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Front Cover: Great Book Jackets and Cover Design
The 20th century witnessed the rapid evolution of the book cover from a functional layer protecting the fragile paper inside, into a sophisticated visual tableau through which the author's message is interpreted and communicated. 'Front Cover' is the first book to bring together the jackets and covers that have made the greatest impact over the course of the century, from the pioneering designs of the Modernist movement to the digital collages of the internet age.
Each chapter explores a different period - the modern designs of the 1920s and 1930s, the evolution of the contemporary book jacket in the post-war era, the explosion of the mass market and popular culture in the 1960s, and the incisive, stylish jackets created in recent years by design firms such as Pentagram. Jackets by major designers and illustrators including E. McKnight Kauffer, Eric Ravilious and Jeff Fisher are featured, alongside first editions of many of the century's most influential novels, including 'Brave New World', 'Catch 22', 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and 'Bonfire of the Vanities'.
Complete with topics such as the Cold War novel, the author as jacket artist and the Bond novel, and with almost 300 jackets illustrated in colour, this is an essential compendium of the book jacket for anyone with a passion for books and a love of great design.
Each chapter explores a different period - the modern designs of the 1920s and 1930s, the evolution of the contemporary book jacket in the post-war era, the explosion of the mass market and popular culture in the 1960s, and the incisive, stylish jackets created in recent years by design firms such as Pentagram. Jackets by major designers and illustrators including E. McKnight Kauffer, Eric Ravilious and Jeff Fisher are featured, alongside first editions of many of the century's most influential novels, including 'Brave New World', 'Catch 22', 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and 'Bonfire of the Vanities'.
Complete with topics such as the Cold War novel, the author as jacket artist and the Bond novel, and with almost 300 jackets illustrated in colour, this is an essential compendium of the book jacket for anyone with a passion for books and a love of great design.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published September 13, 2001
2 people are currently reading
160 people want to read
About the author
Alan Powers
84 books4 followersAlan Powers is a teacher, researcher and writer specialising in architecture and design.
Powers trained as an art historian at University of Cambridge, gaining an undergraduate degree and a PhD.
As a writer Powers has been prolific, writing reviews, magazine articles, obituaries of artists and architects as well as books. He has concentrated on 20th century British architecture and architectural conservation. He has also written books on the design of book jackets, shop fronts, book collectors, and the artist Eric Ravilious as well as monographs on Serge Chermayeff, and the British firms of Tayler and Green and of Aldington, Graig and Collinge.
Powers trained as an art historian at University of Cambridge, gaining an undergraduate degree and a PhD.
As a writer Powers has been prolific, writing reviews, magazine articles, obituaries of artists and architects as well as books. He has concentrated on 20th century British architecture and architectural conservation. He has also written books on the design of book jackets, shop fronts, book collectors, and the artist Eric Ravilious as well as monographs on Serge Chermayeff, and the British firms of Tayler and Green and of Aldington, Graig and Collinge.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 14, 2019
A chronological look at book cover design. Starting in the 1920s and continuing up to present day this book is packed with beautiful photos of dust jackets and info about the changing styles, fashions and typography.
This book includes a good selection although it would have been nice to have shown the evolution of the book cover from the first examples rather than jumping into the subject in 1920. However this is a wonderful book to look through and a get book to dip into.
This book includes a good selection although it would have been nice to have shown the evolution of the book cover from the first examples rather than jumping into the subject in 1920. However this is a wonderful book to look through and a get book to dip into.
April 10, 2025
As a lover of good dust wrappers, it is hardly surprising that I absolutely loved this book, which takes the reader through the evolution of the jacket from when it was simply there to protect the cover and pages within to when it became a piece of artwork and, as we well know for such as 'Casino Royale', collected in itself!
The lengthy introduction covers the evolution of the wrapper and then there are extensive sections dealing with a variety of publishers and their house styles. These are interspersed with vignettes on such as the Bond novels, kitchen-sink novels, pulp fiction jackets and Agatha Christie jackets and also on a variety of artists who have made significant contributions to the art. The latter include such as Edward Bawden, Eric Revilious, E. McKnight Kauffer and, more modern, Andrezej Klimowski.
For me the early dust wrappers are the best as they appear more stylish and are mostly hand done or typographically created. When we come to the digital age, which does have its own charm I suppose, the wrappers are more clinical and less interesting but equally cleverly created. Of the more recent dust wrappers my favourites are those created by Barbara Martin for the Black Sparrow Press because they reflect a style of the 1920s with their use of plain colours and sans-serif lettering, and those of Jeff Fisher, an Australian who dispensed with computer images and resorted to hand-drawn illustrations and lettering. However, I appreciate that is most certainly a personal preference and not necessarily everybody's view.
Whatever one's view of the art, the 300 or so coloured illustrations make the book an absolute delight to look at - and read as it is extremely well written and researched.
The lengthy introduction covers the evolution of the wrapper and then there are extensive sections dealing with a variety of publishers and their house styles. These are interspersed with vignettes on such as the Bond novels, kitchen-sink novels, pulp fiction jackets and Agatha Christie jackets and also on a variety of artists who have made significant contributions to the art. The latter include such as Edward Bawden, Eric Revilious, E. McKnight Kauffer and, more modern, Andrezej Klimowski.
For me the early dust wrappers are the best as they appear more stylish and are mostly hand done or typographically created. When we come to the digital age, which does have its own charm I suppose, the wrappers are more clinical and less interesting but equally cleverly created. Of the more recent dust wrappers my favourites are those created by Barbara Martin for the Black Sparrow Press because they reflect a style of the 1920s with their use of plain colours and sans-serif lettering, and those of Jeff Fisher, an Australian who dispensed with computer images and resorted to hand-drawn illustrations and lettering. However, I appreciate that is most certainly a personal preference and not necessarily everybody's view.
Whatever one's view of the art, the 300 or so coloured illustrations make the book an absolute delight to look at - and read as it is extremely well written and researched.
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September 19, 2021i feel maybe a little bad about counting this one for my goodreads challenge bc it is mostly pictures and i did mostly skim the text but this was cool i’d flip through it again
September 24, 2025
تحفة 😍
الكتاب عن تصميمات أغلفة الكتب من العشرينيات لغاية التسعينيات
تغذية بصرية جميلة
هصور الكتاب كامل علشان بحضر حلقة ع قناة جرافيميديا ع اليوتيوب عن تصميمات أغلفة الكتب لو حد مهتم بالموضوع 👇
@graphimedia.workshops
الكتاب عن تصميمات أغلفة الكتب من العشرينيات لغاية التسعينيات
تغذية بصرية جميلة
هصور الكتاب كامل علشان بحضر حلقة ع قناة جرافيميديا ع اليوتيوب عن تصميمات أغلفة الكتب لو حد مهتم بالموضوع 👇
@graphimedia.workshops
June 29, 2025
I was reading the first edition so I'm quite tempted to look out for the latest edition to see and read about the more modern designers from the 21st century.
However, as a publisher, designer and photographer I thoroughly enjoyed the book and seeing the rich history and advancement of this very particular discipline.
My experience of jacket design is that it is one of the most controversial areas of publishing with more arguments and heated discussion than any area of the publishing process. it was a delight to revisit the cover designs of the past and read about the publishers, authors and designers that pushed the boundaries.
However, as a publisher, designer and photographer I thoroughly enjoyed the book and seeing the rich history and advancement of this very particular discipline.
My experience of jacket design is that it is one of the most controversial areas of publishing with more arguments and heated discussion than any area of the publishing process. it was a delight to revisit the cover designs of the past and read about the publishers, authors and designers that pushed the boundaries.
June 11, 2018
read for college
July 15, 2018
"The best book covers possess a form of hidden eroticism, connecting with some undefended part of the personality in order to say “take me, I am yours.”"
January 30, 2020
I enjoyed learning about the evolution of book covers. It was also interesting to see the styles grouped through the ages visually. Overall, though, it was a bit unappealing to read.
February 16, 2023
3.5 STARS
June 21, 2024
Front Cover is a very useful book for anyone interested in collecting books . There are some really good photos of book covers from an assortment of different book genres. The text is really informative too.
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December 3, 2011
Overall, an awesome book. It's the British counterpart to the other book on book covers I read recently. Now I know, if I ever get sucked back in time to the 40s, 50s, or 60s, I'll go to England. They seem to have skipped the butt-ugly modernism stuff, or done a variation that's a lot more palatable. I like most of the styles in this book much better than the American one.
The only thing I really didn't like about this one is it often talks about other book covers that aren't shown in the book, or if they are, I couldn't find them. What's up with that? If you're going to talk about it, put it in there! The worst offense was talking about the salacious cover that was designed for one of J. D. Salinger's books, and how it was so outrageous, J. D. Salinger never worked with the same guys again and was adamant about control of the covers of his books ever after... but instead of showing that cover, all this book shows is two boring J. D. Salinger book covers for other books, both flat gray with plain black type and a single rule for decoration. What???
This book is full of book covers, and the ones it has are explained in detail, including a lot of bits of meaning I would have missed. I just don't understand talking about the covers not present. If they're so important or interesting as to warrant mention, why not include them?
(ILL book, ran out of time)
The only thing I really didn't like about this one is it often talks about other book covers that aren't shown in the book, or if they are, I couldn't find them. What's up with that? If you're going to talk about it, put it in there! The worst offense was talking about the salacious cover that was designed for one of J. D. Salinger's books, and how it was so outrageous, J. D. Salinger never worked with the same guys again and was adamant about control of the covers of his books ever after... but instead of showing that cover, all this book shows is two boring J. D. Salinger book covers for other books, both flat gray with plain black type and a single rule for decoration. What???
This book is full of book covers, and the ones it has are explained in detail, including a lot of bits of meaning I would have missed. I just don't understand talking about the covers not present. If they're so important or interesting as to warrant mention, why not include them?
(ILL book, ran out of time)
April 1, 2014
Alan Power’s aesthetic selection of book jackets are laid out on the page with one sentence caption as well as a short, concise and brilliantly to the point history of each category. The book is broken down by decades beginning with the 1920s ending in the 1990s with further subdivisions into an eclectic array of subject matter. Particular points of interest such as Penguin: The Creation of a Brand, Bond Novels and Author as Artists express to the reader the broad and yet specific subject matter as well as genera. This book was a delight to peruse the pages not only for the books that are still read to this day but as well for the books that have fallen away, maybe to be found again and revisited.
June 17, 2008
this just came from amazon yesterday, and i spent a whole evening browsing through it. if you're interested in graphic design and book cover history (which i am because i always choose to design my own book covers), this has proven to be a very interesting reading.
July 18, 2016
Reading more books about books or related to books, books recently. And if you like anything book related, then you'll like this one. Its basically different book covers, editions, and info, etc. Some of the covers I recognize like the Penguin classics. Interesting read.
December 17, 2007
My obsessive need to study others' book designs lead me to this book. This is a good one. It's good to know one's history before you can destroy that history.
October 6, 2012
Fascinating evolution of book covers - the thought behind, the art work.... something I wouldn't have thought would be interesting, with all the visuals and history, fascinating!
March 19, 2016
Just love the book and those useful information.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews