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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:

38 comments:

John said...

Chip Kidd: Book One

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

Joseph said...

The Chip Kidd book: Thanks!

GH said...

A History of Histories // John Burrow

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

Jolie said...

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.

Capitu said...

1- What about Metacover? :D

David A. Gee said...

Guilty:

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

Jonas said...

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

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

Justin said...

Not quite, but "biblionomatopoeia"?

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

Meg Blocker said...

Metacover, for sure.

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

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!

Andreas said...

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

A favourite book, with a favourite cover.

Unknown said...

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

Anonymous said...

I really like the handwritten blurbs on the first one.

Unknown said...

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

Andreas said...

Some think even bigger than that:

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

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

one of my favs:

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

mike said...

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

TJ said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

NM-Attempt said...

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

Ian Koviak said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Ian Koviak said...

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

cwlq said...

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

Ian Koviak said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

A Book of Memories:

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

Joseph said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Rishad said...

Hello,
Just adding mine to the pile.

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

Cheers,

Rishad

Anonymous said...

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