Part 5: Research - Different book covers

This researching will comprise different publishing companies and their approach to book art where we can see all different arranges and ideas from classic old hardcovers to the modern colorful paperbacks.

Fast and stressful lifestyle doesn’t leave enough time and energy to immerse our brains into something that requires additional brain engagement; it is easier to read or to watch something that is only for fun, so that is probably the reason why easy literature became so dominant. I won’t talk about a literature itself although it is my big passion; this is about book art and my reflection on it. I started with some book series from my shelves. These are the old editions so it is worthwhile to compare it with modern ones.

These are the book covers for Alexandre Dumas masterpieces, created by Zora, Zagreb in 1976. Covers are in pink, black and some golden shades and they used different grids for every layout although there is distinctive consistency throughout a series. They also incorporated images in round frames suggesting the plot happened in France in 19th century. Typography is in serif font with bigger title in lower golden section, while author’s name is in upper part. Same font in white is used for spine while the back cover is same as front cover but without typography.

This is a hardcover for series of books called Serbian Trilogy by famous writer Stevan Jakovljevic. Books are about The First World War, published in 1939. The publishing house was a Geca Kon a.d., named after its owner Geca Kon, who was a publisher and a bookseller, who had a major influence in national edification. Sadly, he didn’t survive a war and his tragic death left the emptiness in a field of education. I will try to find other book series of this great publisher.This is a simple design that uses only three colors. Red background with a small imprinted illustration of a typical small village that burns in fire. I think designer used a very good color combination (red and black) to portray war horrors. Golden title in sans-serif is placed inside a smoke frame, as well as author’s name which is black and smaller size. The spine consists of three black bands with golden stroke; upper for author’s name, central for title and lower for name of publisher. Back cover is all red. Design is very effective in its simplicity.

This is a series of books written by the sisters Bronte, well known poets and novelist in 19th century. Covers of the books (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Bronte and Shirley by Charlotte Bronte) are illustrated according to theme of the certain book. Illustrator used the same technique for each book so there is obvious unity in design which indicates that they are part of a one series. The same font in white is used for title, which is greater size, as well as for the author’s name. This is a kind of archaic Cyrillic font made to look like blackletter typeface. I think this design works well when it comes to both appropriate classic illustration and a font choice. The spine uses the same fonts as on the cover where the title is bigger than author’s name. Back covers consist only of illustration, with no letters on them. The whole book jacket is in form of one big illustration which goes from front to the back.

This is a series of books that belong to American author and journalist Jack London. This series include his adventure stories so the covers are illustrated in a way to hint what is all about. The first book consists of two stories; one is Jerry of the Islands and second one is South Sea Tales. According to content of the book, the illustration shows sailboats on the sea suggesting the adventures related to sea. There is only author’s name on a front cover in upper part, written in gold serif Cyrillic font. Titles are on the spine and use a same font like with author’s name. Both titles are positioned in upper part of the spine and centered. Back cover is part of the illustration from the front. Like with Bronte series of book, every jacket is in form of one illustration that covers front spine and back. The second book consists of Tales of the far North and The call of the wild. Book jacket illustration represents wildness, sharp rocks, sea and cold northern area which are related to book summary. This series of books is published by BIGZ, Narodna knjiga (BIGZ National Books) and designed by Bole Miloradovic. Under the book jackets are hardcovers that have the author’s name on a front page which is white and uses handwriting font (It looks like his signature). Above signature is black and blue illustration of Jack London framed in circle. Background is abstract and blue reminding me on water. The spine has a big author’s name that across lower and central thirds while titles are much smaller and placed in upper third. I personally prefer this hardcover design over the book jackets. I think that golden letters on jackets are not so readable and fade into illustration. Hardcover is simpler and more contrasting although for some reason I don’t like mix of Cyrillic and Latin here.

This edition is called World Classics and includes some of the most notable titles of the greatest world novelists of all time. I chose Maxim Gorky and his book Makar Chudra named after his famous story of same title. The second one is Old Goriot by French novelist Honore de Balzak and third one, written by George Sand, is called Village Trilogy and consists of three famous stories (La petit fadette, La mare au diable, Francois Le Champi). This series of hardcovers from 1977 has a simple design. There are five colored stripes on a yellow front cover; first two are red, third one is darker yellow while the last ones are blue. The author’s name is in upper part and there is a red stripe between name and surname of the author. The area between second red stripe and ochre one is empty and title is placed in lower part of the cover; similar to author’s name, words of a title are divided by blue stripe. Both title and author’s name are in small caps; the author’s name is blue stroked while title is red stroked. Spine has a sections of a dense blue stripes both in upper and lower part. Under the upper stripes is a section with author’s surname. Central bigger section is for a vertical title whose size is greater than a horizontal author’s name. The title and the author’s name use the same font although there is hierarchy here. Lower section is for a edition name which is written in different font. Backcover is all yellow.

This set of books is published by company called Laguna, one of the most notable in Serbia. All three books can be classified as a modern easy literature which is dominant nowadays. These paperbacks use photography or collage on a front covers. Target audience for these books are women so cover design is made to attract them. Title is in ornate pink or red handwriting font, while author’s name is either in serif or san-serif typeface while teaser uses serif fonts on both covers. The edition and its number are placed inside dented red circle and use sans serif. The same fonts for titles and author’s names are on the spine, while the logo of publishing company is on a lower part. Backcovers have a plenty of text, from the author’s name and titles, to the praises and introductions. Publishing company logo is on a central lower part of backcovers. Two of them also have a picture of posing author.

When I look at another famous publishing company called Alnari, I do not much difference between them and Laguna. Both companies are focused on modern easy literature and I don’t find some trade mark when I look at their editions. Although their designs look good, I can’t tell at first sight which book belongs to Laguna and which one belongs to Alnari. I need to look at their logo on a spine and backcovers. I suppose they follow world trends and maybe they don’t have much freedom to create on their own ways. They probably get the instructions and rules they have to apply in order to create design which is similar to original book cover. I have a feeling that there were a lot more freedom in such design processes a few decades ago. Nowadays everything is some kind of violation of rights.

I noticed that Alnari use certain font combination for one particular author like Nora Roberts or Lucy Dillon all accompanied with some nice and interesting illustrations or photographs. I have to admit that there is a flood of these modern books that make me hard to select something interesting and different because it all feels the same, like Hollywood movies; one scenario with different character names.

 

This one old edition from 1946 that I found in my private library. This is a play Cyrano de Bergerac written by Edmond Rostand. Although Cyrano de Bergerac was a real character, this is fiction written in verse, in rhyming couplets of 12 syllables per line. Since the book is old, it was repaired in clumsy way but you can see real cover design here. I especially like cyrillic hand lettering when it comes to title and author's name. This is simple clean design with one illustration on a front. I like the fact that everything is handcrafted. And there is one more facinating thing about this book and that is high-quality of translation. It really requires high skills and literature sense in order to preserve the authenticity.