ongoing concern about how artificial intelligence will affect a business historically dependent upon human creativity — yet through it all, there was still the matter of making books, and their covers, to get on with.

I read Matt’s piece the same day I read an article by Kyle Chayka in the New Yorker about his search for an epochal term to “evoke the panicky incoherence of our lives of late.” The suggestions range from the bland ‘Long 2016,’ to the incredibly ominous-sounding ‘Chthulucene,’ the Lovecraftian ‘New Dark Age,’ and the frankly terrifying and plausible ‘Jackpot’ from William Gibson’s 2014 novel The Peripheral.

This was the context of life and work in 2023.

Matt notes some designers found inspiration in the zeitgeist. He’s not wrong. But, ironically perhaps, I feel less optimistic about the overall picture than he does.

At the risk of repeating what I’ve written in the past couple of years, it’s like we’re stuck in a holding pattern, circling the same design ideas. Trends have stuck around. A lot of covers feel safe. Some of this was the books themselves. I’m not sure exactly how many celebrity memoirs is too many, but I’m pretty sure we reached that point and sailed right past it in 2023. No doubt some of it is sales and marketing departments sanding down all the edges and demanding the tried and true (see Zachary Petit’s alternative best of 2023 piece on killed covers for Fast Company). But I would not be surprised if it designers were just getting caught up in the churn — too many books, too many covers, and too much other stuff to worry about.

Or maybe it’s just me.

One of the themes of the year was nostalgia, which I’m sure can also be put down to the present being pretty fucking awful. It was apparent across almost all genres, including literary fiction, but nowhere more so than in the resurgent supernatural suspense and horror categories. There were creative stylistic mashups with retro vibes, along side fastidious Stranger Things-like homages to the 1980s and Stephen King.

One genuinely pleasant surprise was the number of interesting covers from Canadian publishers this year. They’ve been quietly risk-averse in recent years, so it was nice to see a few bolder design choices getting approved. I was happy to see a Canadian cover was one of the top picks on Literary Hub’s (very, very long) list of the best covers of 2023.  

There were other things to cheer this year too.

Spine continued to give space to designers to talk about their work in a way I’ve never been able to do consistently here. You can find their 2023 cover picks here.

David Pearson started the Book Cover Review, a website for short reviews of book covers.

Zoe Norvell’s I Need A Book Cover, a resource for book cover inspiration as well as place for authors and publishers to connect with designers, also went live.

Steve Leard launched Cover Meeting, a podcast series of in-depth interviews with cover designers (including David and Zoe among others). As Mark Sinclair notes in his piece on book cover design this year for Creative Review, Steve’s conversations shed light on wider concerns in the industry as well as each designer’s individual process. Have a listen if you haven’t already.

Thanks for reading.

The Adult by Bronwyn Fischer; design by Kate Sinclair (Random House Canada / May 2023)

Also designed by Kate Sinclair:

The Annual Banquet of The Gravediggers’ Guild by Mathias Énard; design by John Gall (New Directions / December 2023)

I like John’s cover for Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, also published by New Directions, a lot too.

Bariloche by Andrés Neuman; design by Alban Fischer (Open Letter / March 2023)

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2023)

Also designed by Na Kim:

Beijing Sprawl by Xu Zechen; design by Andrew Walters (Two Lines Press / June 2023)

Berlin by Bea Setton; design by Emily Mahon; cover image by Nataša Denić (Penguin Books / May 2023)

Also designed by Emily Mahon:

B.F.F. by Christie Tate; design by Ben Wiseman (Avid Reader Press / February 2023)

Blue Hunger by Viola Di Grado; design by Myunghee Kwon (Bloomsbury / March 2023)

Breaking and Entering by Don Gillmor; design by Michel Vrana; photograph by Joe Cohen (Biblioasis / August 2023)

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll; design by Kaitlin Kall (Simon & Schuster / September 2023)

Brutes by Dizz Tate; design by Nicole Caputo (Catapult / February 2023)

Caret, Pilcrow and Cedilla by Adam Mars-Jones; design by Jonathan Pelham (Faber / August 2023)

I also really liked Jonny’s cover design for the UK edition of Tremor by Teju Cole, published by Faber.

Cat Prince by Michael Pedersen; design by Gray318 (Little, Brown / July 2023)

The Circle by Katherena Vermette; design by Jennifer Griffiths; art by KC Adams (Hamish Hamilton Canada / September 2023)

Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe; design by Jack Smyth (Granta / May 2023)

The Complete Works of Álvaro de Campos by Fernando Pessoa; design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions / July 2023)

The Details by Ia Genberg translated by Kira Josefsson; design Stephen Brayda; illustration Najeebah Al-Ghadban (Harpervia / August 2023)

A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare; design by Matt Broughton (Vintage / August 2023)

The Employees by Olga Ravn; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / February 2023)

Excavations by Hannah Michell; design by Arsh Raziuddin (One World / July 2023)

The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank; design by Annie Atkins (Penguin / May 2023)

Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith; design by Beth Steidle (Tin House / July 2023)

Good Men by Arnon Grunberg; design by Anna Jordan (Open Letter / May 2023)

Greek Lessons by Han Kang; design by Anna Kochman (Hogarth / April 2023)

Hangman by Maya Binyam; design by Alex Merto; art by Belkis Ayón (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2023)

Also designed by Alex Merto:

Hope by Andrew Ridker; design by Tyler Comrie; photograph by Melissa Ann Pinney (Viking / July 2023)

Tyler Comrie’s cover for Time Without Keys by Ida Vitale, published by New Directions, is also very nice.

House Woman by Adorah Nworah; design by Jaya Nicely (Unnamed Press / June 2023)

I have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai; design by Elizabeth Yaffe (Viking / February 2023)

The Illiterate by Ágota Kristóf; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / April 2023)

Also designed by Oliver Munday:

Island City by Laura Adamczyk; design by Jennifer Heuer (FSG Originals / March 2023)

The Joy of Consent by Manon Garcia; design by Jaya Miceli (Belknap Press / October 2023)

Also designed by Jaya Miceli:

Julia by Sandra Newman; design by Luke Bird (Mariner / October 2023)

Also designed by Luke Bird:

The Last Bookseller by Gary Goodman; design by Kimberly Glyder (University of Minnesota Press / October 2023)

The Librarianist by Patrick DeWitt; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / July 2023)

The Love of Singular Men by Victor Heringer; design by Pablo Delcan (New Directions / September 2023)

Lucky Dogs by Helen Schulman; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Christopher Brand (Knopf / June 2023)

Also designed by Janet Hansen:

Our Migrant Souls by Héctor Tobar; design by Rodrigo Corral (MCD / May 2023)

Poverty by Matthew Desmond; design by Christopher Brand (Crown / March 2023)

Prophet by Helen MacDonald and Sin Blache; design by Dan Mogford; lettering by Martin Naumann (Vintage / August 2023)

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey; design by Mumtaz Mustafa; art by Sari Shryack (William Morrow & Co / January 2023)

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter; design by Natalia Olbinski; art by Angela Faustina (Scribner / July 2023)

The Sea Elephants by Shastri Akella; design by Dave Litman (Flatiron Books / July 2023)

Shy by Max Porter; design by Carlos Esparza (Graywolf / May 2023)

Someone Who Isn’t Me by Geoff Rickly; design by Jesse Reed; art by Jesse Draxler (Rose Books / July 2023)

Sublunar by Harald Voetmann; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / August 2023)

Also designed by Jamie Keenan:

The Sullivanians by Alexander Stille; design by June Park (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / June 2023)

Also designed by June Park:

To Battersea Park by Philip Hensher; design by Jo Thomson (Fourth Estate / March 2023)

Tunnel 29 by Helena Merriman; design by Pete Garceau (PublicAffairs / January 2023)

Also designed by Pete Garceau:

The Vunerables by Sigrid Nunez; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / November 2023)

Also designed by Lauren Peter-Collaer:

While Supplies Last by Anita Lahey; design by David Drummond (Signal Editions / April 2023)

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Book Covers of Note, August 2023

I hope you’re safe and well wherever you are. What do we have this month? A few British covers for a change, a bit of Canadian content, a couple of indie presses, and even something from a university press, not to mention covers from all the usual suspects. Enjoy!

Anam by André Dao; design by Tiana Dunlop (Pan Macmillan / August 2023)

The Apartment by Ana Menéndez; design by Jaya Miceli (Counterpoint / June 2023)

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2023)

Breaking and Entering by Don Gillmor; design by Michel Vrana; photograph by Joe Cohen (Biblioasis / August 2023)

Bridge by Lauren Beukes; design by Lauren Wakefield (Penguin / August 2023)

Lauren also designed the cover of Afterland by Lauren Beukes which was on my list of notable covers back in 2020.

I like the cover of the US edition of Bridge published by Mulholland Books too. Let me know if you know who designed it and I’ll add in the credit! It was designed by Kirin Diemont.

Caret by Adam Mars-Jones; design by Jonathan Pelham (Faber / August 2023)

Jonny also re-designed the previous books in this series to match. They’re a lovely set that somehow feel very British, and very Faber. They sort of remind me of postwar pub signs and vintage lettering on canal barges. Anyway, I like them a lot.

A Dictator Calls Ismail Kadare; design by Matt Broughton (Vintage / August 2023)

(If anyone at PRH in the UK would like to send me a higher quality image, I’d be happy to replace the not quite sharp one above)

The cover of the US edition of A Dictator Calls, available from Counterpoint next month, was designed by Farjana Yasmin.

Everything / Nothing / Someone by Alice Carriere; design by Strick and WIlliams (Spiegel & Grau / August 2023)

Hangman by Maya Binyam; design by Alex Merto; art by Belkis Ayón (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2023)

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim; design by Cassie Gonzales (Hogarth / August 2023)

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / August 2023)

I love the colour palette of this one. The lettering is fun too.

Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue; design by Lucy Kim (Little Brown and Company / August 2023)

I wonder if there is a post in book covers with dots? Maybe even one of dots in circle pattern? that might be a bit niche…

Lost Believers by Irina Zhorov; design by Emily Mahon (Scribner / August 2023)

Another nice palette / lettering combo.

Manor on the Viridian Sea by Eleanor P. Sam; design by Dorian Danielsen (Isalea Publishing / August 2023)

My Name is Iris by Brando Skyhorse; design by Richard Ljoenes (Avid Reader Press / August 2023)

Prophet by Helen MacDonald and Sin Blache; design by Dan Mogford; lettering by Martin Naumann (Vintage / August 2023)

Sublunar by Harald Voetmann; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / August 2023)

Hilarious,

Trialectic by Peter A. Alces; design by Jenny Volvovski (University of Chicago Press / August 2023)

Triangles are my favourite shape.

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Book Covers of Note, March 2023

I hope you’re keeping safe and well. There’s quite a nice mix of covers this month (I think?). There’s some fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some paperbacks and some hardcovers. Inevitably there are books from the big folks in NYC, but there’s also some indie titles, and a couple of covers from the UK. There is even some Canadian content for those of you who care about that sort of thing.1

Bariloche by Andrés Neuman; design by Alban Fischer (Open Letter / March 2023)

Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett; design by Stephanie Ross (Riverhead / February 2023)

Does this qualify for the ‘well-dressed and distressed’ trend? Or is this more like an ‘everyone is tired’ thing?

The cover of the hardback edition of Checkout 19 published last year was designed by Jaya Miceli with art by Kristine Moran.

Commitment by Mona Simpson; design by Kelly Blair; art by Lee Heinen (Knopf / March 2023)

Crying Wolf by Eden Boudreau; design by Michel Vrana (Book*hug Press / March 2023)

The Flowers of Buffoonery by Osamu Dazai; design by Rodrigo Corral (New Directions / March 2023)

This is the third Rodrigo Corral cover for New Direction’s editions of Dazai. I’m curious — can anyone can tell me the typeface? UPDATE: it’s not a typeface, it’s lettering! Thanks to Erik at New Directions for letting me know (and for sending the final cover)!

Oh and if you’re curious about the enduring popularity of Dazai (who died in 1948), Andrew Martin wrote a piece about it for the the New York Times.

Halal Sex by Sheima Benembarek; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Viking Canada / March 2023)

Hospital by Han Song; design by Will Staehle (Amazon Crossing / March 2023)

Island City by Laura Adamczyk; design by Jennifer Heuer (FSG Originals / March 2023)

The Natural Hustle by Eva H.D.; design by Talia Abramson (McClelland & Stewart / March 2023)

Now I Am Here by Childi Ebere; design by Lucy Scholes; illustration by Ben Wiseman; type by Matt Willey (Picador / March 2023)

Poverty by Matthew Desmond; design by Christopher Brand (Crown / March 2023)

Spilt Milk by Amy Beashel; design by Emma Rogers (HarperCollins / March 2023)

To Battersea Park by Philip Hensher; design by Jo Thomson (Fourth Estate / March 2023)

Can this start a dogs on book covers trend?

Trace Evidence by Charif Shanahan; design by Beth Steidle (Tin House / March 2023)

If one of the fine folks at Tin House would like to send me a higher quality image, I’ll be glad to add it in! Thanks to the fine folks at Tin House for sending over the cover!

Voyager by Nona Fernández; design by Kapo Ng (Graywolf Press / February 2023)

The Woman with the Cure by Lynn Cullen; design by Vikki Chu (Berkley / February 2023)

Zig-Zag Boy by Tanya Frank; design by Emma Pidsley (William Collins / March 2023)

The cover of the US edition of Zig-Zag Boy, published by W. W. Norton this month, was designed by Alicia Tatone with art by Pedro Covo.

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Book Covers of Note, April 2022

We’ve almost made it to the end of April, so that’s something. Thanks to Daniel Benneworth-Gray for the mention earlier this month. It surely means I’m about to disappoint a large number of people — if I have not, in fact, already done so — but I hope you find something you like here…

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan; design by Jamie Keenan (Scribner / April 2022)

Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes; design by Suzanne Dean (Jonathan Cape / April 2022)

I believe the Elizabeth Finch cover also comes in yellow, but I wasn’t able to find a hi-res image. If anyone wants to send it over, I’ll be happy to add it.

The jacket also comes in yellow, which feels very on trend to me and the blue and yellow look lovely side by side. Thank you to Suzanne for taking the time to send over the image of the yellow version.

Suzanne also sent over an image of the boards for those of you curious to see what is under the jacket, peeking through the die-cuts. The gorgeous photograph is from René Groebli’s photoessay The Eye of Love.

This is the problem with seeing covers/jackets primarily online. You rarely get to appreciate these finer details. This must be a beautiful book to hold and unwrap.

But going back to cut-out circles/semi-circles for a moment. They reminded of Olga Kominek‘s cover design for The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing edited by Hannah Dawson published last year.

And I have been trying to recall what both these covers remind me of. Possibly ‘Composition of Circles and Semicircles‘ by abstract artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp?

End of the World House by Adrienne Celt; design by David Litman (Simon & Schuster / April 2022)

A House Between Earth and the Moon by Rebecca Scherm; design by Colin Webber; image by Maciej Toporowicz (Viking / April 2022)

Like Animals by Eve Lemieux; design by Michel Vrana; illustration Saul Herrera (Rare Machines / April 2022)

Inspired by Basquiat presumably?

My Face in the Light by Martha Schabas; design by Kate Sinclair (Knopf Canada / April 2022)

Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes; design Milan Bozic; illustration by Laura Anastasio (Harper Perennial / March 2022)

(Special thanks to Caro for identifying the designer and illustrator)

Poguemahone by Patrick McCabe; design by Mark Ecob (Unbound / April 2022)

Post-Traumatic by Chantal V. Johnson; design by Lucy Kim (Little Brown and Co. / April 2022)

Feeling the international typographic style influence this month…

The Red Zone by Chloe Caldwell; design Michael Salu (Soft Skull Press / April 2022)

Their Four Hearts by Vladimir Sorokin; design by Alban Fischer (Dalkey Archive Press / April 2022)

The Void Ascendant by Premee Mohamed; design by James Paul Jones (Solaris / April 2022)

This is the third book in the ‘Beneath the Rising’ trilogy.

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart; design by Christopher Moisan; photograph by Kyle Thompson (Grove Press / April 2022)

The cover of the UK edition published by Picador features a photograph by Wolfgang Tillmans. The design is by Stuart Wilson.

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Book Covers of Note, March 2022

A short and sweet post this month.

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire; design by Kishan Rajani; illustration by Natalie Osborne (Chatto & Windus / March 2022)

The black and white illustration and pink type reminded me of the US cover for Fight Night by Mirian Toews, designed by Patti Ratchford with an illustration by Christina Zimpel, from last year.

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler; design by Tal Goretsky (G.P. Putnam’s Sons / March 2022)

If you’d asked me to guess sight-unseen, I would’ve 100% said this was designed by someone else. It just goes to show that designers are talented, versatile people and I know nothing (NOTHING).

Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett; design by Jaya Miceli; art by Kristine Moran (Riverhead / March 2022)

Nice to feature a contemporary Canadian artist here.

The Doloriad by Missouri Williams; design by Luke Bird (Dead Ink / March 2022)

Further evidence that “big faces” are a thing?

The cover of the US edition of The Doloriad was designed by Thom Colligan.

A Guerrilla Guide to Refusal by Andrew Culp; design by Matt Avery / Monograph (University of Minnesota Press / March 2022)

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield; design by Ami Smithson (Picador / March 2022)

Ami Smithson knocking it out of the park with this and the cover for New Animal by Ella Baxter featured in last month’s post.

Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes by Nicky Beer; design by Mary Austin Speaker; art by Dane Shue (Milkweed / March 2022)

The art feels like a perfect match here for the second half of the title.

Reptile Memoirs by Silje Ulstein; design by Carmen Balit (Grove Press UK / March 2022)

The cover of the US edition of Reptile Memoirs, which has more of a film noir feel, was designed by Michel Vrana:

Run and Hide by Pankaj Mishra; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / March 2022)

Shit Cassandra Saw by Gwen E. Kirby; design and illustration by Lydia Ortiz (Penguin Books / January 2022)

Unfinished Spirit by Rowena Kennedy-Epstein; design Henry Sene Yee (Cornell University Press / March 2022)

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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, September 2019

OK, this is super-late even by my standards of lateness, so let’s just get on with it because we’ve all got stuff to do…

Arctic Smoke by Randy Nikkel Schroeder; design by Michel Vrana (NeWest Press / September 2019)

Aeneis by Vergilius; design by Gray318 (Jaguar / 2019)

Jon will surely not thank me for mentioning this, but the Aeneid cover reminds me of the brilliant 2007 Penguin Modern Classics editions of Kafka designed by Mother and Jim Stoddart (featuring photographs by Gary Card and Jacob Sutton), and I can’t pass up the opportunity to post them here. They still look extraordinary…

(And in the process of looking for images, I cam across a nice essay from a couple of years ago by designer Clare Skeats discussing the Kafka covers at Grafik)

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

The Enlightenment of Bees by Rachel Linden; design by Kimberly Glyder (Thomas Nelson / July 2019)

Frankly in Love by David Yoon; design by Owen Gildersleeve (G. P. Putnam / September 2019)

From the Shadows by Juan José Millás; design by Tree Abraham (Bellevue Literary Press / August 2019)

In Her Feminine Sign by Dunya Mikhail; design by Janet Hansen (New Directions / July 2019)

High School by Tegan & Sara; design by Na Kim (MCD / September 2019)

The cover of the Canadian edition published by Simon & Schuster Canada (left) was designed by Emy Storey. The cover of the UK edition published by Virago (right) was adapted from the Canadian design by Nico Taylor.

Inland by Téa Obrecht; design by Jaya Miceli; art by Tamara Ruiz (Random House / August 2019)

The Innocents by Michael Crummey; design by Emily Mahon; art by Diana Dabinett (Doubleday / August 2019)

Listening to the Wind by Tim Robinson; design by Mary Austin Speaker (Milkweed / September 2019)

De New York Trilogie by Paul Auster; design by Moker Ontwerp (De Bezige Bij / August 2019)

This reminded me of Evan Gaffney‘s 2012 ‘film noir’ covers for the Vintage paperbacks of James M. Cain.

Permanent Record by Mary H. K. Choi; design by Lizzy Bromley; illustration by gg (Simon & Schuster / September 2019)

This reminded me of the panels of Tony Abruzzo romance comics that Roy Lichtenstein liked to lift from.

gg also illustrated the cover of Mary H. K. Choi’s previous novel Emergency Contact.

Oh and Koyama Press is publishing a new book by gg called Constantly in January 2020. It looks beautiful.

Quichotte by Salman Rushdie; design by Gray318 (Jonathan Cape / August 2019)

Rail by Miranda Pearson; design David Drummond (McGill-Queen’s University Press / September 2019)

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

One to add to the redacted covers list.

Shame On Me by Tessa McWatt; design by Allison Colpoys (Scribe / August 2019)

This has some nice Alvin Lustig / New Directions vibes.

Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg; design by Tyler Comrie; illustration Justin Metz (Knopf / June)

For some reason this made me think of the 2015 cover for I Am Sorry to Think I Raised a Timid Son by Kent Russell designed by Peter Mendelsund (with hand lettering by Janet Hansen and photography by George Baier IV)

Sontag by Benjamin Moser; design by Tom Etherington; photograph by Richard Avedon (Allen Lane / September)

The cover of the US edition published by Ecco was designed by Allison Saltzman. Title only appears on the spine (which, if my social media is anything to go by, gets big high fives from book designers everywhere).

To The Island of Tides by Alistair Moffat; Art by Andy Lovell; art direction Gill Heeley (Canongate / August 2019)

It’s lovely to see contemporary landscape art featuring prominently on book covers of late…

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

The New York Times ran a short article about the genesis of this cover earlier this year.

For the font-curious, the typeface is Alias Harbour according to the folks at Fonts In Use. Another calligraphic type alternative to the ubiquitous Lydian perhaps?

We Are the Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar; design Nicole Hower; illustration by Adams Carvalho (Sourcebooks / September 2019)

The World Doesn’t Require You by Rion Amilcar Scott; design by Laywan Kwan; art by Fahamu Pecou (Liveright / August 2019)

And I am definitely here for the contemporary figure painting on book covers trend…

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Book Covers of Note, August 2019

Here are your August book covers of note. Another good month, I think?

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath; design by Gray318 (Faber & Faber / July2019)

This is apparently available now (according to Faber’s Instagram at least!), but I haven’t been able to find it online. If anyone cares to share the ISBN, I will try to add a link.

The new design is inspired by the 1966 cover designed by Shirley Tucker.

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

This is an interesting change in direction from the cover of The Infatuations by Javier Marías designed by Isabel Urbina Peña and published by Knopf in 2013.

(The UK covers for Javier Marías’ novels published by Hamish Hamilton are photographic. If anyone can supply me with the design/photo credits, I’d be happy to add them in here for reference!).

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

The Catholic School by Edoardo Albinati; design by Rodrigo Corral (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2019)

Thank you to the good folks on Twitter who helped me identify the designer and then the typeface. It turns out the type is “Lydia” from Colophon Foundry — a revival of the Bold Condensed styles of (you guessed it!) Lydian. 

Chances Are… by Richard Russo; dsign by Kelly Blair (Knopf / July 2019)

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

And you can read a recent interview with Jack about his work at It’s Nice That.  

Ether by Evgenia Citkowitz design by Henry Sene Yee (Picador / July 2019)

You can listen to Henry discussing his work with Holly Dunn on the latest Spine podcast.  

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

The cover of the US edition, which will be published by Scribner in January 2020(!) was designed by Jaya Miceli featuring a collage by Toon Joosen.

Lithium by Walter A. Brown; design by Keith Hayes (W. W. Norton / August 2019)

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa; design by Tyler Comrie (Pantheon / August 2019)

More Noble Than War by Nicholas Blincoe; design by Steve Leard (Constable / August 2019)

This reminded me of Henry’s cover for A Wall in Palestine by René Backman published by Picador in 2010…

The Need by Helen Phillips; design Rachel Willey (Simon & Schuster / July 2019)

I stopped keeping track of ‘flora-intertwined-with-type’ covers a while ago, but this would be a nice addition to that list

One Giant Leap by Charles Fishman; design by Richard Ljoenes (Simon & Schuster / June 2019)

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

The cover of the US edition published by Penguin was designed by Na Kim.

The Perfect Plan by Bryan Reardon; design by Jason Booher (Dutton / June 2019)

I like this cover a lot, but it is surprisingly un-bonkers for Jason. I would not have guessed he was the designer! 

The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán; design by Tree Abraham (Coffee House Press / August 2019)

Tree also designed the cover of the UK edition published by And Other Stories last year. She wrote about the process of designing both covers for Spine not so long ago (they really are doing a better a job of this than me, aren’t they?).

The Revolutionaries by Joshua Furst; design by Tyler Comrie (Knopf / April 2019)

I think it’s kind of interesting to see these two designs side by side….

Speaking of Summer by Kalisha Buckhanon; design Jaya Miceli (Counterpoint / July 2019)

Sadly this image doesn’t quite do justice to just how brilliantly orange this cover is in IRL. And apparently flowery collages are the new thing… 

The Western Alienation Merit Badge by Nancy Jo Cullen; design by Michel Vrana (Buckrider Books / May 2019)

Michel has also dusted off his comics publishing endeavour Black Eye Books if you’d like to support him. There is a new book by Jay Stephens planned for next month.  

White Flights by Jess Row; design by Oliver Munday (Graywolf / August 2019)

This is one of my favourite covers of the year so far, I think. 

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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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Book Covers of Note November 2016

I’m not sure anyone is paying too much attention to book design this week, but if you’re looking for a few minutes diversion from the awfulness of almost everything, here’s this month’s selection of quirky, beautiful, and otherwise interesting book covers…

black-water-design-oliver-munday
Black Water by Louise Doughty; design by Oliver Munday (Sarah Crichton Books / September 2016)

briefhistoryofeveryone-design-andy-allen
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived by Adam Rutherford; design by Andy Allen (Orion / September 2016)

britishraildesigned_design-theo-inglis
British Rail Designed 1944-1997 by David Lawrence; design by Theo Inglis (Ian Allan Publishing / November 2016)

clearing-the-air-design-phil-pascuzzo
Clearing the Air by Gregory Wood; design by Phil Pascuzzo (Cornell University Press / November 2016)

cold-skin-design-chris-gale
Cold Skin Albert Sánchez Piñol; design by Christopher Gale (Canongate / October 2016)

dark-flood-design-rafi-romaya-illustration-timorous-beasties
The Dark Flood Rises by Margaret Drabble; design Rafi Romaya; cover illustration by Timorous Beasties (Canongate / November 2016)

defender-design-mark-swan
Defender by G X Todd; design by Mark Swan (Headline / December 20161)

do-not-say-we-have-nothing-design-jaya-miceli
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien; design Jaya Miceli (W.W. Norton / October 2016)

dying-design-pete-adlington
Dying by Cory Taylor; design by Pete Adlington (Canongate / November 2016)

faithful-design-zoe-norvell
Faithful by Alice Hoffman; design by Zoe Norvell (Simon & Schuster / November 2016)

Is this a new (old) thing…?

guy-design-by-michel-vrana-pink
Guy by Jowita Bydlowska; design by Michel Vrana (Wolsak & Wynn / November 2016)

I like that this was a split run of coral and blue:

knives-and-ink
Knives & Ink by Isaac Fitzgerald and Wendy MacNaughton; design Katya Mezhibovskaya; cover art Wendy MacNaughton (Bloomsbury / October 2016)

This is a nice partner to 2014’s Pen & Ink which also featured cover art by MacNaughton:

london_lies_beneath_ad_nico_taylor_illus_joe_mclaren
London Lies Beneath by Stella Duffy; Art direction by Nico Taylor; illustration by Joe McLaren (Little, Brown / October 2016)

midwinter_illus_raquel_leis_allion
Midwinter by Fiona Melrose; Art Direction by Bekki Guyatt; illustration by Raquel Leis Allion (Little, Brown / November 2016)

moonglow-design-adalis-martinez
Moonglow by Michael Chabon; design by Adalis Martinez (Harper / November 2016)

music-for-life-design-by-alex-kirby
Music For Life by Fiona Maddocks; design by Alex Kirby (Faber & Faber / October 2016)

one-with-the-tiger
One with the Tiger by Steven Church; design by Faceout Studio (Soft Skull / November 2016)

pull-me-under-design-rodrigo-corral-illustration-june-park
Pull Me Under by Kelly Luce; design Rodrigo Corral; cover art by June Park (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / November 2016)

revengeofanalog_design-pete-garceau
The Revenge of Analog by David Sax; design Pete Garceau (Public Affairs / November 2016)

sick-bag-song-illus-nick-cave-ad-brian-moore
Sick Bag Song by Nick Cave; illustration by Nick Cave; art direction by Brian Moore (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / November 2016)

start-of-something-collage-by-marion-de-man-design-by-suzanne-dean
The Start of Something by Stuart Dybek; design Suzanne Dean; cover art by Marion de Man (Jonathan Cape / November 2016) 

(You can read more about the process of making this cover at the Creative Review blog)

story-of-reason-in-islam-design-anne-jordan
The Story of Reason in Islam by Sari Nusseibeh; design by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Stanford University Press / November 2016)

swing-time-design-gray318
Swing Time by Zadie Smith; design by Gray318 (Hamish Hamilton / November 2016)

This goes rather nicely with Gray318’s earlier design for The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith:

thus-bad-begins-design-by-peter-mendelsund
Thus Bad Begins by Javier Marías; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / November 2016)

unmistakable-design-catherine-casalino
Unmistakable by Srinivas Rao; design by Catherine Casalino (Portfolio / August 2016)

violence-design-by-scott-levine
Violence as Generative Force by Max Bergholz; design by Scott Levine (Cornell University Press / November 2016)

whateverhappened_highres
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love by Kathleen Collins; design by Allison Saltzman; cover art by Lorna Simpson (Ecco / November 2016)

writing-to-save-a-life-design-eric-white
Writing to Save a Life by John Edgar Wideman; design by Eric White (Scribner / November 2016)

you-will-not-have-my-hate-design-suzanne-dean
You Will Not Have My Hate by Antoine Leiris; design by Suzanne Dean (Harvill Secker / October 2016)

The US cover for You Will Not Have My Hate, designed by Darren Haggar (Penguin Press, October 2016), provides an interesting contrast in styles:

you-will-not-have-my-hate-design-by-darren-haggar

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Today in Micro-Trends: Cassette Tape Book Covers

This is another one of those posts that started out on Twitter — a flippant tweet from me sparking a conversation about books with cassette tapes and vinyl records on their covers. It turns out that putting a record on a cover has become quite popular. Unfortunately the composition of many of these covers is often strikingly similar, even if the tone/intent is different.

The combination of clunky retro-future technology of cassettes and the DIY aesthetic of mix tapes, on the other hand, provides a richer vein of inspiration…

Art Behind the Mixtape design UnderConsideration
The Art Behind the Tape by Marshall “DJ Mars” Thomas, Djibril Ndiaye, Maurice Garland, and Tai Saint-Louis; design UnderConsideration (2015)

Big Rewind design Regina Starace
The Big Rewind by Libby Cudmore; design by design Regina Starace (William Morrrow / February 2016)

Counter Narratives Palgrave Macmillan
The Counter-narratives of Radical Theology and Popular Music edited by Michael Grimshaw; design Palgrave Macmillan Design (Palgrave Macmillan / May 2014)

don't-you-forget-about-me
Don’t You Forget About Me by Jancee Dunn; design by Catherine Casalino (Villard Books / July 2008)

9781846146459
Earthbound by Paul Morley; design by Jim Stoddart (Penguin / August 2013)

he died with his eyes open design Christopher King
He Died with His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / October 2011)

Iron Rose design W H Chong
An Iron Rose by Peter Temple; design by W. H. Chong (Text / June 2016)

Kill Your Friends design Glenn ONeill photo colin thomas
Kill Your Friends by John Niven; design by Glenn ONeill; Photograph Colin Thomas (Cornerstone / July 2014)

Landscapes of the Metropolis of Death design Jim Stoddart
Landscapes of the Metropolis of Death by Otto Dov Kulka; design by Jim Stoddart (Penguin / March 2014)

UMN28 Walsh Bootlegs D1.indd
Bar Yarns and Manic Depressive Mix Tapes by Jim Walsh; design by Michel Vrana; lettering by Robert Lawson (University of Minnesota Press / NYP)

New Sorrows design Clare Skeats
The New Sorrows of the Young W. by Ulrich Plenzdorf; design Clare Skeats; cover art by Joel Penkman; series design David Pearson (Pushkin Press / September 2015)


Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia; design by Erik Mohr (Solaris / October 2015)

Tape
Tape by Steven Camden; cover art by Keri Smith (HarperCollins Children’s Books / January 2014)

Tsar of Love and Techno design Christopher Brand Photography Bobby Doherty
Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra; design Christopher Brand; photography Bobby Doherty (Hogarth / October 2015)

(I also rather like this tape-related killed cover by designer Na Kim)

So there you have it — cassette tape book covers are a thing. But please let’s not get started on VHS tape book covers…

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Lost in the Plot: Maps on Book Covers

maps

Who doesn’t like a good map? From sophisticated charts to intricate, idiosyncratic drawings to directions drawn on the back of napkin, maps explain the world two-dimensionally. They are flights of imagination anchored in our knowledge of the world — much like books themselves.

This post is a collection of book covers which use maps as parts of their design. I started this working on it months ago (my earlier post collecting arrows on books covers was originally an offshoot of this one), but it turned out to be surprisingly difficult to find enough interesting covers. I think I’ve finally got there — even if I had to cheat a little to include a couple of floor plans! I hope you agree…

abolitionist-geographies
Abolitionist Geographies by Martha Schoolman; design by David Drummond (University of Minnesota Press / October 2014)

MapA
AOTM
All Over the Map by Michael Sorkin; design by Dan Mogford (Verso / July 2011)

american-smoke-hc
sinclair-americansmoke-map
American Smoke Iain Sinclair; design by Nathan Burton (Hamish Hamilton / November 2013)

Astray
Astray by Emma Donoghue; design by Keith Hayes (Little Brown & Co. / October 2012)

bleeding-london
Bleeding London by Geoff Nicholson; design by Jamie Keenan (Harbour Books / September 2014)

boy-bear-boat
A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton; design by Dave Shelton (David Fickling Books / January 2012)

akerman-cartographies
Cartographies of Travel and Navigation edited by James R. Akerman design by Isaac Tobin (University of Chicago Press / October 2006)

coat-route
The Coat Route by Meg Lukens Noonan; design by Allison Colpoys (Scribe / January 2014)

A Darker Shade final for Irene
A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab; design by Will Staehle (Tor / February 2015)

(This unused comp is even mappier!)

delmore-schwartz
Delmore Schwartz: A Critical Reassessment by Alex Runchman; design by Palgrave Design Team (Palgrave Macmillan / May 2014)

dogfish-memory
Dogfish Memory by Joseph A. Dane; design by Jason Ramirez (Countryman Press / June 2011)

eat-the-city
Eat the City by Robin Shulman; cover art by Christopher Silas Neal (Crown / July 2012)

fatal-strain-isaac-tobin
The Fatal Strain by Alan Sipress; design by Isaac Tobin (Penguin / September 2011)

from-here-to-there
From Here to There by Kris Harzinski; design by Deb Wood (Princeton Architectural Press / September 2010)

1493
1493 by Charles C. Mann; design by Darren Wall (Granta / September 2011)

ghost-map
The Ghost Map by Steve Johnson; design by Ben Gibson (Riverhead / November 2007)

Gun-Machine
Gun Machine by Warren Ellis; design by Oliver Munday (Little Brown & Co / January 2013)

Hackney-front Hackney-full
Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire by Iain Sinclair; design by Nathan Burton; map by David Atkinson (Hamish Hamilton / February 2009)

9781847084576
Harlem is Nowhere by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitt; design Friederike Huber (Granta / August 2011)

Attachment-1
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien; design Adam Busby / Buzz Studios (unused / February 2013) 1

the-imperial-map
The Imperial Map edited by James R. Akerman; design by Isaac Tobin (University of Chicago Press / March 2009)

Infidelities
infidelities_Final
Infidelities by Kirsty Gunn; design by Darren Wall (Faber & Faber / November 2014)


La Isla del Tesoro (Treasure Island) by Robert Louis Stevenson; design by Raúl Arias (Bolchiro February 2013)

KCP_B paperback
Kimberly’s Capital Punishment by Richard Milward; design by Luke Bird (Faber & Faber / August 2013)

9781846144172
London Underground by Design by Mark Ovenden; design by Matthew Young (Particular Books / June 2013)

Project1:Layout 5
Project1:Layout 5
Map of the Invisible World by Tash Aw; design by Anna Morrison (Fourth Estate / April 2009)

map-thief
Map Thief by Michael Blanding; design by Stephen Brayda (Gotham Books / July 2014)

9781616890339_cfl
Maps by Paula Scher; design by Pentagram; cover art Paula Scher (Princeton Architectural Press / October 2011)

(these Paula Scher Maps mini-journals are also rather nice)

dig-fly-go-isaac-tobin
No Dig, No Fly, No Go by Mark Monmonier; design by Isaac Tobin (University of Chicago Press / May 2010)

norfolk-mystery
The Norfolk Mystery by Ian Samson; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate / June 2014)

n-w
N-W by Zadie Smith; design by Gray318 (Hamish Hamilton / September 2012)

on-the-map
On the Map by Simon Garfield; design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich (Gotham Books / December 2012)

on-the-map
On the Map by Simon Garfield; design by Nathan Burton (Profile Books / October 2012)

9780374533298
Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman by Friedrich Christian Delius; design by Charlotte Strick (FSG / January 2012)

rats
Rats by Robert Sullivan; design by Whitney Cookman; cover art by Peter Sis (Bloomsbury / April 2004)

rivers-of-london
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch; design by Patrick Knowles; cover illustration Stephen Walter (Gollancz / January 2011)

ring-of-steel
Ring of Steel by Alexander Watson; design by Antonio Colaco (Allen Lane / August 2014)

second-world-war
The Second World War by Antony Beevor; design by Steve Marking (Little Brown & Co / June 2012)

seen-reading
Seen Reading by Julie Wilson; design by Natalie Olsen / Kisscut Design (Freehand Books / April 2012)

9781846270642
The Snow Tourist by Charlie English; cover art by Mike Topping / Despotica (Portobello Books / November 2008)

untitled
Thick as Thieves by Peter Spiegelman; design by Nathan Burton (Quercus/September 2011)

Transnationalism
Transnationalism edited by Michael D. Behiels and Reginald C. Stuart; design by Michel Vrana (McGill-Queens University Press / October 2010)

treasure-island
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith, cover illustration by Mick Brownfield (Penguin / May 2008)

villages-britain
Villages of Britain by Clive Aslet; design by Sarah Greeno (Bloomsbury / October 2010)

wilderness-of-error
A Wilderness of Error by Errol Morris; design by Pentagram (Penguin / September 2012)

zone-marvellous
Zone of the Marvellous by Martin Edmond; design by Keely O’Shannessy (Auckland University Press / September 2009)

And I don’t think we can end this post without mentioning the amazing Book Map print by Manchester-based studio Dorothy:

dorothy-book-map
The map — loosely based on a turn of the century map of London — is made up from the titles of over 600 books from the history of English Literature. Buy it here.

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