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:
38 comments:
Chip Kidd: Book One
http://www.amazon.com/Chip-Kidd-Book-Work-1986-2006/dp/0847827488
The Chip Kidd book: Thanks!
A History of Histories // John Burrow
http://www.amazon.com/History-Histories-Chronicles-Inquiries-Thucydides/dp/0375413111/
Maybe it's just that I haven't had my coffee yet, but this breed of cover design is confusing for my poor eyes. :(
The Book of Dead Philosophers cover is easier to take in because it includes an entire book, not just a portion of one. Ditto for the Chip Kidd cover, which also has helpful secondary objects (fingers) in the image.
1- What about Metacover? :D
Guilty:
http://works-on-paper.blogspot.com/2007/12/real-made-up.html
Chip Kidd's design for The Information by Martin Amis.
http://books.google.com/books?id=mf8oeMREO1oC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45
Not quite, but "biblionomatopoeia"?
http://designobserver.com/archives/entry.html?id=38798
Metacover, for sure.
Sheila Heti's "Middle Stories"
http://www.amazon.ca/Middle-Stories-Sheila-Heti/dp/0887846777/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234206399&sr=8-1
I love the Proust one! That very first one reminds me of the query letters I used to screen at my old job... not sure why, though!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-on-the-Bookshelf/dp/0375406492/
A favourite book, with a favourite cover.
Definitely metacover.
Also, The Archivist by Martha Cooley is a good one:
http://www.amazon.com/Archivist-Novel-Martha-Cooley/dp/0316158461/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234211632&sr=8-1
I really like the handwritten blurbs on the first one.
Among the Gently Mad by Basbanes
Used and Rare by Goldstone
Penguin by Design by Phil Baines
Notable American Women by Marcus
Some think even bigger than that:
http://www.crookedbrains.net/2009/01/library.html
Andreas: WOW. Thanks for the link. Kudos to Kansas City.
one of my favs:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1400079578.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Several editions of Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler have covers like this. Unfortunately, I can't find any decent-sized images on them online:
http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/calvino/calwintercover.gif
http://www.timkcbooks.com/pictures/calvino_winters.jpg
Art Spiegelman's cover for Paul Auster's New York Trilogy can be seen here.
another example of a book on a book is for the Picador paperback edition of A Reading Diary and a Canongate UK edition
While clicking through some other links, I found this title on one of the pages.
Script and Scribble
by Kitty Burns Florey
http://www.mhpbooks.com/index.php
In my (digital) collection I found eight titles. You can view them in part 49 of my series 'Covers with Books'.
http://www.boekendingen.nl/wp-nieuws/?p=2800
William H. Gass' A TEMPLE OF TEXTS (both Knopf's hardback and Dalkey's paper).
Ah yes, well:
http://daviddrummond.blogspot.com/2008/01/dr-delicious.html
http://daviddrummond.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-post.html
http://ianshimkoviak.com/index.php?/projects/the-ethical-slut/
And this one that never made the cut...
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1BUdRXY8Q8Y/SCxvIFw4AFI/AAAAAAAAAoY/PVundoR4dZM/s1600-h/Picture+328.png
The End of the Jews, paperback design
would have been better if they had used different handwriting for each comment.
EJ
They oddly mess with your head a little bit, but design-wise, I think they're pretty fantastic.
one for the road: http://designrelated.com/portfolio/CathleenElliott/page/4/entry/12569/passing-the-plate
How about Soon I will be Invincible?
From: http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-favorites-of-2008.html
Cover: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nXknRDZBs0E/STIHi64Ht_I/AAAAAAAACeo/ddiyN2NsKts/s1600-h/super4.jpg
http://www.designrelated.com/portfolio/jennyc/page/3/entry/412/taking-off
How about these covers by Henry Sene Yee.
Paris Review Book of People With Problems:
http://henryseneyee.blogspot.com/2006/04/paris-review-book-of-people-with.html
An Encyclopedia of Love:
http://henryseneyee.blogspot.com/2006/04/encyclopedia-of-love.html
Kavalier & Clay:
http://henryseneyee.blogspot.com/2006/04/amazing-adventures-of-kavalier-clay.html
Taxonomy of Barnacles:
http://henryseneyee.blogspot.com/2006/04/taxonomy-of-barnacles.html
A Book of Memories:
http://www.designrelated.com/portfolio/Marina/page/1/entry/9688/a-book-of-memories
Thanks, everyone. Man, there are a lot :-)
peekaboo baby
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Peekaboo-Baby-Kate-Merritt/dp/1846460328/ref=sr_1_1/278-0163794-5684633?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234472593&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Novelist-John-Gardner/dp/0393320030/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234567013&sr=1-1
and bee season
http://www.amazon.com/Bee-Season-Novel-Myla-Goldberg/dp/0385498802/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234896191&sr=1-1
Hello,
Just adding mine to the pile.
http://rishadis.com/projects/2345081#28
Cheers,
Rishad
Instead of calling this kind of design metacovers, why not use the name they use for the effect in film "breaking the 4th wall".
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