Books, Design and Culture
I like these bright and bold covers by Stephen Smith, AKA Neasden Control Centre, for the new Vintage Classics editions of Julio Cortázar a lot. It feels like an inspired match of illustrator to author. The art direction is by Suzanne Dean of course.
You will have to wait for the hardcover of Divertimento (translated into English for the first time by Harry Morales) because it doesn’t go on sale until May 2026, but the paperback reissues came out last month in the UK.
Earlier this month Vintage UK published new editions of The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecroft.
As CMYK, the Vintage design blog, revealed, these new editions were designed in-house by the talented Mr. Matthew Broughton, and feature black and white photography by Anton Stankowski on The Beauty Myth and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and Joy Gregory on my personal favourite, The Second Sex.
Interestingly, Vintage have also published smaller format ‘short editions’ of the same three books — The Second Sex, The Beauty Myth, and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman — featuring key extracts from the main texts.
In contrast to the sharp photographic covers above, the short editions feature illustrated covers designed by Gray318 with something of retro, E. McKnight Kauffer or Alvin Lustig, feel:
3 Comments
Available in the UK this month, Vintage Classics has released a series of Bernard Malamud novels with beautiful new covers designed in-house by Matt Broughton, with additional title type by Ruth Rowland.
The Vintage Classics series includes Pictures of Fidelman, The Natural, The Magic Barrel, The Tenants, and Dubin’s Lives.
In the US, art director Charlotte Strick and typographer Jude Landry have also redesigned the Farrar, Straus & Giroux editions of Bernard Malamud’s novels.
At FSG’s Work in Progress blog, Charlotte and Jude talk about their work on the new covers.
2 Comments
Shute — JRSM, the Caustic Cover Critic, has a great post on the work of book designer and illustrator Mick Wiggins, whose evocative illustrations (which look a bit like dark interpretations of vintage Tube posters) adorn the Penguin Classics US editions of John Steinbeck and the new Vintage Classics editions of Nevil Shute. JRSM will have an interview with Mick Wiggins soon. Can’t wait…
The Revenge of Print — Eric Obenauf, publisher at Two-Dollar Radio on the state of print and publishing for The Brooklyn Rail:
The goal for book publishers, most simply put, should not be to undertake a virtual arms race of developing technology with both the Internet and media, or to try to compete on a bloated scale with music and film, or even to translate a work to conform to an undetermined potential future model. The mission for book publishers and print media at large should be to create a product that is irreplaceable and indispensable.
And I will just add for the umpteenth time that it’s not about e-books, DRM, pricing, or devices — it’s about making better books.
Big Blue — Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan or, The Whale winner of this year’s Samuel Johnson Prize (and one the books I’m currently reading), chooses his Top 10 Whale Tales in The Guardian. You can also hear Claire Armitstead’s interview with Philip for The Guardian here and read PD Smith‘s TLS review here. And, for the record, Philip is a Southampton boy like myself…
Top 10 Comic Book Cities as chosen by Architects Journal. Gotham is only number 6 (via Book Oven on Twitter).
And lastly…
Up We Go! Up We Go! — The wonderful BibliOdyssey has posted a number of E. H. Shepard’s lovely illustrations for The Wind in the Willows.
Have a great weekend.
1 Comment