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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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!
Awesome collection. Truly inspiring. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post. :)
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
[...] 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. [...]
thanks a lot for cover designs
[...] 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 [...]
Good designs.
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Those Shepard Fairy designed Orwell covers are amazing!
Great inspiring collection. Thanks for sharing! :D
[...] 86 Beautiful Book Covers [...]
I do judge books by their cover. These are excellent.
I’ve even read some of those books.
[...] See the complete set here. [...]
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.
[...] 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 [...]
Inspirational to say the least! Some gorgeous imaginations at work!
nice post, great designs..love them all
I have always prided myself in my book cover designs. But now, I see the need to be mimimulistic.
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
Really nice post!!
thanx!
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trust shepherd to “sign” his 1984 cover with the Obey (André) logo
Angry Candy is my design, and I’m pleased to be in such good company.
Wow, So many great, inspiring book covers.
Thanks for sharing.
[...] really like this collection of great cover designs. They may not have direct application to yearbook, but perusing them should [...]
[...] 86 Beautiful Book Covers – Do you agree with this blogger’s assessment? [...]
[...] 25 Cool Book Cover Designs 86 Beautiful Book Covers welovetypography.com 40.416691 -3.700345 Share this:ShareTwitterFacebookCorreo [...]
[...] book. Ideally, they will convey through art and design what the book conveys to you through word. This list is a good example of a collection of book covers that portray specific [...]
[...] You the Designer [...]
[...] a conversation with an attractive stranger who’s reading your favourite book. The joy of a beautifully designed cover. The voyeuristic thrill of examining a friend’s bookshelves. Paper [...]
[...] as arresting, in its own way.For more examples of killer book cover and movie poster works, head here, here, here or here!Have you seen any fantastic covers or posters lately? Share them in the [...]