The Revolution of The Book Cover as an Artform

In March 1894 the book cover design by Aubrey Beardsley for the magazine The Yellow Book was published. Today, it is considered the first example of commercial and striking literary cover art. Until then, books were leather-bound, or vellum crafted to fit into a person’s library. Only in the 19th century, did images start to appear on covers to give us an idea of a book’s content, almost an advert or a form of marketing giving readers a glimpse into what the story had to offer. Find out more in The Revolution of The Book Cover as an Artform

It was in the 1820s, with the introduction of steam-powered presses, that books became cheaper to make, and also produced covers cheaply, using mechanical binding.

Initially, the biggest influence on the cover design came from the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements, utilising techniques from poster artists. The Russian avant-garde also did a lot to advance this new creative process with artists such as Alexander Rodchenko and El Lissitzky producing radical designs.

The biggest speed of this revolution came when Penguin Books invented the paperback in 1935 revolutionising the book market. It was then that the covers became a vital tool. Not just for local readers but for new international markets.

A handful of books really ‘cut the mustard’ in the early days of design and have truly stood the test of time.

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

Considered one of the most iconic covers of all time from 1925 it was illustrated by Spanish-born, painter and graphic designer Francis Cugat.

It is said that the writer Fitzgerald was so struck by the cover design he wrote to his editor stating that he had “written it [the cover] into the book”. This original cover still gets sold as a poster, or tote bag and publications of The Great Gatsby are still sold with this image.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1851)

Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is considered one of the greatest works of fiction of all time, and USA-born Rockwell Kent was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, sailor, adventurer and voyager who created the stunning depictions of the white whale on the cover.

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (1927)

This creative period brought about modernism in the arts. The cover design of Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse was created by her older sister, the artist Vanessa Bell. It encapsulated the energy of not just Woolf’s writing but the new fashions of the time. In fact, Vanessa Bell went on to design over 35 coverts for Hogarth Press, Woolf’s publishing company. Some of these artworks although criticised at the time have been shown in galleries around the world.

Naked Lunch by William S Burroughs (1959)

1950’s North America saw drug counter-culture rife and William Burrough’s novel Naked Lunch portrayed addiction from a far more extreme perspective. The publishers had initially turned down the book but changed their minds when parts of the book began appearing in highly regarded literary journals. The Cover art shows piercing, constricted pupils and an empty stare and was created by Burroughs. And again it became an image iconic to the Beat Generation.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962)

The first edition of A Clockwork Orange was published by William Heinemann Ltd. in 1962, with the cover designed by artist Barry Trengove, whose work was featured in the 1963 publication “17 Graphic Designers London. The image was of a brutish, open-mouthed thuggish portrayal of the book’s narrator Alex.  It was eight years before a second printing was required in 1970, which brought about a new cover.

The first Penguin UK publication of the novel saw the coming to light of one of the most dynamic covers of all time. Featuring what was coined at the time a ‘cog-eyed droog’. But it was not the first attempt for the UK edition. In fact, the commissioned illustrator submitted a design that was not only poorly done but extremely late, so David Pelham took over.

He presided over Penguin book covers as their Art Director from 1968 to 1979. Not only did he commission some artists and designers but he was extremely talented in his own right. 

Pelham designed a cover that borrowed Alex’s famous bowler hat (from the film) and turned his mascara-lashed eye into a cog, playing up the ‘clockwork’ element that relates to ‘freewill’. So successful was his design that this cover remained in publication for 25 years.

Now it seems it is not just the artists involved in the cover, although as mentioned some very famous ones did create book covers early in their careers, but first editions and certain covers of books now can raise extremely large fees. For example, the original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was sold for a record £1.5m last year in New York. So it does seem that the phrase “never judge a book by its cover” is as relevant as ever.

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