Some of my favourite book cover designs!
This weekend in the Guardian, there was a fascinating article on the current state of book design and how, thanks to Instagram and social media, the book cover is having a moment.
It’s a really interesting article – well worth a read – and got me thinking about some of my favourite book covers of recent years. I know what I don’t like in a book cover (movie tie-ins and images of the back of women wearing raincoats) and I’m a sucker for certain editions and imprints like Penguin Twentieth Century Classics, the Harvill Secker Leopard series and Faber covers from the 1990s.
Here are some of the covers from the last few years that I think are really innovative and eye-catching.
I will say, that in pulling this together, it was often really difficult to find the name of the designer whose work I was celebrating. Possibly one upside of the interest in book cover design will be a greater public acknowledgement of the fine work that these artists do.
There There by Tommy Orange, cover design by Suzanne Dean
Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy, cover design by Oliver Munday
Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood, cover design by Rachel Wiley
The Start of Something: The Selected Stories of Stuart Dybek, cover design by Suzanne Dean
Mr Fox by Helen Oyeymi, cover design by Helen Yentus and Jason Booker
Moonglow by Michael Chabon, cover design by Adalis Martinez
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson, cover design by Suzanne Dean
Middle C by William H Gass, cover design by Gabriele Wilson
The Disappointment Artist by Johnathan Letham, cover design by Marc Cozza
First Novel by Nicholas Royale, cover design by Suzanne Dean
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill, cover design by Gray318
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin, cover design by Justine Anweiler
The Emissary by Yoko Towada, cover design by John Gall
One Day in the Life of the English Language by Frank L Cioffi, cover design by Chris Ferrante
Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday, cover design by David Litman
Aurorarama by Jean-Christphe Valtat, cover design by Jiří Rathouský
And finally, I couldn’t resist sharing a few of my favourite covers from older, classic novels, these are designs that have stood the test of time and still make these books jump off the shelves!
100 Years of Solitude, cover design by Tomas Galambos
American Psycho, cover design by Marshall Armisan
1984, cover design by Ben Jones
A Clockwork Orange, cover design by Barry Trengrove
Psycho, cover design by Tony Palladino
The Trial, cover design by Peter Mendelsund
The Art of War, cover design by Jaya Miceli
Spring Snow, cover design by Yuko Shimizu
Snow White or the House in the Woods, cover design by Faith Jackson
Have you a favourite from all of these covers? Let me know in the comments!
Cathy746books View All →
I am a 40 something book buying addict trying to reduce the backlog one book at a time!
746books.com 
Gorgeous selection! I think Spring Snow and Mr Fox are my favourites.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I adore that Mr Fox cover. Everything about it is perfect!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the Tangram puzzle of the Offill. Of your classic picks, a Clockwork Orange and the horrid American Psycho are timeless!
LikeLike
A Clockwork Orange never ages does it? Perfect!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great post, Cathy. It’s so important to get the jacket right, isn’t it. My favourite here is Mr Fox which both fits the book perfectly and is aesthetically pleasing.
LikeLike
Yes, I love it. I wanted to include Flames by Robbie Arnott with its fuzzy felt nature cover but I couldn’t find the name of the designer anywhere.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, that’s such a shame.
LikeLike
I love this! There is definitely a specific style that you are drawn to, which I love.
I often try to find cover designers but that information is usually hard to find for some reason!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I noticed that as I was putting it together! I seem to like quite minimal design I think.
LikeLiked by 2 people
These covers are brilliant! A lot of them look like the US rather than British editions (though I’ve not checked this so apologies if I’m wrong!), and I love that aesthetic. The Nicholas Royle cover is especially clever.
LikeLike
I think a lot of them are US rather than UK Laura and I agree, the Royle is fantastic!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Nicholas Royle is my favourite. I love jacket designs which is why it makes me so cross when the publisher ruins a beautiful cover with a ‘sticker’. I agree with you about movie/tv tie-ins, which I think of in the same breath as the blasted ‘sticker’!
LikeLike
Oh I hate a sticker too Jane, they never come off right!
LikeLiked by 1 person
And they put those permanent ones on, right on the front!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful choices Cathy! Mr Fox is also the one that stands out to me. I don’t know anyone who likes a film tie-in cover – why do they do it??
LikeLike
I don’t know. I just will not buy one at all!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some interesting choices, and I know exactly what you mean about film tie-ins and pictures of the backs of women. Some cover design just seems so lazy!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
What a great selection, Cathy. These are really memorable covers. I especially like The Start of Something’s cover – so creative! Thanks for sharing them 🙂 (Book Club Mom here)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I love that one too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are some beauties here. I always find it fascinating to see how covers differ between countries. Some of these are the same as I’ve seen here in Canada but a few are different, like There There and Dept. of Speculation.
LikeLike
Yes, I think a few of these are US rather that UK editions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a great fondness for the Penguin English Library covers and have been gradually replacing my old Penguin black cover classics with them over the past few years. I agree about the film tie-in covers – I know no-one who likes them, why do they keep making them?
I think my favourite of the covers you’ve included here is A Manual for Cleaning Women.
LikeLike
Yes, I love the one for The Manual for Cleaning Women – so clever.
LikeLike
Love the cover for the Stuart Dybek novel. Very creative.
LikeLike
It’s great isn’t it? The same designer did the cover for the Denis Johnson and I’m wondering if she used the pencil sharpenings from all those pencils for it 🙂
LikeLike
I’m fascinated by book covers. What a good collection! And many of the covers differ from those in the U.S, so it is like meeting a whole new book.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Kat!
LikeLike
You’re clearly a big fan of Suzanne Dean’s work! (And lots of eyes on those vintage covers.) I’m a sucker for flora and fauna images on books, but I do particularly like these Priestdaddy and Dept. of Speculation covers, too.
I’m impressed that you managed to find the designer name for all of these. Is that something that’s generally mentioned on the back cover and/or in the copyright information, or did you have to do Internet searches to find it?
LikeLike
All internet searches Rebecca and it took a while. There were some covers I wanted to.l include but couldn’t find the designers names anywhere, which is a shame.
LikeLike
This is so much fun. I absolutely love book covers – there are so many great ones! I tried to pick a fav from above, but I just can’t!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I LOVE quirky covers and do a lot of cover posts. I enjoy all cover posts I find. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person