Designer Bickford-Smith strikes again -- and brilliantly so. Last month we looked at some of her designs for the Penguin Gothic Horror Series; this month the excellent Penguin Blog features her designs for a series of hardcover classics, sold exclusively in the UK through Waterstone's.

The spines alone are gorgeous; check out Penguin's Flickr photostream to see the individual titles.
Generally speaking, what do you think of jacket-less hardcovers?
Jacket-less hardcovers make a house feel like home.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Derek. Most of my books are older and the book jackets were lost by owners long before me. I love the old dusty look they have. These new titles above would fit right in (after some wear and tear of course!)
ReplyDeleteA hardcover book with a jacket is like a couch with a plastic cover.
ReplyDeleteThese jackets on blog today are simply put DIVINE.
ReplyDeleteJoyce
If you think they're nice to look at then you should try holding them. I was flicking through the range a couple of weeks ago in a branch of Waterstones and all I can say is 'velvety lusciousness' :o)
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I swear I will never do a boring cloth stamping again.
ReplyDeleteArabian Nights on the Penguin blog is beautiful too.
I just ordered a few of these...
ReplyDeleteSlowly I will own all of them.
I think most of the time this type of stuff costs a bundle. Most printers charge per inch of foil stamping...
These are really affordable, i wonder if they are small trims.
You can't imagine how hard we work on those jackets, Judas! :( I agree with David... these books give me a whole new perspective on the stamp design.
ReplyDeleteI love these. Are they available in the US?
ReplyDeleteHak: sold exclusively through Waterstone's in the UK and not at all in the US, as far as I know :-(
ReplyDeleteGet out that credit card and hit the interwebs!
I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but these are Gorgeousss! I want them all! I'm drooling over them like I would an amazing dress at Anthropologie.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't really sold on jacketless hardbacks until I saw Open Letter's new books. Milan Bozic's designs are unmistakable (http://catalog.openletterbooks.org/)
ReplyDeleteKarolinum Press at Charles University has also done some good work and I have no problem with the releases by NYRB Childrens books like 13 Clocks & Uncle. . .
But the Boston Review hardbacks are merely acceptable.
SO I realize I'm late here, but are these sold out or something? Waterstone's doesn't seem to have them listed anymore...
ReplyDeleteThese are just gorgeous books, I need to start collecting them. I think you can get them on Amazon, if Waterstones are sold out.
ReplyDelete