The Most Celebrated Book Covers
Book covers are the visual gateways to literary worlds, setting the tone for the stories within. From the iconic simplicity of The Great Gatsby with its green light and bold typography to the surreal imagery of 1984, book covers are masterpieces that are the cultural zeitgeist of their times. Let’s look at some book covers that have become as memorable as the stories themselves.
1. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Chip Kidd designed the book cover for Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. The T-Rex Skeleton on the book cover alludes to the storyline of the book while evoking feelings of excitement, terror, and wonder. A dramatic contrast is created between the book’s title and the dark black dinosaur skeleton on a plain white background. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton was adopted as the emblem and symbol for the entire Jurassic Park world, which included the theme park and the films.
2. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
The 1991 book — American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis’ cover artwork was created by American illustrator and artist Marshall Arisman. The cover image showcases Patrick Bateman, the main character, with no eyes and no conscience; which frankly speaking is menacing. The cover could only be rivalled with the movie.
3. To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse cover was designed by Vanessa Bell. The book explores conflicts and loyalties, demonstrating the fleeting pleasures and melancholy tragedies. The book emphasizes adult relationships while bringing back feelings from childhood. To the Lighthouse expands upon the theme of subjectivity, perception, loss, and the nature of art. The cover of the book is straightforward and reminiscent of the numerous pathways one can take whilst stranded in the sea; held together by a mere light.
4. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel revolving around the Joad family and their migration for work. The novel’s themes of human dignity, injustice, and the power of community are highlighted in the cover, designed by Elmer Hader in 1939. The difficult years of the Great Depression are also depicted on the The Grapes of Wrath cover.
5. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
The Interview with the Vampire book cover although not an artist’s wet dream, is a representative of the book. Done in an interview format, the book describes the life of Louis de Pointe du Lac. The book cover is simply a Gothic font with the word ‘vampire’ highlighted in black; a popular description of the mythological beings.
6. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid’s Tale cover art features a very tall wall that takes up half the page; a motif of the story. In contrast, stand red-robed smaller human figures with white bonnets. This demonstrates how the handmaids are physically and psychologically imprisoned and illustrates how the wall is insurmountable. In 1986, this eye-catching cover was designed by Fred Marcellino.
With the series’ popularity, Noma Bell redesigned the cover in 2017. The strong contrast created by the red silhouette with a hint of white against the black background captures the main themes of the books. The Handmaid’s Tale’s cover is dominated by minimalism and negative space. With experimentation with the drawing on the reverse, which features the same silhouette forming a keyhole.
7. Jaws by Peter Benchley
The original hardcover for Jaws by Peter Benchley was created by artist Paul Bacon and released in 1975. This iconic black cover features a careless swimmer in the pitch-black water and the enormous, silent killer shark that is closing in. It describes the impending terror and the looming disaster.
8. Psycho by Robert Bloch
The distressed texture and abruptly cut typography on Tony Palladino’s design for Psycho by Robert Bloch validates the horror theme. The design, which consists of stark white letters that appear to have been torn and pasted together against a black background to resemble a ransom note, was meant to typographically depict the homicidal madness of Norman Bates. The cover instantly chills you because it only has a massive, broken typeface in black and white.
9. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The cover of The Great atsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald showcases a painting by Francis Cugat of Daisy’s disembodied face floating over the lights of New York City. The green light, depicted as a descending tear, stands in for Gatsby’s misguided idealism. It was the only book cover Cugat ever created. It captures the moody jazz age aesthetic of the novel.
10. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
S. Neil Fujita created The Godfather’s cover. The final moments of the book are reminiscent of logo design, which shows a puppeteer directing events from behind the curtain. The cover is an allusion to control and power. This cover too was used to promote the film adaptation. The simple yet bold cover has become extremely significant in recent years.
11. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Edward McKnight Kauffer created the Invisible Man’s original cover design in 1952. The cover features a man in shadows and darkness, staring at something in the light. The scene illustrates the book’s central idea; scientist Griffin, the protagonist, has now become invisible. The design has a strong cubist influence. With its striking message and limited colour palette, it also harkens back to the Jazz and Harlem eras. The light seems to be streaming down from above and the way it crosses the face.
12. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Prince, with its watercolour illustrations inside and on the cover, was created by the author and well-known aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The Little Prince is a poetic story that rendered everyone teary when it was first published in 1943. You can almost see and feel a part of the story thanks to the seemingly simple drawings that adorn the book and its cover.
13. The Hobbit: Or, There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien
There are numerous lovely cover designs for The Hobbit, an engrossing fantasy novel that has influenced many generations of readers. However, the 1937 (first) printing is unique since it makes use of the artwork that Tolkien himself created. The red sun wasn’t on the original cover, but Tolkien Library says that the author originally intended for it to be red but had to alter it because of financial constraints. The cover is essentially a landscape painting chronicling the journeys ahead of the hobbits.
14. The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso by Dante Alighieri
The Divine Comedy book cover enticingly depicts Dante’s journeys through purgatory, hell, and paradise. The three elements are depicted in the images of hellfire, souls, and free birds, giving away the poetry’s theme. Eric Drooker did the cover art for the book. Each picture is incredibly symbolic, capturing the tone and meaning of the book while using an ascending composition to suggest the hope of redemption.
Image Courtesy – It’s Nice That
