Sunday, February 08, 2009

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:

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38 comments:

  1. John12:18 AM

    Chip Kidd: Book One

    http://www.amazon.com/Chip-Kidd-Book-Work-1986-2006/dp/0847827488

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joseph12:19 AM

    The Chip Kidd book: Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. GH7:22 AM

    A History of Histories // John Burrow

    http://www.amazon.com/History-Histories-Chronicles-Inquiries-Thucydides/dp/0375413111/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jolie7:50 AM

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Capitu8:39 AM

    1- What about Metacover? :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. David A. Gee10:54 AM

    Guilty:

    http://works-on-paper.blogspot.com/2007/12/real-made-up.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jonas11:33 AM

    Chip Kidd's design for The Information by Martin Amis.

    http://books.google.com/books?id=mf8oeMREO1oC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45

    ReplyDelete
  8. Justin11:51 AM

    Not quite, but "biblionomatopoeia"?

    http://designobserver.com/archives/entry.html?id=38798

    ReplyDelete
  9. Meg Blocker11:59 AM

    Metacover, for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous1:07 PM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous1:26 PM

    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!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Andreas1:30 PM

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-on-the-Bookshelf/dp/0375406492/

    A favourite book, with a favourite cover.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Unknown2:34 PM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous4:32 PM

    I really like the handwritten blurbs on the first one.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Unknown6:40 PM

    Among the Gently Mad by Basbanes
    Used and Rare by Goldstone
    Penguin by Design by Phil Baines
    Notable American Women by Marcus

    ReplyDelete
  16. Andreas4:59 AM

    Some think even bigger than that:

    http://www.crookedbrains.net/2009/01/library.html

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous7:58 AM

    Andreas: WOW. Thanks for the link. Kudos to Kansas City.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:00 AM

    one of my favs:

    http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1400079578.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  19. mike11:07 AM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  20. TJ1:10 PM

    Art Spiegelman's cover for Paul Auster's New York Trilogy can be seen here.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous1:55 PM

    another example of a book on a book is for the Picador paperback edition of A Reading Diary and a Canongate UK edition

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous2:01 PM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous2:25 PM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  24. NM-Attempt2:55 PM

    William H. Gass' A TEMPLE OF TEXTS (both Knopf's hardback and Dalkey's paper).

    ReplyDelete
  25. Ian Koviak3:51 PM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous5:04 PM

    The End of the Jews, paperback design
    would have been better if they had used different handwriting for each comment.
    EJ

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous12:28 AM

    They oddly mess with your head a little bit, but design-wise, I think they're pretty fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Ian Koviak1:57 AM

    one for the road: http://designrelated.com/portfolio/CathleenElliott/page/4/entry/12569/passing-the-plate

    ReplyDelete
  29. cwlq3:15 PM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  30. Ian Koviak4:29 PM

    http://www.designrelated.com/portfolio/jennyc/page/3/entry/412/taking-off

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous9:55 PM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous12:35 PM

    A Book of Memories:

    http://www.designrelated.com/portfolio/Marina/page/1/entry/9688/a-book-of-memories

    ReplyDelete
  33. Joseph2:17 PM

    Thanks, everyone. Man, there are a lot :-)

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous3:04 PM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous5:18 PM

    http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Novelist-John-Gardner/dp/0393320030/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234567013&sr=1-1

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous12:44 PM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  37. Rishad6:01 AM

    Hello,
    Just adding mine to the pile.

    http://rishadis.com/projects/2345081#28

    Cheers,

    Rishad

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous3:03 AM

    Instead of calling this kind of design metacovers, why not use the name they use for the effect in film "breaking the 4th wall".

    ReplyDelete