Gallery of book covers

May 24, 2006 1:36 PM

"Covers is dedicated to the appreciation of book cover design."
posted by dobbs (16 comments total)

wow this is a prime example of JPG over-compression. I mean can anyone else see the horrible, horrible artifcating in that image?
posted by delmoi at 1:43 PM on May 24, 2006

Not to be cynical, but this just seems like a cheap way to sell books off amazon.com. They're even hot linking the images (which explains why they're all so over-compressed)
posted by delmoi at 1:47 PM on May 24, 2006

Brings to mind John Updike's 'New Yorker' article: DECEPTIVELY CONCEPTUAL -- Books and their covers.
posted by ericb at 1:59 PM on May 24, 2006

Also -- “By Its Cover: Modern American Book Cover Design,” by Ned Drew and Paul Sternberger.
posted by ericb at 2:01 PM on May 24, 2006

Thanks dobbs. It's a great site and of course one doesn't have to click through to Amazon. I'm just really surprised this hasn't been posted here before. It has been around for a few months at least but is definitely worthy of a post.
posted by peacay at 2:01 PM on May 24, 2006

The comments are pretty insightful. It seems this site is frequented by those who know the art.

This one is great. I didn't even realize there was a new translation out...
posted by mr_roboto at 2:06 PM on May 24, 2006

Nice to see them all in one place. Book covers seem to be one of the few places left in design-land where actual idea driven work is well done and well exposed. Although, they don't make them like this anymore...
posted by lovejones at 2:10 PM on May 24, 2006

nice post, dobbs, thank you sir! I agree with mr_roboto, the commentary really adds a nice dimension.
posted by madamjujujive at 2:41 PM on May 24, 2006

Neat site! I love comparing covers from different countries. Usually, UK covers strike me as much more interesting than US ones, which makes that Freakonomics cover even more hilariously bad. I love someone pointing out things like the cover of Joan Didion's latest spells out her husband's name in a subtle way. And the ability to leave comments *is* a nice touch; it allowed me to note how wrong-headed most of the criticsm of this cover was. Thanks for this, dobbs.
posted by mediareport at 3:14 PM on May 24, 2006

I think Jon Gray is one of the best book cover designers alive.
posted by kensanway at 3:19 PM on May 24, 2006

Hrrm, everyone seems to like this one, but I just find it rather florid. Clearly I'm missing the "cover art appreciation" gene.
posted by WidgetAlley at 4:46 PM on May 24, 2006

Like many people, I'm a big fan of Chip Kidd.
posted by box at 5:02 PM on May 24, 2006

See also: Book Covers from the NY Times Bestseller List.
posted by camcgee at 5:29 PM on May 24, 2006

Nice, but I'd rather go to a second hand book store and look at the shelves.
posted by fire&wings at 5:38 PM on May 24, 2006

The fact that Dobbs finds these nice art/design nuggets is much appreciated. Always. This post, in particular, makes me reflect on how really fine designers put task above ego.
posted by hobocode at 5:56 PM on May 24, 2006

fire&wings writes "I'd rather go to a second hand book store and look at the shelves"

Hard to do that on the web though.
posted by Mitheral at 9:35 AM on May 31, 2006