Five for Friday, 11.06.2009

Perfect Rigor; design by Martha Kennedy:


Cockroach; design by Albert Tang:


The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights; design by Jaya Miceli:


Too Many Murders; design by Jason Gabbert:


Some dude named Chip Kidd talking about book covers:

Obamanos

Designer credit to come

I know he's just waving.


But here's where my mind went immediately:


Anyone else?

Our Hero: Superman on Earth

Designer credit to come

I'm dying to know how far you can push Superman iconography before hearing from the law firm of Siegel, Shuster & Luthor.

(FWIW, the same author's It's Superman! novel has a trademark disclaimer right on the front cover.)

Random Monday Stuff

Had family in town this weekend. Thus:

Unpublished concepts for Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue and Troublesome Words. Via The Casual Optimist.

The new Penguin Podcast features Ron Currie, Jr., author of Everything Matters. I loved that book.

Old dust jackets. I mean really old. And most likely, pretty dusty.

Late '80s Harry Crews Harper Perennial Fiction editions

Illustrations by George Corsillo

A busy week has kept me out of the bookstores, so here are a few from home. Frequent BDR readers know I'm a big Harry Crews fan, constantly on the prowl for that copy of Naked In Garden Hills that *isn't* $150. (Should you ever see this at a garage sale or whatever, can you pick it up for me? Seriously.)

I'm not sure how many Crews books were published in this series; these are the ones I own. Two thoughts popped into my mind when I was scanning these:

1) Man, 1988 was a long time ago in book-cover-years.

2) Wow, these aren't just yellow. They're YELLOW. But yellow books don't sell...right?

Discuss.

Ten Storey Love Song

Design by Milan Bozic

I hope there's a word or a name for this -- and by "this" I mean a novel that starts on the front cover of the book. It's been done before (on a few older Penguins(?)), but can't put my hands on any other examples at the moment. Anyone got any? (UPDATE: See the comments for at least one other example several other examples.)

And the coolest thing about this, BTW: verso pages are even-numbered, and recto pages odd-numbered, right? Are you sure? Click the images to enlarge and check.

Hummingbirds

Design by Jarrod Taylor

Flirtation and the competition among students and teachers at an Upper East Side prep school is the focus of Hummingbirds; the jacket is beautifully whimsical and (sorry for the tired phrasing) jumps right off the shelf.


That vibrant blue really pops, just like it does on Digging to America. I've come to have such a low opinion of blue -- too many years spent in Web design -- but these restore my faith :-)

Five for Friday, 10.23.09

Loser's Town; design by Ben Wiseman:


Money; design by Bert Krak, art direction by Paul Buckley:


This Is Where I Leave You; design by Gray318:


Chicago: A Biography; design by Matt Avery:


Can Capitalism Survive?; design by Milan Bozic:

Penguin Great Stars

Design by Stefanie Posavec

New from Penguin, these covers for David Thomson's books about movie idols comprise what good series design is all about: beauty in the aggregate, with enough abstraction and variation to render each unique. Has anyone seen these in person? I so want those marquee lights to be spot varnish.

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