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Tag: covers

Published January 19, 2009

Vintage Paperback Illustrations

Sanford Kossin cover for Bantam 1957

What with the inauguration this week it seems awfully quiet on the publishing front right now. Maybe that’s just relative to the economic blitzkrieg that happened before Christmas or my twitchy unease about what horrible surprises 2009 might hold!

In any case, I’m going to use the lull as an excuse to post a link to Kyle Katz’s incredible, overwhelming, (possibly obsessive?) Flickr collection of vintage paperback covers, which I’ve had bookmarked gathering dust for about year… The collection has been loving arranged into various categories — including by the cover illustrator (!) — and, it is, in Katz’s words, “mostly pulp fiction, vintage sleaze, almost all mass market, and usually between 1940 and 1980, with a few exceptions.” But it so much more than that. It’s terrifying. And brilliant.

Alvin Lustig design for New Directions 1950

Link

(via Leif Peng’s marvellous Today’s Inspiration)

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Published November 18, 2008

Penguin on Design

Refreshing classic creative texts: Creative Review talks to Penguin’s art director Jim Stoddart about the redesigned and reissued books in the ‘Penguin on Design’ series. The books include Bruno Munari’s 1965 book, Design As Art; Marshall McLuhan’s 1967 The Medium is the Massage; John Berger’s Ways Of Seeing from 1972; and Susan Sontag’s 1977 essay, On Photography.

I do like these covers — Susan Sontag’s On Photography (pictured) is particularly striking — but, again, what is with all the white? Surely someone at Penguin has  worked in a bookshop. I mean these are clearly meant to be looked at and not touched.

Link

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Published October 31, 2008

El Anden Thrillers

Perhaps TWO posts about beautiful book jackets in one day is too much, but I just adore these gorgeous covers by Cristóbal Schmal:

El Anden Thriller

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Published October 31, 2008

Obsessive Cover Design

I normally have an aversion to white, grime-attracting covers (it’s the ex-bookseller in me), but I love, love, love this cover for Obsession: A History by Lennard J. Davis, designed by Isaac Tobin (as seen at  The Book Design Blog):

It’s another great cover that doesn’t entirely rely on photoshop wizardry – the lettering was apparently created by illustrator Lauren Nassef, using pinpricks through heavy cardstock.

There are more great covers designed by Isaac at his website. Lauren’s work is also  lovely.

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