The Book Design Review

Now That We're Done Gorging Ourselves...

2009-11-27T11:12:00.005-06:00

Thin is in.

(The Pattern in the Carpet designed by Martha Kennedy; Changing My Mind designed by Richard Bravery and illustrated by Si Scott; Memoir designed by Rodgrigo Corral and illustrated by Corral and Ben Wiseman)

I Am Thankful For...

2009-11-25T10:54:00.004-06:00

Dionne Warwick riding on top of a big turkey balloon.

Happy Thanksgiving. Back on Monday with the first round of this year's favorite covers, as selected by the staff of WORD Books.

Cash vs. Zeppelin

2009-11-24T06:21:00.001-06:00

A Heartbeat and a Guitar designed by Shepard Fairey
When Giants Walked the Earth designed by Orion Books

I don't do snarky very well, but on the way to see the new Shepard Fairey-designed book about Johnny Cash, I saw this new clearly-not-designed-by-Shepard Fairey book about Led Zeppelin. You get what you pay for.

UPDATE: Orion Creative Director Lucie Stericker was nice enough to point out that images of all four members have been produced as posters; here's everyone else:

Something New for This Year's Favorite Covers Post

2009-11-19T07:00:00.001-06:00

Each year since the BDR started, I've written a "my favorites of the year" post (here are the 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2005 lists.)

This year, I've got something different in mind.

I've asked the staffs of three independent bookstores to contribute a list of their 10-15 favorite book covers and jackets of 2009. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they pick. It's a big, big publishing world, so I'm hoping their involvement helps reveal the wide range of fantastic design out there.

Here are the participants and the dates on which their selections will appear:

WORD, Brooklyn, NY: Monday, Nov 30
RiverRun Bookstore, Portsmouth, NH: Monday, Dec 7
The Book Table, Oak Park, IL: Monday, Dec 14

I've run a poll the last two years, and based on the large number of people who voted for their favorite, I think I'll do that again. Perhaps I'll take the top three for each store's list (as voted by you) and put them all into a super duper mega poll.

Does this sound fun?

In Cold Blood, Magnum Collection Edition (and a few others)

2009-11-17T21:48:00.011-06:00

BDR reader Cynthia pointed this out to me this morning; it's one of six in the Penguin Magnum Collection published earlier this year. Click for a much larger version -- and note the removable sticker. Cool.

Penguin has published a number of different editions over the years; here's a few. The first is designed by David Pelham (1970); the second is uncredited and is from 1966. (The first two images are from Seven Hundred Penguins.) Anyone know anything about the last two?

Illustration by Andy Bridge:

UPDATE: I missed this one, designed by S. Neil Fujita. (Read about the hatpin and Capote's reaction to it here):

On the Road

2009-11-15T12:47:00.003-06:00

Apologies for the lack of activity here; I'm traveling on business. Regular posting should resume in a few days, hopefully with an announcement about 2009's favorites of the year post. It's going to be very different, and hopefully entertaining for y'all.

Off to eat more carne asada fries...

How to Be Inappropriate

2009-11-11T23:54:00.004-06:00

Design by Alvaro Villanueva

This is so spot on: it really is inappropriate to forgo a belt when wearing a nice pair of trousers.

Not Everyone Loves the New Nabokov Editions

2009-11-10T21:33:00.015-06:00

Lots of folks are talking about the John Gall-curated Nabokov redesigns. And well they should -- it's not often that we see an author's entire body of work redesigned by such an impressive cadre of designers.

Three days before Gall posted the series at Design Observer, though, a BDR reader wrote in about the "best Nabokov cover I've ever seen--blows the sh**ty Vintage/Random House motif out of the water." His words, not mine. Here's what he sent in (source here); if anyone's got any info on this cover, please pass it along.

(UPDATE: "(the designer is) Jerzy Faczynski, a well-known Polish ex-pat who not only did book design, but built a few churches, painted watercolors, made prints, and fought wars. He died, I believe, in 1994.")

Here's Carin Goldberg's new cover for Pnin:

Oh, and what the heck: via Wikipedia, here's another:

This Time Is Different

2009-11-08T22:19:00.005-06:00

Design by Karl Spurzem

Having just watched the season finale of Mad Men, it's hard not to think of that show's opening credit sequence when looking at this cover for an examination of financial crises.

As series creator Matthew Weiner states (at about 2:15) when talking about the sequence, "American businessman jumps out the window, that is a statement...it's part of our iconography."

Five for Friday, 11.06.2009

2009-11-05T23:03:00.003-06:00

Perfect Rigor; design by Martha Kennedy:

Cockroach; design by Albert Tang:

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights; design by Jaya Miceli:

Too Many Murders; design by Jason Gabbert:

Some dude named Chip Kidd talking about book covers:

Obamanos

2009-11-05T06:46:00.000-06:00

Designer credit to come

I know he's just waving.

But here's where my mind went immediately:

Anyone else?

Our Hero: Superman on Earth

2009-11-03T06:06:00.011-06:00

Designer credit to come

I'm dying to know how far you can push Superman iconography before hearing from the law firm of Siegel, Shuster & Luthor.

(FWIW, the same author's It's Superman! novel has a trademark disclaimer right on the front cover.)

Random Monday Stuff

2009-11-02T06:23:00.001-06:00

Had family in town this weekend. Thus:

Unpublished concepts for Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue and Troublesome Words. Via The Casual Optimist.

The new Penguin Podcast features Ron Currie, Jr., author of Everything Matters. I loved that book.

Old dust jackets. I mean really old. And most likely, pretty dusty.

Late '80s Harry Crews Harper Perennial Fiction editions

2009-10-30T06:26:00.000-05:00

Illustrations by George Corsillo

A busy week has kept me out of the bookstores, so here are a few from home. Frequent BDR readers know I'm a big Harry Crews fan, constantly on the prowl for that copy of Naked In Garden Hills that *isn't* $150. (Should you ever see this at a garage sale or whatever, can you pick it up for me? Seriously.)

I'm not sure how many Crews books were published in this series; these are the ones I own. Two thoughts popped into my mind when I was scanning these:

1) Man, 1988 was a long time ago in book-cover-years.

2) Wow, these aren't just yellow. They're YELLOW. But yellow books don't sell...right?

Discuss.

Ten Storey Love Song

2009-10-27T23:11:00.008-05:00

Design by Milan Bozic

I hope there's a word or a name for this -- and by "this" I mean a novel that starts on the front cover of the book. It's been done before (on a few older Penguins(?)), but can't put my hands on any other examples at the moment. Anyone got any? (UPDATE: See the comments for ~~at least one other example~~ several other examples.)

And the coolest thing about this, BTW: verso pages are even-numbered, and recto pages odd-numbered, right? Are you sure? Click the images to enlarge and check.

Hummingbirds

2009-10-27T06:56:00.001-05:00

Design by Jarrod Taylor

Flirtation and the competition among students and teachers at an Upper East Side prep school is the focus of Hummingbirds; the jacket is beautifully whimsical and (sorry for the tired phrasing) jumps right off the shelf.

That vibrant blue really pops, just like it does on Digging to America. I've come to have such a low opinion of blue -- too many years spent in Web design -- but these restore my faith :-)

Five for Friday, 10.23.09

2009-10-22T20:42:00.010-05:00

Loser's Town; design by Ben Wiseman:

Money; design by Bert Krak, art direction by Paul Buckley:

This Is Where I Leave You; design by Gray318:

Chicago: A Biography; design by Matt Avery:

Can Capitalism Survive?; design by Milan Bozic:

Penguin Great Stars

2009-10-21T00:36:00.000-05:00

Design by Stefanie Posavec

New from Penguin, these covers for David Thomson's books about movie idols comprise what good series design is all about: beauty in the aggregate, with enough abstraction and variation to render each unique. Has anyone seen these in person? I so want those marquee lights to be spot varnish.

R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis

2009-10-20T00:52:00.005-05:00

Just got my copy of R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis. It's unbelievable. Some highlights:

Back cover:

The front case:

The Serpent on the back case:

Detail of the flood:

UPDATE: The Serpent? Awesome:

Buy this book from Amazon.com

They're Not Booing, They're Saying Boook

2009-10-18T00:40:00.000-05:00

Designs by Robert Jensen

"A BüK is an inexpensive pamphlet—just $1.49—containing one provocative essay, short story, portfolio of pictures, collection of poems, or other surprising entertainment, readable in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee" (from the BükAmerica Web site).

We don't talk about the business of publishing much here, but I wonder if (and hope that) there's room for this kind of chapbook meets the Pocket Penguins approach. Thoughts?

(PS: I did ask publisher Lisa Lyons about the use of everyone's favorite typeface, Comic Sans. Through her, designer Robert Jensen said: “It seemed apt. And as Vincent Connare, its creator, has written: "If you love comic sans, you really don’t know much about typography. And if you hate it, you really don’t know much about typography either." That quote always makes me giggle; here's a great article about Comic Sans and its creator.)

Five for Friday, 10.16.09

2009-10-15T22:00:00.000-05:00

Gimme Something Better; design by Jen Wang:

Love and Obstacles; design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich:

The Education of a British-Protected Child; design by Barbara de Wilde:

Sex With Kings; design by Faith Laurel:

Nothing to Be Frightened Of; design by Megan Wilson:

Who's To Say What's Obscene?

2009-10-14T06:56:00.001-05:00

Designer credit to come
Cover art by Wally Wood

Wally Wood's "Disneyland Memorial Orgy," first published in The Realist in 1967, is reproduced (in part) on the cover of counterculture icon Paul Krassner's recent collection of essays.

I didn't really think about this or see it at first, but it's pretty cool how the design reiterated the question asked in the title. What's covered up by the other design elements? Why are *those* things covered up? Oh, because they're obscene. But says who?

If you want to see Mickey shooting up and Dumbo pooping on Donald Duck (among other things), check out the uncolored original.

We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism

2009-10-13T07:11:00.001-05:00

Design by W.G. Cookman

John Derbyshire sounds like a total jackhole, but he's got to have a sense of humor, because this is one of the funniest author photos I've ever seen. Not sure if that's supposed to be him on the button on the cover (probably not), but both of them have the Republican frown down pat.

Five for Friday, 10.09.09

2009-10-08T10:46:00.008-05:00

The Amazing Absorbing Boy; design by Jennifer Lum, illustration by Michael Cho:

The Journey Prize; design by Leah Springate:

Automatic World; design by Kelly Hill:

Strange Things Happen; jacket design by Mary Schuck, photograph by Sheila Rock:

Morbid Curiosity; design and illustration by Ben Gibson:

A Better Pencil

2009-10-08T00:14:00.002-05:00

Designer credit to come

Am I alone in digging the simplicity of this?