Comments on: Ugly Covers for Great Books

By: david v.

david v. — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 22:58:23 +0000

Seems like you have issues with Vintage International.
Certain publishing houses are pretty good about making consistently attractive editions: like NYRB for instance. And they all match too!
I happen to like the Back Bay Books editions of Evelyn Waugh’s stuff. They’re cute and zany like the novels themselves, I have a few of them. The covers offered as alternatives have a more sophisticated feel that is misleading. It’s a pet-peeve of mine that satire cannot be left to be zany, and has to go through a process of sophistication to become “classic.”

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 22:23:33 +0000

I’ve noticed this before. I think most/all of these are not the original cover from the book’s hardback. These are reissues of classics and as such probably have near-zero marketing budgets, and for the most part are sold on their legacy and buzz, not by attracting a buyer’s interest with a well-designed cover.

By: Terry Tom Brown

Terry Tom Brown — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:50:02 +0000

Those Nabokov covers are delightful and charming. I am tempted to buy and mount them!

By: Adrian Morgan

Adrian Morgan — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:06:46 +0000

The Faulkner Covers would truly new and inspiring when they first came out. These styles and marketing needs are decades apart. I’d have liked to have seen what you were wearing in the late 80s Mr. Habash. Shame on you for these cheap potshots.

By: paul takushi

paul takushi — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:56:55 +0000

two words: Baen Books

By: Holly

Holly — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:54:04 +0000

Would love to see J.D. Salinger’s work in new covers . . .

By: Joan Kane Nichols

Joan Kane Nichols — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:33:02 +0000

Love the new Pale Fire cover.

Also love the old In Cold Blood cover. Haunting photo captures place and theme.

The Wuthering Heights cover makes it look like a Romance novel, no doubt the marketer’s intention.

By: Joey

Joey — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:42:51 +0000

I kind of like the Waugh covers…they remind me of 101 Dalmatians-era Disney. I’m not going to argue for the strange multiple-font usage, but I like the drawings.

The pulpy “As I Lay Dying” and the newer Nabokovs are my favorites though.

By: Tiffany Eberle Kriner

Tiffany Eberle Kriner — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:44:49 +0000

Gotta say, I loved the first (“ugly”) covers, but not so much the new ones. Oh well, taste was never my strong suit.

By: carlos

carlos — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:23:23 +0000

DFW infinite jest
hitchens – god is not great
gabrielle hamilton – blood bones & butter (not bad but could ve been a knock out book cover)