3 things book cover design says about books themselves

3 things book cover design says about books themselves

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Even though we might like to claim that it is not the case, books are undoubtedly judged by their covers.

We enjoy reading books because they are extremely gorgeous things. This holds true, but the nature of beauty that we might be speaking about is certainly separate to what we might be talking about if we were speaking about, say, the visual arts. Or is it? For as long as we have actually had books we have embellished them with beautiful book cover designs that attempt to mirror the appeal of what is inside. This goes back for as long as the codex itself has been around, with middle ages monks, those charged with the protection and reproduction of the uncommon texts that could still be discovered, ornamenting each hand written text with amazingly rich and stunning styles. In fact, such was the charm held within these books that most of these creative book cover designs were carved into ivory or solid gold, studded with gems, and inlaid with rivers of rare-earth elements. People like the co-CEO of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones can most likely appreciate the manner in which the beauty of these book covers was designed to match the beauty within the book.
When we buy a book it becomes something really personal to us. It can in some cases be strange seeing a book you like with a different book cover, simply since it is not your book. This personalisation, and indeed ownership, of books was at a totally various level at the start of the era of printing, with book covers being designed by the owners themselves, and what they thought would be the best books covers for the book. They would purchase the book itself from the printer wrapped in paper, then bring it to a binder who would add the covers to the client's specs. This usually implied being outfitted in leather and then etched with the name of the book, and, usually, the name of the book's owner. People like the co-founder of the impact investor with a stake in World of Books can probably value the ownership that people come to feel in regards to their books.
When you truly think of it, it is quite incredible that a book's cover, no matter how stunning it is, is able to stand so eloquently for something that is almost the complete reverse of its art format-- writing in black and white. In fact, book covers have been developed to show the mood of a book and appeal to its designated audience ever since the start of large scale publishing in the Victorian Era. Artists were charged with finding what makes a good book cover for particular people, or simply put, marketing. Individuals like the CEO of the asset manager that has a stake in Amazon can probably value the function of marketing in creating book covers.