86 Beautiful Book Covers
Let’s be honest; as designers, we almost definitely will judge books by their covers. When they’re all we have to go on when we’re deciding what to buy at the bookstore, who can blame us – or any book shopper, for that matter?
This post is a celebration of the idea that yes, book covers do matter a great deal. If you’ve read any of these books and have thoughts on how they fit with their covers, we’d love to hear them in the comments!
Beautiful Book Covers and Designs
The Red Pepper in the Hay, by Marion Steiger
Obsession: A History, by Lennard J. Davis
Leather Maiden, by Joe R. Lansdale
Loneliness, by John T. Cacioppo & William Patrick
The Boat, by Nam Le
Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann
The Letters of Noel Coward, by Noel Coward
The Bedside Book of Beasts, by Graeme Gibson
Beowulf
Garden State, by Rick Moody
Quarrel and Quandary, by Cynthia Ozick
The Verificationist, by Donald Antrim
Killing the Buddha, by Peter Manseau
Flying Leap, by Judy Budnitz
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
Bridge of Sighs, by Richard Russo
Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson
The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath
The Naked Pint, by Christina Perozzi & Hallie Beaune
One to Nine, by Andrew Hodges
The Gettysburg Address, by Abraham Lincoln
At Swim, Two Boys, by Jamie O’Neill
These Granite Islands, by Sarah Stonich
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Afterwards, by Rachel Seiffert
The Opposite House, by Helen Oyeyemi
Angry Candy, by Harlan Ellison
The Charity Girl, by Michael Lowenthal
The Tattoo Artist, by Jill Ciment
Lolita, by Vladimir Nobokov
Einstein in Love, by Dennis Overbye
Devil in the Details, by Jennifer Traig
Time, by Eva Hoffman
The Chess Machine, by Robert Lohr
This Will Kill You, by H. P. Newquist & Rich Maloof
The Mayor’s Tongue, by Nathaniel Rich
Columbine, by Dave Cullen
Locke, by Shawna Yang Ryan
Race Riots, by Michael L. Ross
A Field Guide to Getting Lost, by Rebecca Solnit
Cool It, by Bjorn Lomborg
Against Happiness, by Eric G. Wilson
Tests of Time, by William H. Gass
Utopia, by Thomas More
How to Tell When You’re Tired, by Reg Theriault
Hundred Hit Wonder, by K. I. Borrowman
Traffic Lights, by Cynthia Dawn
Violence: Big Ideas/Small Books, by Slavoj Zizek
The American Civil War, by John Keegan
South of the Border, West of the Sun, by Haruki Murakami
Exile and the Kingdom, by Albert Camus
1984, by George Orwell
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
The Humbling, by Philip Roth
Nova, by Samuel R. Delany
A Cultural Dictionary of Punk, by Nicholas Rombes
All the Sad Young Literary Men, by Keith Gessen
The Geographer’s Library, by Jon Fasman
Make Room! Make Room!, by Harry Harrison
The Crow’s Vow, by Susan Briscoe
State by State, by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey
The Halfway House, by Guillermo Rosales
Manhood for Amateurs, by Michael Chabon
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami
From Square One, by Dean Olsher
Everything You Know, by Zoe Heller
Chicago, by Alaa Al Aswany
Swallow, by Miranda Field
Displacement, by Leslie Harrison
Sunset and Sawdust, by Joe R. Lansdale
Missing Men, by Joyce Johnson
The Anatomy of Fascism, by Roberto O. Paxton
The Terror, by Dan Simmons
Iron, Potassium, Nickel, by Primo Levi
Rose, 1944, by Helen Dunmore
Epilogue, by Anne Roiphe
American Nerd, by Benjamin Nugent
Jailbird, by Kurt Vonnegut
Remainder, by Tom McCarthy
The Learners, by Chip Kidd
Animals and Objects In and Out of Water, by Jay Ryan
Oh the Glory of It All, by Sean Wilsey
The Weight of Numbers, by Simon Ings
One Hundred and Forty Five Stories in a Small Box, by Dave Eggers
The Language of Things, by Deyan Sudjic
The Homecoming, by Ray Bradbury
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Nicholas Rombes - March 19th, 2010
I was very fortunate to have Sarah Rainwater design the cover of my book A Cultural Dictionary of Punk, as it definitely captures the DIY spirit, as well as the slight strain of anonymous gladness that threads throughout the book. Thanks for noticing it here!
Mahmudur Rahman - March 20th, 2010
Awesome collection. Truly inspiring. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post.
Brian Meeks - March 20th, 2010
Books are a wonderful thing. These were all beautiful covers, but for me, most book covers are wonderful. Perhaps I judge a book by its cover, and have only purchased ones that look good, but for me it is the uniqueness of each of my books that makes them a delight. I enjoyed your post. There were a lot of good looking titles in there which I have not read, so I may have to go to the bookstore later.
Thanks
86 Beautiful Book Covers « Speaking in Hushed Tones - March 20th, 2010
[...] Zoe D 86 Beautiful Book Covers March 20, 2010, 5:55 pm Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: judging a book by its cover, just a thought, link Look at ‘em here. [...]
ranmal - March 20th, 2010
thanks a lot for cover designs
Beautiful. « slang fr. chaos - March 20th, 2010
[...] my cover design for A Cultural Dictionary of Punk was included in Youthedesigner’s list of 86 beautiful book covers. Some excellent company to be [...]
Kings Network - March 20th, 2010
Good designs.
Most Popular #Design Links of the Week #9 « Web Design Mash | Design, Web and Inspiration Resources - March 21st, 2010
[...] 86 Beautiful Book Covers – You the Designer [...]
Chris - March 22nd, 2010
Those Shepard Fairy designed Orwell covers are amazing!
Hilde - March 22nd, 2010
Great inspiring collection. Thanks for sharing!
135+ Simply Fresh and Useful Articles for Designers and Developers | tripwire magazine - March 23rd, 2010
[...] 86 Beautiful Book Covers [...]
Adam Morse - March 23rd, 2010
I do judge books by their cover. These are excellent.
Doink @ Designioustimes.com - March 24th, 2010
I’ve even read some of those books.
beautiful book covers « fancy seeing you here - March 24th, 2010
[...] See the complete set here. [...]
anna green - March 24th, 2010
This is a great selection of book covers, I collect books and magazines, one because i like to read them but also because I find them an excellent source for inspiration, especially when im working with limited amounts of text. This collection has some great examples of typography and photography working together to create some powerful covers.
Cubiertas de libros « Zorazky - March 25th, 2010
[...] El diseñar la portada de un libro es un trabajo muy especial un proyecto muy diferente al que usualmente nos dedicamos al mayoría, en You the designer hacen una muy buena recopilación de varias portadas les recomiendo le den una buena checada. Para mi es difícil hablar de portadas de libros sin mencionar a Daniel Gil un maestro del diseño en este genero en el link pueden encontrar una colección de sus portadas. 86 beautiful book covers [...]
Kriss - March 28th, 2010
Inspirational to say the least! Some gorgeous imaginations at work!
WpFolios - March 29th, 2010
nice post, great designs..love them all
Murmaid - March 31st, 2010
I have always prided myself in my book cover designs. But now, I see the need to be mimimulistic.
J Baires - April 4th, 2010
hey, someones are pretty creepy, others creatives and some kind of wire, but all of them are artistics, so, i like read books, i have read about 900 books and also have each of them a deferents covers, I think the covers books tell something about its history or trama, I like so much that i made my own bookmarks, with my son’s picture on them… jejejeje
FMB - April 5th, 2010
Really nice post!!
thanx!
Da var det på’n igjen » Kommunikasjonsbloggen [TordDesign.no] - April 6th, 2010
[...] 86 fremragende design av bokomslag [...]
matt - April 8th, 2010
trust shepherd to “sign” his 1984 cover with the Obey (André) logo
David Blankenship - April 13th, 2010
Angry Candy is my design, and I’m pleased to be in such good company.
SJL Web Design - April 14th, 2010
Wow, So many great, inspiring book covers.
Thanks for sharing.
Cover and Theme Inspiration — Speaking Yearbook - April 15th, 2010
[...] really like this collection of great cover designs. They may not have direct application to yearbook, but perusing them should [...]