Tag: david drummond

Published January 12, 2015

Books Covers of Note January 2015

January’s selections include some of this month’s new releases plus a few stragglers from 2014 that were undeservedly overlooked last year:

against-the-country
Against the Country by Ben Metcalf; design and illustration by Leanne Shapton (Random House / January 2015)

bad-character-novel
A Bad Character by Deepti Kapoor; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / January 2015)

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley; design by Scot Bendall & Richard Carey / La Boca (Vintage / November 2014)

fifty-mice
Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne; design by Alex Merto (Blue Rider Press / December 2014)

first-bad-man
The First Bad Man by Miranda July; design by Mike Mills (Scribner / January 2015)

91bGUNqrbPL._SL1500_
GB84 by David Peace; design by Christopher King (Melville House / November 2014)

hall-of-small-mammals
Hall of Small Mammals by Thomas Pierce; design by Grace Han; cover art by Kate Bergin (Riverhead / January 2015)

9781250052216
The Heart Does Not Grow Back by Fred Venturini; design by Henry Sene Yee (Picador / November 2014)

I-THINK-YOURE-TOTALLY-WRONG
I Think You’re Totally Wrong: A Quarrel by David Shields and Caleb Powell; design by Chip Kidd (Knopf / January 2015)

mermaids-in-paradise

Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet; design by Chris Welch Design (W. W. Norton / November 2014)

9780241004968
Trouble in Paradise By Slavoj Žižek; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / November 2014)

Unbecoming by Rebecca Scherm; design by Paul Buckley (Viking / January 2015)

schafferzf
The Veiled Sun by Paul Schaffer; design by David Drummond (Véhicule Press / January 2015)

Weathering by Lucy Wood; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / January 2015)

X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Kekla Magoon; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick Press / January 2015)

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Published December 8, 2014

Series Book Covers 2014

In the past, I’ve often included a few series designs in with my favourite covers of the year. This year, I saw so many great covers that were part of a series, I thought a they deserved a post of their own…

9781847493774 — Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes; design by Nathan Burton (Alma / 2014)

The Gambler by Fydor Dostoevsky; design by Nathan Burton (Alma / 2014)

Notes from the Underground by Fydor Dostoevsky; design by Nathan Burton (Alma / 2014)

Alma Classics; design by Nathan Burton (Alma / 2014)

A Winter's Tale — A Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare; design by Michel Vrana (Broadview / 2014)

As You Like It by William Shakespeare; design by Michel Vrana (Broadview / 2014)

Henry V by William Shakespeare; design by Michel Vrana (Broadview / 2014)

Broadview Shakespeare; design by Michel Vrana (Broadview / 2014)

9780141396064 — Nova Express by William Burroughs; cover art by Julian House (Penguin Classics 2014)

The Son Machine by William Burroughs; cover art by Julian House (Penguin Classics 2014)

The Ticket That Exploded by William Burroughs; cover art by Julian House (Penguin Classics 2014)

The Cut-Up Trilogy by William Burroughs; cover art by Julian House (Penguin Classics 2014)

LaSolutionEsquimauAW — Snapshots–Nouvelles voix du Caine Prize; design by David Pearson (Éditions Zulma / 2014)

Le Complex d’Eden Bellweather by Benjamin Wood; design by David Pearson (Éditions Zulma / 2014)

L’Exception by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir ; design by David Pearson (Éditions Zulma / 2014)

Éditions Zulma; design by David Pearson (Éditions Zulma / 2014)

Come, Sweet Death by Wolf Haas; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / 2014)

Resurrection by Wolf Haas; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / 2014)

Wolf Haas; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / 2014)

My Fellow Skin by Erwin Mortier; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / 2014)

Shutterspeed by Erwin Mortier; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / 2014)

Marcel by Erwin Mortier; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / 2014)

Erwin Mortier; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / 2014)

9780241970317 — After You with the Pistol by Kyril Bonfiglioli; design by Richard Green; illustration by Luke Pearson (Penguin / 2014)

The Great Mordecai Moustache Mystery by Kyril Bonfiglioli; design by Richard Green; illustration by Luke Pearson (Penguin / 2014)

Something Nasty in the Woodshed by Kyril Bonfiglioli; design by Richard Green; illustration by Luke Pearson (Penguin / 2014)

Charlie Mortdecai by Kyril Bonfiglioli; design by Richard Bravery illustration by Luke Pearson (Penguin / 2014)

If I Die in a Combat Zone by Tim O’Brien; design by Cardon Webb (Broadway / 2014)

Tomcat in Love by Tim O’Brien; design by Cardon Webb (Broadway / 2014)

Northern Lights by Tim O’Brien; design by Cardon Webb (Broadway / 2014)

Tim O’Brien; design by Cardon Webb (Broadway / 2014)

9780143569725 — Cloudstreet by Tim Winton; design by Adam Laszczuk; illustration by Josh Durham (Penguin Australia / 2014)

A Fortunate Life by A. B. Facey; design by Adam Laszczuk; illustration by Josh Durham (Penguin Australia / 2014)

The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper; design by Adam Laszczuk; illustration by Josh Durham (Penguin Australia / 2014)

Penguin Australian Classics; design by Adam Laszczuk; illustration by Josh Durham (Penguin Australia / 2014)

9780141976150 — Greek and Roman Political Ideas by Melissa Lane; cover design by Matthew Young; logo design by Richard Green (Pelican 2014)

Economics: The User’s Guide by Ha-Joon Chang; cover design by Matthew Young; logo design by Richard Green (Pelican 2014)

Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991 by Orlando Figes; cover design by Matthew Young; logo design by Richard Green (Pelican 2014)

Pelican relaunch; cover design by Matthew Young; logo design by Richard Green (Pelican 2014)

Regeneration by Pat Barker; design by Mr Foxx (Penguin / 2014)

An Ice Cream War by William Boyd; design by Joe Cruz (Penguin / 2014)

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; design by JP King (Penguin / 2014)

Penguin Essentials; design various (Penguin / 2014)

9780141395852 — Letters from a Stoic by Seneca; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics 2014)

Essays and Aphorisms by Arthur Schopenhauer; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics 2014)

The Art of War by Sun-Tzu; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics 2014)

Penguin Pocket Hardbacks; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics 2014)

Les fantômes fument en cachette by Miléna Babin; design by David Drummond (Les Éditions XYZ / 2014)

Notre Duplex by Éléonore Létourneau; design by David Drummond (Éditions XYZ / 2014)

Quand j’étais l’Amérique by Elsa Pépin; design by David Drummond (Les Éditions XYZ / 2014)

Quai No. 5; design by David Drummond (Les Éditions XYZ / 2014)

Sicilian Uncles by Leonardo Sciascia; design by Dan Mogford (Granta / 2014)

The Moro Affair by Leonardo Sciascia; design by Dan Mogford (Granta / 2014)

The Wine-Dark Sea by Leonardo Sciascia; design by Dan Mogford (Granta / 2014)

Leonardo Sciascia; design by Dan Mogford (Granta / 2014)1

9780374534691 — August 1914 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; design by Oliver Munday (FSG / 2014)

November 1916 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; design by Oliver Munday (FSG / 2014)

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; design by Oliver Munday (FSG / 2014)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; design by Oliver Munday (FSG / 2014)

authority — Authority by Jeff VanderMeer (US); design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / 2014)

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (US); design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / 2014)

Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer (US); design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / 2014)

The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer (US); design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / 2014)

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (UK); design by Jo Walker; illustration by Kai and Sunny (Fourth Estate / 2014)

Authority by by Jeff VanderMeer (UK); design by Jo Walker; illustration by Kai and Sunny (Fourth Estate / 2014)

Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer (UK); design by Jo Walker; illustration by Kai and Sunny (Fourth Estate / 2014)

The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer (UK); design by Jo Walker; illustration by Kai and Sunny (Fourth Estate / 2014)

ukojenie_RBG2 — Ukojenie by Jeff VanderMeer (Poland); cover art by Patryk Mogilnicki (Otwarte / 2014)

Unicestwienie by Jeff VanderMeer (Poland); cover art by Patryk Mogilnicki (Otwarte / 2014)

Ujarzmienie by Jeff VanderMeer (Poland); cover art by Patryk Mogilnicki (Otwarte / 2014)

The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer (Poland); cover art by Patryk Mogilnicki (Otwarte / 2014)

city-of-saints — City of Saints & Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer backlist; design by Crush Creative (Tor / 2014)

Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer backlist; design by Crush Creative (Tor / 2014)

Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer backlist; design by Crush Creative (Tor / 2014)

Jeff VanderMeer backlist; design by Crush Creative (Tor / 2014)

The Ego and His Own by Max Stirner; design by Rumors (Verso / 2014)

Freud and the Non-European by Edward Said; design by Rumors (Verso / 2014)

Verso Radical Thinkers; design by Rumors (Verso / 2014)

battle-of-ap-bac — The Battle of AP Bac by Neil Sheehan; design by Joan Wong (Vintage / 2014)

How War Begins by John Keegan; design by Joan Wong (Vintage / 2014)

Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood; design by Joan Wong (Vintage / 2014)

Vintage Shorts; design by Joan Wong (Vintage / 2014)

9782896494927 — Fleur de Cerisier by Aline Apostolska; design by David Drummond (VLB éditeur / 2014)

Elle Etait si Jolie by Pierre Szalowski; design by David Drummond (VLB éditeur / 2014)

Les Iles Canaries by Claudia Larochelle; design by David Drummond (VLB éditeur / 2014)

Vol 459; design by David Drummond (VLB éditeur / 2014)

Archetype by M. D. Waters; design by Jaya Miceli (Plume / 2014)

Prototype by M. D. Waters; design by Jaya Miceli (Plume / 2014)

M. D. Waters; design by Jaya Miceli (Plume / 2014)

9780099598282 — Art and Lies by Jeanette Winterson; design by James Paul Jones (Vintage / 2014)

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson; design by James Paul Jones (Vintage / 2014)

Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson; design by James Paul Jones (Vintage / 2014)

Vintage Winterson; design by James Paul Jones (Vintage / 2014)

3 Comments

Published December 8, 2014

50 Covers for 2014

Book designers, you do amazing work. Thank you. I am especially grateful to all the designers and art directors (not to mention publicists and other publishing folk) who have shared their wisdom, provided me with images, and helped me with design credits this year — these posts would not be possible without you. I also want thank my fellow book design bloggers, notably Book Covrs, Booketing, and Caustic Cover Critic, for their sterling work, and my local bookstores, Type, Book City on the Danforth, Ben McNally Books, and Indigo Bay & Bloor, for letting me browse their shelves.

Here are my covers of 2014:

all-my-puny-sorrows
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews; design by Sunra Thompson (McSweeney’s / November 2014)

All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu; design by Isabel Urbina Peña (Knopf / March 2014)

bark
Bark by Lorrie Moore; design by Carol Devine Carson; photography by Josef Sudek (Knopf / February 2014)

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

book-of-strange-new-things

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber; art direction and design Rafi Romaya; illustration Yehrin Tong (Canongate / October 2014)

9781476747231
The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt; design by Christopher Lin (Simon & Schuster / March 2014)

Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall by Will Chancellor; design by Richard Ljoenes (HarperCollins / July 2014)

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes; design by Keith Hayes (Mulholland Books / September 2014)

California by Edan Lepucki; design Julianna Lee (Little Brown & Co. / July 2014)

chop-chop
Chop Chop by Simon Wroe; design by Ben Wiseman (Penguin / April 2014)

clothes-music-boys
Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys by Viv Albertine; design by Luke Bird (Faber & Faber / May 2014)

The Corpse Exhibition by Hassan Blasim; design by Jason Ramirez (Penguin / February 2014)

dept-of-speculation-gray-318
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill; design by Gray318 (Granta / March 2014)

Dog-Ear
Dog Ear by Jim Johnstone; design by David Drummond (Signal Editions / May 2014)

The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison; design by Tom Darracott (Granta / June 2014)

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

Forensic Songs by Mike McCormack; design by Jason Booher (SOHO / July 2014)

fourth-july-creek
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson; design by Allison Saltzman; illustration by Bryan Nash Gill (Ecco / June 2014)

Friendship by Emily Gould; design by Jennifer Carrow (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / July 2014)

fullblood-arabian
Fullblood Arabian by Osama Alomar; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / March 2014)

A-Girl-is-a-Half-formed-Thing
A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride; design by Donna Payne (Faber & Faber / April 2014)

Happy are the Happy by Yesmina Reza; design by Suzanne Dean (Harvill Secker / July 2014)

The Histories by Herodotus, translated by Tom Holland; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics / September 2014)

The Intervals of Cinema by Jacques Rancière; design by Jessica Svendsen (Verso / October 2014)

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

leaving-the-sea
Leaving the Sea by Ben Marcus; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / January 2014)

And here it is side by side with 2012’s The Flame Alphabet:

The Liar’s Wife by Mary Gordon; design by Linda Huang (Pantheon / August 2014)

978-0-385-53807-7
Love Me Back by Merritt Tierce; design by Emily Mahon; illustration by Rizon Parein (Doubleday / September 2014)

9781447259374
The Man Who Couldn’t Stop; design by Katie Tooke (Picador / April 2014)

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka; design by Jamie Keenan (W. W. Norton / February 2014)

My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead; design by Elena Giavaldi (Crown / January 2014)

Napoleon the Great by Andrew Roberts; design by Isabelle De Cat (Penguin / October 2014)

on-such-a-full-sea
On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee; design by Helen Yentus; lettering Jason Booher (Riverhead / January 2014)

our-poison-horse
Our Poison Horse by Derrick Brown; design by Jennifer Heuer (Write Bloody / October 2014)

Radio Benjamin edited by Lecia Rosenthal; design by Isaac Tobin (Verso / October 2014)

Russians by Gregory Feifer; design by Catherine Casalino (Twelve Books / February 2014)

The Scarborough by Michael Lista; design by David Drummond (Véhicule Press / September 2014)

The Secret World of Oil by Ken Silverstein; design by Matt Dorfman (Verso / May 2014)

9780307908483
Silence Once Begun by Jesse Ball; design by Peter Mendelsund (Pantheon / January 2014)

silent-history
The Silent History by Eli Horowitz, Kevin Moffett, Matthew Derby; design by Oliver Munday (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / June 2014)

song-for-approaching
Song for an Approaching Storm by Peter Fröberg Idling; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / March 2014)

Specter of Capital by Joseph Vogl; design by Anne Jordan (Stamford University Press / October 2014)

9780374270650
Strange Bodies by Marcel Theroux; design by Nayon Cho; illustration by Mark Stutzman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / February 2014)

Ugly Girls by Lindsay Hunter; design by Charlotte Strick; photograph by Natalie Dirks (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / November 2014)

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

Wittgenstein Jr by Lars Iyers; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / September 2014)

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle; design by Timothy Goodman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / September 2014)

Area-X
9780374261177
Area X by Jeff VanderMeer; design by Rodrigo Corral (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / November 2014)

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

Your Face in Mine by Jess Row; design by Oliver Munday (Riverhead / August 2014)

Thanks all.

20 Comments

Published December 5, 2014

Catalogue Covers: A Request for Submissions

MQ15b

For the past few years, Quill & Quire (magazine to the stars) has asked Canadian books designers choose their favourite covers of the year. This year, however, instead of choosing a book cover like everybody else, David Gee picked out the McGill-Queen’s University Press Spring 2015 catalogue designed by David Drummond.

After laughing pretty hard at Mr. Gee’s audacity (and his transparent attempts to never work in this town again), I realised I would love to do a post on great catalogue covers.

McGill Queens

Print catalogues can be beautiful things, and as David Gee himself points out, “the simple fact that publishers’ catalogues tend to fly under the public radar doesn’t mean they’re easy to design.” They’re are also an endangered species. Publishers are cutting costs, and most are switching to digital alternatives. Now would seem like the perfect time to celebrate the charm of the print catalogue before it disappears completely.

I don’t usually ask for submissions, but I don’t think I can possibly gather enough material together for this by myself. So if you’ve ever toiled thanklessly over a publisher catalogue and you’d like to see a little appreciation for your hard work, send me an email (hello [at] casualoptimist . com] with your favourite catalogue covers (and interiors if you wish), and I’ll showcase all my favourites in the New Year. The images should be hi-res jpegs or pngs (at least 620px wide), and please be sure to include the publisher information, and all the relevant credits.

Thanks all.

Comments closed

Published November 3, 2014

Book Covers of Note November 2014

This is the last of the monthly cover round-ups for 2014, and I have a lot to cram in before I start on my big end of year list, so it’s a bit of corker (if I do say so myself) with lots of gold foil and other fancy finishes:

Amnesia
Amnesia by Peter Carey; design by Alex Kirby (Faber & Faber / October 2014)

(The dust jacket is actually acetate)

The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis; illustration by Matt Taylor; type design and art direction by Richard Bravery (Viking / August 2014)

9780374166670
The Big Green Tent by Ludmila Ulitskaya; design by Devin Washburn (FSG / December 2014)

convulsing-bodies-anne-jordan
Convulsing Bodies by Mark D. Jordan; design by Anne Jordan (Stanford University Press / October 2014)

Critical_Journeys
Critical Journeys by Robert Schroeder; design Jana Vukovic (Library Juice Press / September 2014)

dear-reader
Dear Reader by Paul Fournel; illustration by Jean Jullien (Pushkin Press / November 2014)

9780871409287
The Enormous Room by E. E. Cummings; design by Devin Washburn (Liveright / October 2014)

Fiddler-on-the-Roof-Cover
Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein; design Christopher Silas Neal (Crown / September 2014)

forgive me leonard peacock
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick; design by Gray318 (Little Brown & Co / July 2014)

girl-defective
Girl Defective by Simmone Howell; design by Debra Sfetsios-Conover; illustration Jeffrey Everett (Atheneum / September 2014)

(I also really like Sandy Cull’s design for the Australian edition published by Pan Macmillan in 2013)

9780226171715
The Hoarders by Scott Herring; design by David Drummond (University of Chicago Press / November 2014)

9781940450261
In Case of Emergency by Courtney Moreno; design by Sunra Thompson (McSweeney’s / September 2014)

Wint_9780385677851_jkt_all_r6.indd
Into the Blizzard by Michael Winter; design by Scott Richardson (Doubleday Canada / November 2014)

its-not-me
It’s Not Me It’s You by Mhairi McFarlane; design by Heike Schüssler; illustration by Gianmarco Magnani / Silence Television (HarperCollins / November 2014)

little-failure-pb
Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart; design by Rodrigo Corral Design (Random House / October 2014)

9781554471416_a
Smoke Proofs by Andrew Steeves; design by Andrew Steeves (Gaspereau Press / September 2014)

9780141394664
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin / November 2014)

rabbit
The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen; design by Nathan Burton (Pushkin Press / September 2014)

(The hardcover edition, designed by David Pearson, is also amazing)

sailing-the-forest-9781447274049
Sailing the Forest by Robin Robertson; design by Neil Lang (Picador / September 2014)

(The skull is gold foil on the finished book)

sense-of-style
The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker; design by Louise Fili; illustration by R. O. Blechman (Viking / September 2014)

9781846145506
The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker; design by Jim Stoddart & Isabelle de Cat; photograph by Kayla Varley (Penguin / September 2014)

9780141395036
Tales of the Marvellous and the Strange translated by Malcolm C. Lyons; design by ~~Coralie Bickford-Smith~~ Isabelle de Cat; illustration by Nina Chakrabarti (Penguin / November 2014)

(Just look at all that gold!)

9780374533861
Ugly Girls by Lindsay Hunter; design by Charlotte Strick; photograph by Natalie Dirks (FSG / November 2014)

0889713065
What I Want to Tell You Goes Like This by Matt Rader; design by Ben Didier / Pretty/Ugly Design (Nightwood Editions / October 2014 )

you
You by Caroline Kepnes; design by Natalie Sousa (Atria / September 2014)

3 Comments

Published October 17, 2014

Bugs

bugs2

This, the latest post in my Beasts! series, was unexpectedly difficult to compile. While it seems there isn’t a book cover in existence that couldn’t be improved by putting on a bird on it, bugs are, at least by comparison, somewhat rare. While I assumed that bees, beetles, butterflies, centipedes, flies, spiders, termites et al would naturally lend themselves to evocative book designs, we are apparently still quite squeamish about creatures with six legs or more. That said, today’s post includes far more rejected (and short-lived covers) than previous instalments in the series, which that it isn’t necessarily the designers who are afraid of creepy crawlies, but rather other decision-makers in the process are worried about their negative influence on sales. Hopefully some of these covers will change their minds about that…

The Beetle by Richard Marsh; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin / October 2008)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / May 2010 )

The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal by Sean Dixon; art by Emily Mahon; butterfly image by Hannelore Muller; hand-lettering by Chris Sergio (Other Press / April 2009 )

Ten Plagues by Mary Nealy; design by David Carlson

acid-house
The Acid House by Irvine Welsh; design by Matt Broughton (Vintage Books)

9780374104092
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer; design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / February 2014)

Arcadia RD 1 cleanb
Arcadia by Lauren Groff; design by Will Staehle (Voice / March 2012)

Babayaga by Toby Barlow; design by Gray318 (Corvus / February 2014)

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

bees
The Bees by Laline Paull; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate / May 2014)

beautiful-you
Beautiful You by Chuck Palahniuk; design by Rodrigo Corral Design (Doubleday / October 2014)

BoneGap_Jkt_des4
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby; design by Michelle Taormina (Balzer + Bray / March 2015)

Lorenzo_Petrantoni
Boxer Beetle by Ned Beauman; illustration by Lorenzo Petrantoni (Sceptre / August 2010)

Brodeck-s_Report_Anna-Heath
Brodeck’s Report by Phillipe Claudel; design by Anna Heath (Quercus)

9781250045058
Bug Music by David Rothenberg; design by Ervin Serrano (St. Martin’s Press / May 2013)

Carnival-brian-morgan
Carnival by Rawi Hage; design by Brian Morgan, illustration by Lorenzo Petrantoni (House of Anansi Press / August 2012)

Chop Chop by Simon Wroe; design by Ben Wiseman (Penguin / April 2014)

cockroach-albert-tang
Cockroach by Rawi Hage; design by Albert Tang (W. W. Norton / October 2009)

cockroach-bill-douglas-unused
Cockroach by Rawi Hage; design by Bill Douglas (House of Anansi / unused)

constant-gardener
Constant Gardener by John Le Carre; design by Stuart Bache (Sceptre)

crowd c
Crowd of Sounds by Adam Sol; design by Bill Douglas (House of Anansi / April 2003)

Electricity by Victoria Glendinning; design by David Mann (Pocket Books / April 2006)

escaping-into-the-open-bookdesigners
Escaping into the Open by Elizabeth Berg; design by The Book Designers (Harper / August 2012)

Fever
Fever by Sonia Shah; design by LeeAnn Falciani (Picador / June 2011)

The First Principles of Dreaming by Beth Goobie; design by Natalie Olsen / Kisscut Design (Second Story Press / September 2014)

Generation A by Douglas Coupland; design by Jennifer Heuer (Simon & Schuster / June 2010)

9783608501100
Generation A by Douglas Coupland; design by Books We Made (Tropen / August 2010)

DR_GHost_Moth_Hand
Ghost Moth by Michèle Forbes; design by Kathleen Lynch / Black Kat Design (Penguin Canada / October 2013)

A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson; design by James Paul Jones; illustration Louise Bird (Jonathan Cape / June 2013)

A Buzz In The Meadow by Dave Goulson; James Paul Jones; illustration Louise Bird (Jonathan Cape / September 2014 )

Sting
A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson; design by LeeAnn Falciani (Picador / April 2014)

Hurt_Healer_CG3
Hurt Healer by Tony Nolan; design by Connie Gabbert (Baker / unused?)

simon4
In Translation edited by Sherry Simon; design by David Drummond (McGill-Queen’s University Press / unused?)

marriage-game-bookdesigners-unused
The Marriage Game by Alison Weir; design by The Book Designers (Ballantine / unused)

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka; design by Jamie Keenan (W. W. Norton / February 2014)

missing-link
Missing Link by Jeffrey Donaldson; design by David Drummond (forthcoming)

9781846689895
The Moth introduced by Neil Gaiman; design by Dan Stiles (Serpent’s Tail / August 2014)

my-first-kafka
My First Kafka by Matthue Roth & Rohan Daniel Eason; design by Richard Rodriguez; cover illustration Rohan Daniel Eason (One Peace Books / June 2013)

never-mind
Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn; design by Stuart Wilson (Picador / April 2012)

original-sins
Original Sins by Peg Kingman; design by Darren Haggar (W. W. Norton / September 2010)

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin / December 2012)

Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle; illustration by Despotica; series design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin / December 2012)

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin / December 2012)

perdido-crush-creative
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville; design by Crush Creative (Pan Books / May 2011)

Possession by A. S. Byatt; design Vintage Design (Vintage / December 2009)

isbn9781444776751
The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida; design by Kai & Sunny (Sceptre / July 2013)

Royauté by Alexie Morin design by Catherine D’Amours / Pointbarre (Le Quartanier / October 2013)

shining-girls-keith-hayes
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes; design by Keith Hayes (Mulholland Books / June 2013)

Swallow
Swallow by Theanna Bischoff; design by Natalie Olsen / Kisscut Design (NeWest Press / February 2013)

Poe GOTHIC SERIES Holly MacDonald
Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe; Holly MacDonald (Bloomsbury / October 2009)

9781429988834
Why You Should Read Kafka Before You Waste Your Life by James Hawes; Design and lettering by Steve Snider; Illustration by Douglas Smith (St. Martin’s Press / July 2008)

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Published September 23, 2014

Beasts!

beasts
Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my! I’m kicking off a new series today on animal book covers. The first post is on ‘beasts’ — mostly ‘wild’ beasts, but one or two more domesticated (and dead) animals may have nosed their way in. Other posts series will look at birds, bugs, reptiles and amphibians, and quite possibly sea creatures and farm animals (unless someone pays me a large amount of money to stop before that). Thanks to all the designers, ADs, publicists and others who have been helping me with images and credits. If you notice that some information about a cover is missing, please let me know.

KENNEDY_American-gabrielle-bordwin
American Spirit by Dan Kennedy; design by Gabrielle Bordwin (New Harvest / May 2013)

animals-of-my-own-kind-drummond
Animals of My Own Kind by Harry Thurston; design by David Drummond (Vehicule Press / April 2010)

Untitled
Annabel by Kathleen Winter; design by Bill Douglas (Anansi / June 2010)

beasts-jacob-covey
Beasts! by Jacob Covey; design by Jacob Covey / Unflown (Fantagraphics / February 2007)

bedside-book-of-beasts-richardson
The Bedside Book of Beasts by Graeme Gibson; design by Scott Richardson (Doubleday Canada / October 2009)

Bobcat by Rebecca Lee; design by Nathan Burton (Penguin Canada / August 2012)

brothers-beasts
Brothers & Beasts edited Kate Bernheimer; design by Isaac Tobin; illustration by Lauren Nassef (Wayne State University Press / January 2008)

9780374119027
Caribou by Charles Wright; design by Jeff Clark / Quemadura (FSG / March 2014)

Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn; design by Sharon King-Chai (Electric Monkey / June 2013)

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem; design by Miriam Rosenbloom (Faber & Faber / December 2009)

Company-of-Liars
Company of Liars by Karen Maitland; design by gray318 (Penguin / January 2008)

9781770893009_HR
Doppler by Erlend Loe; design by Nicolas Cheetham (Anansi / October 2012)

eeeee-kelly-blair
Eeeee Eee Eeee by Tao Lin; design by Kelly Blair (Melville House / April 2007)

ExtinctionClub
The Extinction Club by Jeffrey Moore; design by Michel Vrana (Hamish Hamilton Canada / April 2010)

feral
Feral by George Monbiot; design by Jim Stoddart (Penguin / May 2013)

The Good Suicides by Antonio Hill; design by Christopher Brand (Crown / June 2014)

Gottland: Mostly True Stories from Half of Czechoslovakia by Mariusz Szczygiel; design by Christopher King (Melville House / May 2014)

Penguin-Goya-Hi_res
Goya’s Dog by Damian Tarnopolsky; design by David Gee (Penguin Canada / August 2007)

Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway; illustration by Paul Rogers (Vintage / September 2007)

Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway; illustration by Paul Rogers (Vintage / September 2012)

Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway; illustration by Paul Rogers (Vintage / September 2012)

Hope A Tragedy by Shalom Auslander; design by John Gall (Riverhead Books / January 2012)

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle; design by Emily Mahon; illustration by SHOUT (Modern Library / October 2002)

9780141034324
Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith; illustration by Despotica (Penguin / March 2008)

JOYLAND-Haunt-Hi_res
How I Came to Haunt My Parents by Natalee Caple; design by David Gee (ECW / May 2011)

hunger
Hunger by Lincoln Townley; design by Matt Johnson (Simon & Schuster / May 2014)

jaguars-eels
Jaguars and Electric Eels by Alexander Von Humboldt; design by David Pearson; illustration by Victoria Sawdon (Penguin / February 2007)

Knife Throwing Through Self-Hypnosis by Robin Richardson; design by Natalie Olsen / Kisscut Design (ECW / September 2013)

jamrachs-menagerie
Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch; design by gray318 (Canongate / March 2011)

jungle-book
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling; design by Alice Stevenson (Penguin India / 2014)

leopard
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa; illustration by Hans Tillman (Vintage / September 2007)

TEARSoftheGIRAFFE_B2
Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith; design by Mark Ecob (Abacus / August 2003)

design & illustration by Mark Ecob

me-and-the-devil
Me and the Devil by Nick Tosches; design by Keith Hayes (Little Brown & Co / December 2012)

9781594488078B
Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi design by Helen Yentus with Jason Booher (Riverhead / September 2011)

978-0-7710-0833-7
Morning in the Burned House by Margaret Atwood; design by Kelly Hill (McClelland & Stewart / September 2009)

natural-acts-fulbrook
Natural Acts by David Quammen; design by John Fulbrook III (W. W. Norton / May 2009)

Dreams in Time of War by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o; design by Peter Mendelsund (Pantheon / March 2010)

In the House of the Interpreter by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o; design by Peter Mendelsund (Pantheon / November 2012)

9780865477735
The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane; design by Charlotte Strick; illustration by Ariana Nehmad Ross (Faber & Faber / October 2013)

Layout 1
Off Course by Michelle Huneven; design by Rodrigo Corral; photograph by Gregori Maiofis (FSG / March 2014)

orphan-master
The Orphan Masters Son by Adam Johnson; design by Lynn Buckley (Random House / January 2012)

panther
Panther by David Owen; design by gray318 (Constable and Robinson / May 2015)

pastoralia-rodrigo-corral
Pastoralia by George Saunders; design by Rodrigo Corral (Riverhead / June 2001)

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson; design by Matt Dorfman (Riverhead / December 2011)

sharp-teeth-dean
Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow; design by Susan Dean; illustration Natasha Michaels (William Heinemann / August 2007)

short-history-bill-douglas
A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright; design by Bill Douglas (Anansi / October 2004)

9781447268963
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel; design by Nathan Burton (Picador / September 2014)

stories-ii
Stories II by T. C. Boyle; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / October 2013)

tattooed-soldier
The Tattooed Soldier by Hector Tobar; design by Jim Tierney (Picador / October 2014)

tell-the-wolves
Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt; Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich (Dial Press / June 2012)

this-book
This Book Will Save Your Life by A. M. Homes; design by Paul Buckley (Penguin / April 2007)

Tiger-in-Eden
Tigers in Eden by Chris Flynn; design by W.H. Chong (Text Publishing Co. / October 2013)

The Tiger's Wife-Tea Obreht
The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht; design by James Paul Jones; illustration Wuon Gean Ho (Phoenix / March 2011)

3796386738_ef71a142a3_o
Tooth and Claw by T. C. Boyle; design by Paul Buckley (Penguin / September 2005)

The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland; design by Keith Hayes (Algonquin Books / May 2014)

9780143125020
The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma; design by Alison Forner (Penguin / March 2014)

Wolves-tpb
Wolves by Simon Ings; design and Illustration by Jeffrey Alan Love (Gollancz / January 2014)

7 Comments

Published September 3, 2014

Book Covers of Note September 2014

It’s hard to believe it is already September, but here we are… time for another round of book covers!

If you’re new to this feature, each month I collect together new and recent covers that have caught my eye in the previous few weeks. Although the focus is on books released in the current month, the posts also include covers I’ve missed earlier in the year. You can find the previous month’s posts here.

Thanks (as always) to my local bookstores — Type Books on Queen West, Book City on the Danforth, and Indigo Bay & Bloor — for fighting the good fight (and their wonderful displays!).

9781568987262_cfl
Abbott Miller: Design and Content; design by Pentagram (Princeton Architectural Press / September 2014)

Arvida by Samuel Archibald; design by Catherine D’Amours / Pointbarre (Le Quartanier / August 2014)

(this is an obvious miss from last month’s post about maps. Sorry Catherine!)

assassination-of-margaret-thatcher
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel; design by Rodrigo Corral Design; photograph Demurez/Glasshouse (Henry Holt / September 2014)

9780374169046
The City Under the Skin by Geoff Nicholson; design by Oliver Munday; photograph by George Baier IV (FSG / June 2014)

(Another one that should have been in the maps post. And yes, that really is someone’s back apparently)

The Establishment by Owen Jones; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / September 2014)

forensic-songs
Forensic Songs by Mike McCormack; design by Jason Booher (SOHO / July 2014)

God Telling a Joke by David Margoshes; design by David Drummond (Oolichan Books / May 2014)

Hack Attack by Nick Davies; design by David Drummond (Faber & Faber / August 2014)

The Histories by Herodotus; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics / September 2014)

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; design by JP King (Penguin / August 2014)

lippy-booher
Lippy by Bush Moukarzel; design by Jason Booher (Oberon Books / August 2014)

The Most Dangerous Animal of All by Gary L. Stewart with Susan Mustafa; design by Jarrod Taylor (HarperCollins / June 2014)

(I’m not endorsing the content of this book at all, but the red acetate cover does need to be seen in person to be fully appreciated)

smoke-gets-in
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty; design by David High / High Design (W. W. Norton / September 2014)

The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland; design by Keith Hayes (Algonquin Books / May 2014)

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle; design by Timothy Goodman (FSG / September 2014)

wittgenstein-jr
Wittgenstein Jr by Lars Iyers; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / September 2014)

You by Zoran Drvenkar; design by Kelly Blair (Knopf / August 2014)

2 Comments

Published August 29, 2014

Vol 459 Series Design by David Drummond

9782896494927

These stylish covers were designed by Canadian designer David Drummond for a series of new novels from Montreal-based publisher VLB éditeur. In the series, four different authors imagine the same plane journey on flight 459 from Paris. Planes on covers has spot UV:

Les Iles Canaries by Claudia Larochelle; design by David Drummond (VLB éditeur / 2014)

Elle Etait si Jolie by Pierre Szalowski; design by David Drummond (VLB éditeur / 2014)

9782896494866 9782896494880 9782896494903

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Published August 14, 2014

Book Cover Design is a Fine Art

It used to be enough for a book to idly stand out in a bookstore. Nowadays, however, new books must jostle for attention with everything. Thousands of distractions are just a click away. Is it any wonder that book-cover design is more important than ever?

In today’s Globe and Mail, I talks about recent trends in book cover design and pick a few of my favourite covers from the year so far. If you live in Canada you can find a lovely-looking print version of the article in the Arts pages.

Comments closed

Published June 17, 2014

Memento Mori

Book of Skulls cover

The threat of death… A warning… A memento mori…

A comprehensive visual history of the human skull is surely an entire Steven Heller book in the making (I guess we’ll just have to make do with a Wikipedia page for now). But as Faye Dowling’s contemporary compendium The Book of Skulls1 makes plain, what was once taboo — terrifying even — has become a pop culture phenomenon. Images of skulls now appear in art, design, fashion, and illustration. Apparently we like to be reminded we are all going to die. Even book covers are not immune. Here are a few recent examples that caught my eye:

Actors Anonymous by James Franco; design by Lynn Buckley (New Harvest October 2013)
Darkmans by Nicola Barker; design by Leo Nickolls (Fourth Estate March 2008)

dark-stranger

A Dark Stranger by Julien Gracq; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press December 2013)

everyone-loves-a-trainwreck
Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck by Eric G. Wilson; design by Rodrigo Corrall, hand-lettering by Jennifer Carrow, photograph by Simon Lee (FSG March 2012)

Fiend by Peter Stenson; design by Christopher Brand (Crown July 2013)

The Hamlet Doctrine by Simon Critchley & Jamieson Webster; design by David A. Gee (Verso September 2013)

How_the_Dead_Live
How the Dead Live by Derek Raymond; design by Christopher King (Melville House October 2011)

isla-del-tesoro-raul-arias
La Isla del Tesoro (Treasure Island) by Robert Louis Stevenson; design by Raúl Arias (Bolchiro February 2013)

interns-handbook
The Intern’s Handbook by Shane Kuhn; design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich (Simon & Schuster April 2014)

the_invention_of_murder
The Invention of Murder by Judith Flanders; design by Ervin Serrano (Thomas Dunne July 2013)

junky
Junky by William Burroughs; artwork by Martha Rich (Penguin April 2012)

mr-peanut
Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf June 2010)

piratas-de-lo-publico
Piratas de lo público by Antón Losada; design by Javier Jaén (Deusto November 2013)

questionable-shape-9781780745855
A Questionable Shape by Bennett Sims; design by Holly MacDonald (Oneworld June 2014)

9780805091298

The Return by Michael Gruber; design by Chris Sergio (Henry Holt & Co. September 2013)

Royauté by Alexie Morin design by Catherine D’Amours (Le Quartanier October 2013)

The Scarborough by Michael Lista; design by David Drummond (Véhicule Press September 2014)

SETE
Sete by Albero Riva; design by Manuele Scalia (Mondadori May 2011)

Shovel-Ready
Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh; design by Will Staehle (Random House February 2014)

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt, design by Dan Stiles (Ecco May 2011)

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut; design by Lynn Buckley; illustrations and hand-lettering by Kurt Vonnegut (Dial Press 2009)

tequila-sunset-tony-lyons-estuary-english
Tequila Sunset by Sam Hawken; design by Tony Lyons at Estuary English (Serpent’s Tail December 2013)

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh; design by Sarah-Jane Smith (Vintage March 2013)

viva-la-muerte

¡Viva La Muerte! by Rafael Núñez and Elena Núñez González ; design by Manuel Estrada (Marcial Pons Historia March 2014).

Engulfed-in-Flames-chip-kidd
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris; design by Chip Kidd (Little Brown & Co. July 2008)

1 Comment

Published March 13, 2014

Recent Covers of Note March 2014

9781408857229
The Arsonist by Sue Miller; design by Greg Heinimann

barcelona-shadows
Barcelona Shadows by Marc Pastor; design by Clare Skeats

beauty
Beauty by Frederick Dillen; design by Christopher Lin

Mabey Dreams
Dreams of the Good Life by Richard Mabey; illustration by Millie Marotta; design Samantha Johnson / Coralie Bickford-Smith

fantomes_fument_c1
Les fantômes fument en cachette by Miléna Babin; design by David Drummond

Frog Music by Emma Donoghue; design by Katie Tooke; illustration Emma Farrarons

give-me-everything-you-have
Give Me Everything You Have by James Lasdun; design by Julia Connolly

9780374175344
The Improbability Principle by David J. Hand; design by Oliver Munday

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka; design by Jamie Keenan

13068415704_287b75914a_b
The New New Thing by Michael Lewis; design by Darren Haggar

on-the-reproduction-of-capitalism
On the Reproduction of Capitalism by Louis Althusser; design by Neil Donnelly

9780374209148-gabriele-wilson
The Orchard of Lost Souls by Nadifa Mohamed; design by Gabriele Wilson

swan-gondola-9781780744902
The Swan Gondola by Timothy Schaffert; design by Alex Merto

9781250039569
The Trip to Echo Spring by Oliva Laing; design by Henry Sene Yee

why-we-took-the-car-design-allison-colpoys
Why We Took the Car by Wolfgang Herrndorf; design by Allison Colpoys

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Tag: david drummond

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