But If We Were Looking at Spines, This Would Be The Best Spine of the Year
I didn't want this to get lost in The Book Table's favorite covers of 2009 post. Jason from The Book Table wrote this; I love it. Jason, have you seen this?
"Our assignment was to pick 15 covers and comment on them if we wished. We think the covers speak for themselves, so instead of talking about them, we want to mention what we think was the most amazing piece of book design of the year. As much as we'd like to choose Chip Kidd's design of The Original of Laura, which we loved, or any of the designs done by Chris Ware, Oak Park's very own genius, we think the design of The Hemingses of Monticello is the best design of the year. 
We know that most books that we sell in the store are sold because of their spine and we know that of the thousands of books in our home, only a few at anytime have their covers displayed. Because of this, we spend a lot of time thinking about spines. The Hemingses of Monticello is the first book that we ever remember seeing that has award medals on the spine. It's a brilliant idea and makes it irresistible to everyone that goes near it."
6 comments:
I'm Jason's wife and co-owner of The Book Table. I actually found Mendelsund's page of spines after falling in love with the jacket design of Wizard of the Crow. I'm crazy about his designs.
Jason, thanks for mentioning, in passing, the cover of The Original Of Laura. I hadn't seen it, so your praise made me look it up.
Wow. I've seen book covers that have impressed me, but this is the first one that actually choked me up. What a poignant cover.
Johnny: check the interior out next time you're in a bookstore.
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