The Conscience of a Liberal, US and UK, & Hardcover and Paperback

Nothing special about the US hardcover (first image), and not entirely sure what to think about the UK paperback (second image), but this leaves me wondering if the red / blue distinction doesn't register as strongly outside the US as it does in it. Right and Left always worked fine for me...




FWIW, no arrows on the US paperback:


Or on the UK hardcover:

The Language of Things, US and UK

UK title designed by Simon Earith
US designer info to come

I was going through some bookmarks last night and rediscovered Penguin Books UK's great year-end post of their favorite designs of 2008. I love what Penguin art director Jim Stoddart says about the design of the UK edition (directly below): "It’s a perfect design for book about design. It’s classic, elegant and looks great in the shops."


Compare the wonderful stuffed-to-the-gills UK edition to the cleaner US design. Can we say the same thing about this that Stoddart says about the UK design?

What the Heck: A Few More Murakami Covers

Monday's "Murakami in Israel" post prompted illustrator Keren Tegger to send in the cover for the newly-published (in Israel) Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. She did the illustration; Talia Baer is responsible for the design:


At some point I remembered I had previously posted some German and French editions of Kafka on the Shore -- they're here. And running around the Interwebs a few hours ago I found this French cover for After Dark, which clearly has taken a few cues from Chip Kidd's design:

Murakami in Israel

Haruki Murakami is the 2009 recipient of the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society, defying calls from pro-Palestinian groups to decline the prize. The Guardian's got a nice write-up of the controversy and Murakami's reaction to it, and it gives me the opportunity to show book covers from Israel for the first time.

Kafka on the Shore:


The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle:

Stone's Fall

Design by Peter Mendelsund

I wouldn't normally get excited about a cover like this -- we've all seen the stock certificate motif before -- but the random orientation really helps this along, and the bloody splatter is fun and clearly marks this as mystery fiction.

PS: The "JS" on the stock certificate presumably refers to John Stone, the protagonist.

Friday Miscellany, February 13

/1/ Harry Potter re-envisioned by M.S. Corley. Here's one; here are the others. And no, they're not published. Via buzzfeed:


/2/ AIGA is accepting submissions for the next 50 Books / 50 Covers competition. Click on the image for more info.

Barack Obama: The Inaugural Address

Design by Jen Wang

I saw this today in a shop window on the way home from work. The photo I took sucks, so take it from me: this small, clothbound, jacket-less book has the look and feel of a chapbook. It connotes urgency and is almost perfect for what it is.


But...there's something about the stencil work that's just not right. Here's a closer view from my crappy photo:


Buy this book from Amazon.com

Books On Book Covers

I've wanted to start rounding these up for some time; the upcoming publication of the paperback edition of The End of the Jews is a good place to start. Two questions for you, though, dear readers:

1. What should we call this book-on-a-book-cover style? We need some kind of cool name, don't we? ("Metacover" seems to be the early favorite.)

2. Who's got more examples? (Several great ones have been mentioned in the comments; I'll post them ASAP.)

The End of the Jews, paperback design by Rodrigo Corral:


The End of the Jews, hardcover design by Rodrigo Corral:


The Last Novel paperback design by Kimberly Glyder Design:


Proust and the Squid, hardcover design by Paola Ecchavaria:


Proust and the Squid, paperback design by Paola Ecchavaria:


The Book of Dead Philosophers, hardcover design by John Gall:


Some of your contributions below: thanks for sending them in!

Chip Kidd: Book One, design by Mark Melnick:


The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, design by David Pearson:

How Not to Write A Novel

An early front-runner for The BDR's 2009 This Takes Balls Award (see last year's nominee (and winner, I guess) here). And as I said to someone when I ran a similarly-themed ad on the site last year, please send your hate mail to The National Lampoon, circa 1973.



The inspiration:


The US edition: