Yes, the art of book design in the United States has come a long long way in the last ten years, with a few designers, like Chip Kidd, and a handful of comic book artists, attaining something of a cult status. But check out the striking difference between the English version of Howard Jacobson’s No More Mr. Nice Guy, and the American version.

Here’s what American readers are getting come September:

Snooze.

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is what U.K. readers were given in 1998:

Now you're talking!

Granted, naked noseless women are far more attention-grabbing than a business man prostrate on a rococo queen-size bed, so tuckered out from making money (or making his money make money) that, to quote Capote, it was “as if sleep were a weapon that had struck him from behind.”

But content aside, there is an obvious and often disparity in artistry, here.

What do you think? Is this about the Brits just being better? Or is this about willingness to take risks? Have you come across wildly different covers for different editions of books you love?