By Its Cover: Modern American Book Cover Design

by Ned Drew, Paul Sternberge

We all know we're not supposed to judge books by their covers, but the truth is that we do just that nearly every time we walk into a bookstore or pull a book off a tightly packed shelf. It's really not something we should be ashamed about, for it reinforces something we sincerely believe: design matters. At its best, book cover design is an art that transcends the publisher's commercial imperativesto reflect both an author's ideas and contemporary cultural values in a vital, intelligent, and beautiful way.In this groundbreaking and lavishly illustrated history, authors Ned Drew and Paul Sternberger establish American book cover design as a tradition of sophisticated, visual excellence that has put shape to our literary landscape.

By Its Cover traces the story of the American book cover from its inception as a means of utilitarian protection for the book to its current status as an elaborately produced form of communication art. It is, at once, the intertwined story of American graphic design and American literature, and features the work of such legendary figures as Rockwell Kent, E. McKnight Kauffer, Paul Rand, Alvin Lustig, Rudy deHarak, and Roy Kuhlman along with more recent and contemporary innovators including Push Pin Studios, Chermayeff & Geismar, Karen Goldberg, Chip Kidd, and John Gall.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Art, Books About Books, History, Reference, Art Design

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yikes. It's the rare book where I think "this could use less text," but the writing was so tiresome I would have been thrilled to exchange this for some coffee table book with a few helpful labels. It was written by two academics, neither of whom seem to know how to write for the common man; this was riddled with jargon, and, frankly, codswallop. (And I'm an art historian ... so I know mumbo-jumbo when I see it!) To be fair, when at their worst, they're generally quoting other academics who are similarly burdened with the obligation to provide other impenetrable bon mots.

Here are some examples of "helpful" text:

"Kidd's designs are not easy: his covers lead his viewers through a process of perusing and decoding multi-leveled combinations of images and type."

"Using typography as a subordinate accent, Carson is willing to let the image take center stage, whether it hovers in a field of white or dominates the cover"

"Indeed, Lubaz pointed out the duality of historicist practice that, on one hand, presented the viewer with familiar visual languages, and on the other, spoke to fellow designers on a more sophisticated, self-referential level."

The authors also seem pretty upset that publishers want to sell books, rather than just providing a venue for book cover designers to experiment with whatever the heck they want to do. Basically, the book sort of annoyed me all the way through. Maybe 1.5 stars, but rounded down because these two at least are well-educated and should have known better.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for theoretical stuff: "here's what makes a good book cover design." Instead, it's more art history/appreciation: "here are some good book cover designs! And some bad ones!" There is arty blah-blah about why they're good or bad, but so far, it's not generalizing for me, other than that the bad ones are bland and unoriginal.

So far, I've learned that I pretty much hate modernism, except Alvin Lustig. I like nearly all of his covers. Hoping to enjoy the later chapters more.

On the other hand, while I was waiting for this book to come in, I spent a few minutes on this blog: http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/ <-- pure awesome.

...

I like the later stuff better, and the recurring elements that were pointed out for all these different covers started to bring it all together for me enough that I even almost started liking the modernist stuff. (Almost! Blah!)

Based on my experience of this book, my working theory is that what makes a good cover is:
- originality
- following the rules/design principles or consciously breaking them for a good reason
- conveying the feel and/or content of the book
- overall appeal
- visual cleverness

[Leighwoosey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had the definite sense that this is a pretty write up of someone's PHD. And it is pretty, lavishing whole pages onto single covers, plenty of lead and contemporary URL inspired bold-blue emphasis in the text. It is a useful and detailed overview of the subject. It had a refreshing look at postmodernism, but broke no new ground, despite casting away the shadows of history from this particular area.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well edited book on what is dear to me. Book covers. And here we have a lot of samples of great covers from the past - all American publications.

I have a collection of books that deals with book covers - and I think my favorite are the French, Japanese, and Dutch. The Americans were good as well. But during the 70's it got really boring for some reason.

[Karl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great reference material, but suffers under the texts selfish blather. I'd recommend anyone flip through it, but never suggest they try to actually read it.


Some really beautiful examples though, particularly through the 50s and 60s.

[Keight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Link to booklog

[Tiffanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been reading a few books recently on Book Cover Design for my Adv. Type class. It's dry but the reference material is helpful. Not a lot to read but a lot to look at!

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 STARS

[martin eden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Très intéressant. Beaucoup d'informations.

[Cat Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those into graphic design, a great compendium of wonderful book covers.