Archive for August, 2016
Utopia
Utopia, first published by Thomas More in 1516 has had four covers in five-hundred years consisting of a rendition of the original woodcut map/leather bound/Utopian alphabet,etc, buildings that look somewhat like a fusion between Etruscan and Greco-Roman ruins, early modern geometric patterns, or Sir Thomas More himself (close-up of stubble or full-length Holbein portrait). […]
The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath’s only novel, The Bell Jar, was published in England in 1963, but wasn’t published in the United States until 1971. The first three covers sported the author name Victoria Lucas, a pseudonym Plath wrote under for a time. In the 1966 version done by Faber and Faber Publishing, Plath’s real name is displayed. […]
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, is a symbolic novel that played a crucial role in the United States. This is why I decided to look at different book covers of The Jungle. What I noticed was intriguing. Most covers were photos of downtown Chicago from the early 1900’s; others were simple covers of a tiny […]
Neuromancer
William Gibson’s Neuromancer was released in 1984. The style of the first edition reflects that. The neon pinks and blues is straight of 1980’s style. Something hope never comes back. It’s alsoquite different from other science fiction novels from that time. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and The Vang: The Military form by Christopher […]
Stephen King’s The Gunslinger Book Cover Analysis
Published in 1982, Stephen King’s The Gunslinger 1st edition cover is very different from the newer covers during the following 34 years.The first book in King’s Dark Tower series, the 1st edition does not even show the Dark Tower on the cover at all. Instead it focuses on what seems to be the titular character, a young boy […]
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita was first published in 1955 in Paris. It came to the United States in 1958 and was shortly after adapted to film. The book is usually marketed as a love story though the protagonist (Humbert Humbert) is a 37 year old man and his love is a 12 year old girl (Lolita) who is also his step-daughter. The narrative […]
Ernest Hemingway ‘The Sun Also Rises’
The three images I’ve included are the original book cover/dust jacket (1926), a more recent cover design (2003) and an even newer cover design, and what appears to be the most prevalent design currently (2006). I found upwards of 16 different cover designs since its initial publication. This novel was made into a movie, and […]
Flowers in the Attic – V.C Andrews
V.C Andrew’s Flowers in the Attic was published in 1979. With just a simple google search, I have found over a dozen different covers and dust jackets for this novel, dating back to 1979 and then also having a recent book cover released in 2013. The original cover of the book reflects the 1980’s era […]
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Book Cover
J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved tale The Hobbit, or There and Back Again was first published in 1937. The book has featured numerous cover designs over the years, including some that may surprise readers today. The first cover design was created by Tolkien himself. The first image shows the book with drawings from Tolkien, and the second image is the dust cover (also […]
Camus ‘The Stranger’ Book Cover Design
Algerian Albert Camus’ famous novel L’etranger, or The Stranger/The Outsider, has undergone a variety of book cover designs since its initial publication in French in 1942 and subsequent English translation in 1946; its various cover designs seem to represent the varying design tendencies of the respective publishers, national taste, and the moment in time each cover graced […]
