Book Description
You can’t judge a book by its cover…but some covers simply speak for themselves. The most influential book jacket designs from throughout the 20th century are on display, and the fascinating images track their evolution from throwaway utilitarian “dust jackets” into a powerful modern art form. Three hundred hardcover and paperback book jackets appear in full color, including many from rare first editions seldom seen outside a serious collector’s library. Accompanying analysis commemorates the contributions of top European and American artists like Victor Gollancz, Paul Rand, and Barnett Freedman; explains how cover art styles helped launch such publishing brands as Penguin and Bloomsbury; and explores the impact of today’s digitally designed covers.
Book Description
In this revealing and highly entertaining look at the great book jackets of the 20th century from around the world, author Alan Powers tells the story of the book jacket from its early days, via the advent of the paperback, to the most eye-catching covers produced today. With over 300 illustrations, including first editions by famous artists, jackets by key designers and artists, groundbreaking series from major publishing houses, and classic pulp-fiction jackets, this unique and fascinating insight into the world of the front cover will appeal to anyone with a passion for books and graphic design.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Book.......2006-08-15
I am a book cover designer, and this book never seems far from my bedside. It's not a how-to, just a really great collection of book cover designs through time. Great for inspiration.
Great for your collection, not a how-to book........2004-09-01
I ordered this book looking for some direction & inspiration while designing a book cover. It's a beautiful book, covering decades of work, with small blurbs on each book. These blurbs help clarify the subject the artist was trying to convey, which is sometimes fun to figure out.
HOWEVER, if you're looking for a how-to book, this is not one. Maybe I should have read the other review a little better. But if you're looking for some history and inspiration, this is a great book. I'm glad I bought it, even though it's not what I was looking for.
Literary billboards........2002-05-05
A comprehensive look at book jacket design from the twenties to the nineties. The book only covers fiction and is divided into themed spreads with between five and nine covers on each. Author Powers writes detailed captions to each cover as well as providing short essays on each decade and genre. Nearly three hundred covers are shown in this well designed and printed book, none of them are angled or overlap other covers.
As the title covers the last eighty years there is not much opportunity to show lots of great covers in the same style put out by some English publishers, only two examples are shown of the unique designs created by Brian Cook for Batsford in the thirties and although there are several Penguin paperbacks included you can plenty more in 'Penguin by Design' (ISBN 0713998393) by Phil Baines. An excellent visual coverage of the company that published hundreds of titles with knockout covers.
Most of the jackets were designed in the UK but there is a good showing of well designed US covers. There are some pulp fiction and thriller covers apart from the literary stuff. A very similar book with 270 American covers is `Jackets Required' by Steven Heller and Seymour Chwast, covering jacket design from 1920 thru 1950 and if you have both these books it will make an excellent visual record of some of the best twentieth century fiction.
Have a look at my Listmania about book jackets for more visual titles.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, published by Bibliographical Society of Canada on September 22, 2002. The length of the article is 1485 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Alan Powers. Front Cover: Great Book Jacket and Cover Design.(Book Review)
Author: Gillian Fenwick
Publication:
Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2002
Publisher: Bibliographical Society of Canada
Volume: 40
Issue: 2
Page: 107(4)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Paint Roses and Castles: Traditional Narrow Boat Painting for Homes and Boats
Anne Young
Manufacturer: David & Charles
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0715399403 |
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Colour photography in practice
D. A Spencer
Manufacturer: Pitman Pub. Corp
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Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B0007DWGFC |
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Dark Horse Deluxe Stationery Exotique: Andi Watson's SK8R GRRL (Dark Horse Deluxe Stationery Exotique)
Andi Watson
Manufacturer: Dark Horse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Stationery
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ASIN: 1569719969 |
Book Description
Dark Horse has teamed with some of today's finest alternative artists to create a collection of super-cool snail-mail stationery sets. Andi Watson is the acclaimed creator of Skeleton Key, Breakfast After Noon, and the Eisner-nominated Geisha, the tale of an android forced to become a bounty hunter when no one will take her art seriously.
Book Description
This volume of previously uncollected work comprises prose pieces and drawings by the only cartoonist who could claim to draw "abstract things like despair, disillusion, despondency, sorrow, lapse of memory, exile...." Seventy-five black-and-white line drawings throughout. Edited and with an Introduction by Michael J. Rosen.
Customer Reviews:
Dated but Amusing Collection of Previously Uncollected Stuff.......2001-11-17
People Have More Fun Than Anybody collects 19 of Thurber's stories/articles/letters, several cartoons, and one recipe that have been previously uncollected. Surely this is a classification that would have amused Thurber no end--are they now "non-uncollected" stories? In "Help! Help! Another Classificationization" Thurber sets himself against exactly this mindset. And frankly, at this late date in the late humorist's career, such a criteria for inclusion assures that the book will not bring us the best of his work.
However, Thurber is almost always witty, and even though some of the pieces are dated and irrelevant, all of the writings evoke at least a smile. The cartoons don't fare as well, some of them being merely puzzling. The end notes tell us that some cartoons had different captions in their original stages. The most wildly different is a picture of a woman leaning forward and speaking intently to a man. The published caption is "If I told you a dream I had about you, Mr. Price, would you promise not to do anyting about it unless you really want to?", but the earlier caption on Thurber's original drawing was "If they never found the husband's body could they do anything to the wife?"
This is essentially a collection for the die-hard Thurber fan (who are rather few on the ground these days, it seems) only. Others will probably do better to read The Thurber Carnival.
Customer Reviews:
The Man tells it all in this flashing memoir.......2004-12-30
This is most recommended who loves Jazz and/or ever been a fan to Duke from the past and the future. I always been a long-time supporter to him since I was 9 or 10. This is definitely going into my book collection alongside Autobiography of Malcolm X, Miles: The Autobiography, Revelations: There's a Light After the Lime, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, Hip-Hop America, As Though I Have Wings: The Lost Chet Baker Memoir, and mos definitely the Bible.
I'm a huge fan to the memoir/biography section than I do most books I read about life and stuff. This would go on forever in a lifetime.
The man in his own words.......2004-12-11
Sometimes self-serving, somewhat pretentious, but indispensable. Edward Kennedy Ellington, the greatest composer this country has ever produced, in his own words.
Class........2004-11-18
Classic. If you consider the classic elegance of Edward Kennedy Ellington, it should come as no surprise that his prose is as lyrical and poetic as his music. This is a wonderful collection of writings. It is in effect an arrangement of essays and short pieces written with what I suspect is love about the love of his life-jazz, or music itself, if you will. The book contains many short pieces-impressionistic sketches and characters of persons that Duke Ellington knew-musicians, friends, acquaintances, public figures. But it also has a variety of essays-longer subjects interwoven with themes and counterpoint. Ellington's is exquisitely musical prose-again, not to be surprised. The organization is chronological, narrative, more or less. Duke organizes with autobiographical passages followed by short portraits-Dramatis Felidae-that demonstrate the concreteness through brief descriptions of the persons that he knew with anecdotes that define them. The book covers a life filled with friends and experience. The variety is tremendous, and the life and the career are masterpieces. The themes and subjects are multifaceted. This is Duke Ellington's poetic literary suite posing as prose, and it should not be missed. Really-it's great poetry and a terrific compendium of jazz history and experience.
Straight from the master's mouth.......2000-07-27
I'm a great fan of autobiography. Granted, often it is sanitized and self-serving, but there's nothing like hearing a person tell their own life, especially if the life is as important as this one. Without a doubt, Duke Ellington was the century's greatest American composer and bandleader; the only ones who even come close to him (Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Cole Porter) had neither his longevity nor his variety. And none of them also maintained a working band through six decades! I own almost every recording ever released by Duke Ellington; his music has become indelibly printed on my brain. This book may not be the most accurate account of his life (if you can handle a little armchair psychology, the Collier biography is the best choice for that), but this is like sitting in a room hearing Duke talk -- and play!
Utterly Fascinating Life.......2000-01-13
Wow what a book. The best part about this book is that Duke wrote it. You get it straight from him. I recommend this book to anyone into the music.
His accounts of his younger days were what most appealed to me. He pays so much respect to the people he was surrounded by, both his family and the community of musicians. Sometimes the many names dropped can be a bit much, but that was just his style--always letting people know who helped him, who mentored him, who taught him, who he admired. There's scarcely a mean-spirited word in the whole book!
There is a lot of variety to the way he tells his stories. Sometimes its through the name dropping profiles; sometimes its through interviews reprinted for this book; sometimes its through out-and-out philosophical dissertations about music and life; sometimes it's in the midst of his endless travelling of the globe with his band.
For the musician looking for tips and advice, there's plenty of Duke wisdom provided throughout. His overall love for music and musicians is just SOOO apparent. My favorite piece of advice is that he said he learned music exclusively through oral instruction, from people in the scene who would share techniques and secrets seemingly as freely as idle conversation (how different the musical climate is these days!)
The last third or so of the book get a bit tedious for this reader. There just wasn't a lot of variety to his accounts of globetrotting and meeting all the important people in all the countries. What kept me going through these sections were the occasional gems of advice or insight, but there's more of that in the first half of the book. Thank god for the end of the book, a funny interview where the interviewer is REALLY condescending to Duke, but Duke gets through is with all the grace, wit, intelligence, and humor that makes him such a compelling person, composer, and most of all, a genius and musical mystic.
Thank the Duke for this book, and allowing us to get a glimpse of his life and all his amazing stories!
Average customer rating:
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Index to Duke Ellington's Music is my mistress
H. F Huon
Manufacturer: The Author
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B0006E5BMM |
Customer Reviews:
A crucial book to understand corporate propaganda.......2006-08-16
Inger Stole's book is an incredibly important tale of a forgotten history, the period in the 1930s when organized citizens stood up to and attempted to limit the power and influence of corporate propaganda in the form of the then nascent and now dominant corporate advertising industry. That fight was lost, as have been most important battles since against the intrusion of corporations into genuine culture and civil society. I hope this is the first of regular future books by Inger Stole who has an important place beside Klein, Ewen, Nader, McChesney and other critics of corporate power over our daily lives as citizens.
Average customer rating:
- poetry puzzles
- A logical puzzle in the best English mystery tradition
- So disappointing!
- A tightly written story that is extremely cunning.
- one of mystery's great curmudgeons
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The Way Through the Woods (Inspector Morse)
Colin Dexter
Manufacturer: Fawcett
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Death Is Now My Neighbor (Inspector Morse)
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The Riddle of the Third Mile (Inspector Morse Mysteries) (Inspector Morse Mysteries)
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Daughters of Cain
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The Remorseful Day
ASIN: 0804111421
Release Date: 1994-03-02 |
Book Description
"Cunning...Your imagination will be frenetically flapping its wings until the very last chapter."
THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
Morse is enjoying a rare if unsatisfying holiday in Dorset when the first letter appears in THE TIMES. A year before, a stunning Swedish student disappeared from Oxfordshire, leaving behind a rucksack with her identification. As the lady was dishy, young, and traveling alone, the Thames Valley Police suspected foul play. But without a body, and with precious few clues, the investigation ground to a halt. Now it seems that someone who can hold back no longer is composing clue-laden poetry that begins an enthusiastic correspondence among England's news-reading public. Not one to be left behind, Morse writes a letter of his own--and follows a twisting path through the Wytham Woods that leads to a most shocking murder.
Customer Reviews:
poetry puzzles.......2006-06-18
A young, beautiful Swedish tourist is reported as missing when she should have been at the home of her relative in Wales. A year later, there is still no trace of her and no report of anyone finding her body, even though the woods where she was last seen, were thoroughly combed by the Thames Valley police. Chief Inspector Morse is only semi enjoying a holiday at the seaside resort of Lyme Regis where he reads a tantalising account in the Times, about the missing tourist, now christened the Swedish Maiden by the press. An anonymous writer has put forward a collection of verses which purport to offer clues to the girl's whereabouts. The subject becomes a matter of huge interest to the general public, with different people all contributing their theories. Morse and Sergeant Lewis plough their way stolidly through the maze of supposed clues to a final solution, with lots of red herrings along the way and even a touch of romance for Morse to brighten his days.
A logical puzzle in the best English mystery tradition.......2005-11-08
This book has its flaws, but for those who like the English tradition of mystery novels, it's perfect. Inspector Morse is an enigma that grows on us like a new puppy, and he is the perfect vehicle for a labyrinth of clues and intimations leading to a conclusion only an architect of human psychology could create. The writing is crisp and generous with the main characters, although the people who comprise the mysterious events are necessarily given somewhat shorter coverage. All the clues are on the page far before the solution is given. While sometimes it seems as if soap opera narration of the lives of the police takes center stage, it contributes to an understanding of their progress and its hangups, and helps add momentum to a relatively realistic discussion of the plodding process of uncovering clues. Where this book falls down is its uneven dramatic events and its sometimes obvious shifts of narrative to hide vital data, causing a sudden "gotcha" at the end, that's part of the riddle and the joy of seeing this one conclude. I would recommend this to anyone who likes the mind games of British detective authors.
So disappointing!.......2005-06-24
I have enjoyed the dramatizations of Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse series, and decided to read the books. Being a bit of a print snob, I assumed that a book is always better than a television adaptation. Now I am not so sure. This detective novel had a fair share of suspense, and I enjoyed the author's deftness at word play. Literary allusions, epigraphs, puzzles and fine quotations abound. If you love Hardy and A.E. Housman, you will feel a kinship with Inspector Morse and his creator. However, in the end the story had nearly enough flaws to make me feel that I had wasted my time reading it. There are some good plot twists, but some bad ones too. Minor characters are developed up to a point where they become interesting, and then they drop out of the story as if the author had forgotten they were there. False clues in a mystry are part of the game, but in this case I think there were a few too many. They seemed to clog up the narrative rather than advance it. Of course, it would be wrong to give anything away that would spoil the experience for a potential reader. I'll just say that some of the red herrings were a bit too obvious, and at least one of the big surprises seemed not all that surprising when revealed. The final resolution seemed cobbled together, but that is a fault common to most mystery stories. The fun is in the pursuit-the capture is always a letdown.
A tightly written story that is extremely cunning........2005-05-11
As all the books in this series, this one is extremely well-written. The plot is tight and the mystery will keep you guessing until the end. Dexter's writing and his Morse series are top drawer.In this book we have the mysterious disappearance of a Swedish student. (Quite a beautiful Swedish student to all accounts). Morse is on holiday, but finds that he can't just relax and take time off. His agile brain needs something to work on and the appearance of some strange verses in the Times appear to fit the bill. The verses are a riddle about the Swedish student that disappeared in Oxford about a year ago. These books are so intricately written that it is difficult to write a review without giving away some of the surprises, so I will say no more about it. I will recommend though, that you read this series from the beginning. As good as the television series was, these books should be read in order for us to appreciate fine writing in the detection genre.
one of mystery's great curmudgeons.......2000-10-13
The history of the mystery is replete with examples of detectives who tread a fine line between the amusingly eccentric and the downright boorish (Sherlock Holmes being the archetype; Poirot, Nero Wolfe, and others following in his footsteps). Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse fits squarely and delightfully in this tradition. If you've never seen the TV series on PBS and A&E, or better yet read one of the books, you're really missing out on something special.
Morse, whose first name wasn't revealed for years, is an Oxford-educated, beer-drinking, Opera-loving, vintage Jaguar-driving, Crossword puzzle maven and also one of the biggest curmudgeons in all of literature. He does not suffer fools gladly, other than his much put upon but continually bemused partner Lewis. His superiors are forced to tolerate his idiosyncrasies and his bibliousness because he also has a uniquely intuitive mind and a knack for solving the most puzzling crimes. In an interesting symbiosis, John Thaw's television portrayal of Morse bled over into the novels and took some of the harsher edges off of the character and Kevin Whatley's Lewis helped to make the character less of a dolt and more of a naïf in the books too.
In this Gold Dagger winning installment in the series, Morse is on an unwelcome holiday when he gets drawn into the case of a year old disappearance of a Swedish girl who is assumed to have been murdered and ditched in the local woods. The largely moribund investigation is reinvigorated when The Times receives a cryptic letter with tantalizing but ambiguous literary clues to the dead girl's whereabouts. As the story unfolds Morse finds himself in the midst of a murder investigation that includes everything from pornography to ornithology. As always, the book offers both a satisfying mystery and the great pleasure of watching Morse and Lewis interact with one another and with suspects, superiors and the various ladies who inevitably tweak Morse's heartstrings.
After a highly successful run of 13 novels, Dexter killed Morse off earlier this year in The Remorseful Day. On the one hand, it's nice to see an author finish a series while he still has his fastball, but Morse and Lewis will be missed. Try one of the books and keep an eye peeled for the show, both are outstanding.
GRADE: A+
Product Description
Multiple books shipped as one item for your convenience. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.
Product Description
6 Titles By Colin Dexter Inspector Morse Series : Last Bus to Woodstock Last Seen Wearing Service of All the Dead The Way Through the Woods The Daughters of Cain Death Is Now My Neighbour. six mmpb books.
Product Description
It will take some daring and improbable deductions by Inspector Morse, the world's most popular fictional detective, to solve two complicated murders in Oxford, England. These two abridged stories are recorded on 4 tapes with approximate running time of 6 hourse
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