The Book Cover Club

31.8.11

Read a book, design a cover for it

Philip Cheaney's design for James Joyce's Dubliners [The Book Cover Club]

This August has witnessed the launch of The Book Cover Club, a new literary design blog. The idea is very simple: read a book, design a cover for it. The site is run by book illustrator Philip Cheaney, and so far has featured contributions from Ryan Hartley, Daniel Fishel, Cecilia Ruiz and Cheaney himself. Books have included James Joyce's Dubliners (above) and Herman Melville's Moby Dick. I'll look forward to seeing what crops up in the months to come. (Thanks to Jennifer Dawn Whitney for the link.) [See the site]

Also at A Piece of Monologue:

2 Comments:

Carnedd Jack said...: Does this mean you have to read a manuscript? Designing covers is great for the new, but designing when it's dealing with familiar books that are so much associated with a particular cover is - a rhetorcial exercise?; 7:15 PM, August 31, 2011
Rhys Tranter said...: Hi Carnedd Jack,

It seems the idea is to design covers for already-published works, and I don't think it needs to be seen as a rhetorical exercise. It's intended as a bit of fun, a way of bringing your own interpretation to bear on a text that you've enjoyed.

I'm not sure whether it's true that many books have consistent artwork. Aside from children's books, which are often coupled with specific illustrations, or a few classic examples (perhaps Salinger's Catcher in the Rye or Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird), most well-known books are continually rebranded for new generations of readers. For instance, Peter Mendelsund's done a sterling job redesigning novels by Kafka, Tolstoy, Bernhard and Dostoyevsky. Even the practice of designing book covers itself is a relatively new practice, so I see no reason to settle.

I'm looking forward to seeing what readers will bring to the table.

Best,
Rhys; 7:33 PM, August 31, 2011

31.8.11