Books on Book Covers



It started, innocently enough, with a tweet from my friend Steven Beattie, book review editor of Canada’s Quill & Quire magazine, about the cover of The Most Dangerous Book, Kevin Birmingham’s new ‘biography’ of Ulysses by James Joyce, designed by Ben Wiseman (Penguin June 2014).

That sparked a conversation with designer David Gee and Joseph Sullivan of The Book Design Review about books on book covers. Joe wrote a a post on the subject in 2009 on the subject, and I rather naïvely thought it would be easy (EASY!) to post a few contemporary examples of the trend, completely underestimating what an undertaking such a project would become.

What follows is an attempt to showcase some of different ways designers incorporate books into their cover designs. Along side covers from the past five years, I’ve included some earlier examples from Joe’s post, and this post about ‘meta-covers’ from HTML Giant. Many of the images of the older titles are small (and some are just not very good), but where I have been able to source a larger image, I’ve included it at full (or close to full) size. I’m indebted to the Book Cover Archive, which is still an invaluable resources after all this time, Ferran Lopez‘s (also mothballed) Jacket Museum, and all the designers and book folk who sent me cover images, and helped me in numerous other ways. Thank you. This isn’t comprehensive survey but, to be honest, I had to stop somewhere…

Front and Center

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo; design by Gabriele Wilson (Vintage, June 2008) A History of Histories by John Burrow; design by Jason Booher (Knopf, April 2008) The Middle Stories by Sheila Heti; design by Bill Douglas (House of Anansi, October 2002) Off the Page edited by Carole Burns; design by Darren Haggar (W. W. Norton, December 2007) The Paris Review Book of People with Problems; design by Henry Sene Yee (Picador, July 2005) Seven Hundred Penguin; design David Pearson / illustration Clare Skeats (Penguin Sept 2007) Twelve Fingers by Jo Soares; design by Evan Gaffney (Pantheon June 2001) The Wasted Vigil by Nadeem Aslam; design by Gabriele Wilson (Vintage Books September 2009)



Seven Hundred Penguins; design David Pearson / illustration Clare Skeats (Penguin Sept 2007)



Cover by Peter Mendelsund; design by Peter Mendelsund (powerHouse Books August 2014)



Kapitalismus und Hautkrankheiten by Jasmin Ramadan; design by Books We Made (Klett-Cotta Verlag April 2014)



The Knowledge by Lewis Dartnell; design by Kris Potter (Penguin April 2014)



Priceless by William Poundstone; design by Jennifer Carrow (Hill & Wang January 2010)



Publish Your Photography Book by Darius D. Himes & Mary Virginia Swanson; design by David Chickey & Masumi Shibata (Princeton Architectural Press March 2011)



The Yarn Whisperer by Clara Parkes; design by John Gall (Abrams September 2013)

Cut, Torn, Ripped or Otherwise Defaced or Damaged

Homecoming by Bernhard Schlink; design by Helen Yentus (Pantheon, January 2008) Little Black Book of Stories by A. S. Byatt; design by Gabriele Wilson (Knopf, April 2004) Pragmatism: A Reader by Louis Menand; design by John Gall (Vintage Books) Resistance by Barry Lopez; design by Gabriele Wilson (Knopf, June 2004) Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance by Matthew Kneale; design by David Drummond (Anchor, March 2006) Tests of Time by William H. Gass; design by Gabriele Wilson (Knopf, February 2002) The 351 Books Of Irma Arcuri by David Bajo; design by Paul Buckely (Viking, June 2008) Trauma by Patrick McGrath; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf, April 2008)



The Arsonist by Sue Miller; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury June 2014)



Best New Poets 2013, guest editor Brenda Shaughnessy; design by Atomicdust (Meridian January 2014)

Beg Borrow Steal by Michael Greenberg; design by John Gall / artwork by Cara Barer (Other Press September 2009) The Late Age of Print by Ted Striphas; design by David Drummond / artwork by Cara Barer (Columbia University Press April 2009)



Christine Falls by Benjamin Black; series design by Keith Hayes (Picador January 2008)

The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black; design by Keith Hayes (Picador February 2009) Elegy for April by Benjamin Black; design by Keith Hayes (Picador March 2011) A Death in Summer by Benjamin Black; design by Keith Hayes (Picador March 2012)



Half World by Scott O’Connor; design by Christopher Lin (Simon & Schuster February 2014)



Heaven is Small by Emily Schultz; design by Ingrid Paulson (House of Anansi )

(And if your not Canadian, you may not know that this is a riff on Ingrid’s design for the hardcover of Heaven is Small, featured in this list.)



The Keep by Jennifer Egan; design by John Gall (Knopf August 2006)



The Last Winter of Dani Lancing by P. D. Viner; design by Oliver Munday (Crown October 2013)



Mess; series art and design by Keri Smith (Penguin September 2010)

This is Not a Book by Keri Smith (Penguin) Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith (Penguin)



Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton; design by Matt Dorfman (Pantheon June 2012)

(This is what the cover looks like under the jacket if you’re curious)



Salinger by David Shields and Shane Salerno; design by Christopher Lin (Simon & Schuster September 2013)



What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton; design by Jamie Stafford-Hill (Tor January 2014)

Three-Quarters, or a Bit on the Side

The Book of Dead Philosophers by Simon Critchley; design by John Gall (Vintage, February 2009) All the Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen; design by Heads of State (Viking, April 2008) This Means This, This Means That by Sean Hall; design by Pentagram (Laurence King, September 2007) Sexy Librarian by Julia West; design by Kristian Bjornard (Slush Editions January 2008)



The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde; cover art by Thomas Allen, series design by Jaya Miceli (Penguin 2011)

Lost in Good Book by Jasper Fforde; design by Jaya Miceli One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde; design by Jaya Miceli The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde; design by Jaya Miceli

And those of you with a good memory will remember Chip Kidd used also art by Thomas Allen for a series of James Ellroy titles publisher by Vintage in the US:

Because The Night by James Ellroy; cover art by Thomas Allen; design by Chip Kidd (Vintage October 2005) Blood on the Moon by James Ellroy; cover art by Thomas Allen; design by Chip Kidd (Vintage May 2005) Suicide Hill by James Ellroy; cover art by Thomas Allen; design by Chip Kidd (Vintage August 2006)



Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; design by Matt Owen (Simon & Schuster January 2012)



Fiction Ruined My Family by Jeanne Darst; design by Alex Merto (Riverhead September 2011)



The Most Dangerous Book by Kevin Birmingham; adapted from the US cover with additional design by Jessie Price (Head of Zeus June 2014)



Marcel Proust’s Search for Lost Time by Patrick Alexander; design by Jamie Keenan (Vintage March 2010)



The Real Made Up by Stephen Brockwell; design by David A. Gee (ECW October 2007)

Stoner by John Williams; design by Julia Connolly (Vintage July 2012)

An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine; design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich (Grove April 2014)

And while it’s not an actual book, let’s give Tom Davie of studiotwentysix2 a round of applause for his famous novel redesign print (which you can buy here).

Open Books and Page Turners

A Book of Memories by by Péter Nádas; design Marina Drukman (Picador, July 2008) Dead Man’s Float by Nicholas Maes; design by David Drummond (Vehicule Press September 2006) The End of the Jews by Adam Mansbach; design by Rodrigo Corral (Spiegel & Grau ,March 2009) The Geographer’s Library by Jon Fasman; design by Gabriele Wilson (Penguin, February 2005) The Ibis Tapestry by Mike Nicol; design by Evan Gaffney (Knopf April 1998) The Last Novel by David Markson; design by Kimberly Glyder (Counterpoint, March 2007) Making It Up by Penelope Lively; design by Helen Yentus (Penguin 2006) Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf (hardcover); design by Paola Ecchavaria (HarperCollins, 2007) Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf (paperback); design by Paola Ecchavaria (HarperCollins, September 2008) A Reading Diary by Alberto Manguel; design by C. S. Richardson (Knopf Canada, 2004) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon; design by Tal Goretsky (Penguin, January 2005)



Book Was There by Andrew Piper; design by Andrea Guinn (University of Chicago Press November 2012)



Erotic Poems by E. E. Cummings; design by Gabriele Wilson (Liveright February 2010)



How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti; design by Rebecca Seltzer (Henry Holt & Co. June 2012)



A Journey with Two Maps by Eavan Boland; design by Chin-Yee Lai (W. W. Norton October 2011)



John Dies at the End by David Wong; design by Rob Grom (Thomas Dunne October 2009)



A Life in Books by Warren Lehrer; cover art by Warren Lehrer in collaboration with Jonathan Rosen (Goff Books October 2013)



The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan & Quentin Fiore; design by Yes Studio (Penguin September 2008)



A Most Dangerous Book by Christopher B. Krebs; design by Mark Melnick (W. W. Norton June 2011)



The Novel: A Biography by Michael Schmidt; design by Graciela Galup (Belknap Press April 2014)



Philology by James Turner; design by Kara Davison / Faceout Studio (Princeton University Press, May 2014)



The Pox and the Covenant by Tony Wilson; design by Jason Gabbert (Sourcebooks April 2010)





What to Look For in Winter by Candia McWilliam; design by Richard Ljoenes (Harper March 2012)



Where I’m Reading From by Tim Parks; design by James Paul Jones (Harvill Secker November 2014)



The World by Bill Gaston; design by Kathleen Lynch / Black Kat Design (Penguin August 2013)



Writers Between the Covers by Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon; design by Lucy Kim (Plume October 2013)

Shelves, Sides, Spines, and Stacks

The End of the Jews by Adam Mansbach; design by Rodrigo Corral (Spiegel & Grau March 2008) Eyes to See by Bret Lott; design by Mary Hooper (Thomas Nelson, January 2008) The Mercy Room by Giles Rozier; Design by Mario Pulice (Little Brown & Co, March 2006) A Pound of Paper by John Baxter; design by Marina Drukman (St. Martin’s Press (December 2003) The Temple of Texts by William Gass; design by Gabriele Wilson (Knopf, February 2006) Who The Hell Is Pansy O’Hara? by Jenny Bond & Chris Sheedy; design by Heads of State (Penguin, July 2008) The Work Of Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin; design by David Pearson (Penguin August 2008)



Penguin by Design by Phil Baines; design by David Pearson (Penguin May 2005)



Wormholes by John Fowles; design by Carin Goldberg (Little, Brown & Co. 1997)



Bad Teeth by Dustin Long; design by Rex Bonomelli (New Harvest May 2014)



The Broadview Introduction to Literature; series design by Michel Vrana (Broadview August 2013)



First Novel by Nicholas Royle; design by Suzanne Dean (Jonathan Cape February 2014)



How To Be A Heroine by Samantha Ellis; designed by James Paul Jones (Chatto & Windus January 2014)



How to Read Literature by Terry Eagleton; design uncredited (Yale University Press Jun 2013)



The Junior Officers’ Reading Club by Patrick Hennessey; design by David Wardle (Penguin June 2009)

Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan; design by Rodrigo Corral (FSG October 2012) Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan; design by Gray318 (Atlantic Books August 2013)



Ajax Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan; design by Irene Pineda (Atlantic Books June 2014)

Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose; design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich (HarperCollins 2006) Reading Like A Writer by Francine Prose; design by Dan Mogford (Union Books May 2012)



The Rise & Fall of the Great Powers by Tom Rachman; design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich (Dial June 2014)



Stoner by John Williams; design by Julia Connolly (Vintage November 2013)



Vagina by Emma L. E. Rees; design by Alice Marwick (Bloomsbury August 2013)



Why I Read by Wendy Lesser; design by Rodrigo Corral (Farrar, Straus & Giroux (January 2014)



The Year of Henry James by David Lodge; design by Nathan Burton (Vintage May 2014)



The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate May 2014)

And then there’s this…

The FUTURE



You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier; design by Olly Moss (Penguin January 2010)

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