R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis

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

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

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?

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

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

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

Designer credit to come

Am I alone in digging the simplicity of this?

Crane Your Neck to the Right. No, Your Other Right

A question: does one of these look more "right" to you?


Your answer most likely depends on where you buy your books and the language they're written in. There are very few rules in design, but there are conventions, and it's the norm for those of us in the States to crane our necks to the right in order to read the text on a book's spine. Readers of French, among others, have to tilt their heads to the left.

There are some interesting theories about the advantages confered by each design convention; this Metafilter thread lays out the arguments:

When text on a spine reads from top to bottom, as it does on US, UK and Canadian (and some German?) books, the text is readable when the book lays on a table.

But then there's the "Harry Potter / encyclopedia argument" for bottom-to-top text: "Say you have a set of volumes...with the North American convention, on the shelf you have 1-5 from left to right, and the cover is always pointing right. Take them off the shelf and place them face up on a table, and you have to reverse the order if you want volume 1 on the top. Flip the spine around and the cover will point left on the shelf, but you can't see the cover, so who cares? Take that stack off the shelf and place it face up on a table.. Voila, volume 1 is on the top!"

Anyone else heard or have other theories?

PS: This post was inspired by a lunchtime walk during which bottom-to-top signage was jumping out at me. The sign for the Wit Hotel seems especially odd to my eye:



PPS: the second book cover -- bottom to top -- is the published cover.

King-Cat Comics by John Porcellino

Hey y'all, Austin here. I wanted to take my last day here at the BDR to blog about one of my favorite cartoonists, John Porcellino, and his amazing life-long work, King-Cat Comics and Stories.

For over 20 years, Porcellino has been drawing and releasing his self-published comics. They're all handmade: photocopied black on white paper, folded and stapled, with a consistent and instantly recognizable cover design.

In 2007, Drawn and Quarterly released a book collection of the comics, King-Cat Classix, perfectly translating the Zen/punk/DIY aesthetic of the comics to book form:

A new collection, Map of My Heart, has just been released, and again, Drawn and Quarterly has succeeded with their formula: add one simple color to the black and white, retain the King-Cat design. (HUGE thanks to my online buddy and cartoonist/writer Derik Badman for taking these pictures for me...go visit his site for some of the best writing about comics on the 'net!)

I love the map included on the inside cover! (For more examples of maps included in books, see my post, "Maps of Fictional Worlds")

I hope y'all will go check out John P's work.

Thanks to Joe and to you, his dear readers, for indulging me this past week! Stop by my blog sometime or say hello on Twitter.

Happy October 1st

Eve Siegel again. It's a cold fall day here in southern New England. So, a couple of warm-colored covers whose titles are appropriate to the season.

Designer: Amy Rose Grigoriou

Designer: Edel Rodriguez

Does anyone know of other covers that could be included?