Episode 28: Judging the cover

Good Librations Podcast Episode 28

When George Eliot wrote 'don't judge a book by it's cover' in the Mill on the Floss in 1860, it is certain she did not know just how strange a relationship we would have to her enduring idiom 160 years later.

Open the book on a journey through the history and importance of cover design, from clay tablets to jewel-encrusted tomes to open-shirted men - we find out why we're still absolutely judging books by their covers.

 

Shelf-absorbed (books we reviewed)

Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

Nevermoor Jessica Townsend      Narrow Road Richard Flanagan

Shelf-important (things we mentioned)

The Malleus Maleficarum: A 15th Century Treatise on Witchcraft - WashU Libraries

THE ART OF THE BOOK | viscomhistory

The Making of Jaws’ Iconic Book Covers – PRINT Magazine

What are book covers and why are they so popular in Japan? – Japanese Book Club Cafe

The Unexpected Politics of Book Cover Design ‹ Literary Hub

A Brief History of Book Covers | Domestika

History of the Book – Chapter 9. Industrialization of Print: Automation, mass production, changes in literacy, and aesthetic responses

Aubrey Beardsley – Never Judge a Book by its (Yellow) Cover - Brighton & Hove Museums

How Aubrey Beardsley’s Visionary Illustrations for Oscar Wilde’s “Salome” Subverted Victorian Gender Norms and Revolutionized the Graphic Arts – The Marginalian

https://medium.com/@abebooks_writes/how-penguins-paperbacks-changed-the-world-of-books-880618282290  

https://thewalrus.ca/the-hidden-racism-of-book-cover-design/   

https://wearewhitefox.com/the-history-and-future-of-book-covers-the-influence-of-cover-design-within-the-publishing-industry/  

https://www.sirgordonbennett.com/gordons-bugle/penguin-book-design/  

Animal Farm: How the covers have changed through the decades

https://www.grapheine.com/en/graphic-design-en/stereotypography-typefaces-racist  

https://www.autostraddle.com/see-the-fascinating-evolution-of-cover-art-from-12-legendary-queer-books-176085/  

Her hidden face - cover-art on historical fiction - TheSupercargo

Adding Colour to the Romance Genre | The Walrus

The debate over Bridgerton and race | Vox

The Bridgerton effect: The rise in modern Regency novels | The Independent

Printing press | Invention, Definition, History, Gutenberg, & Facts | Britannica

Printing Press - Invented, Gutenberg, Significance | HISTORY

A short history of book covers - 1/4

History of the Book – Chapter 9. Industrialization of Print: Automation, mass production, changes in literacy, and aesthetic responses

https://publishingstate.com/how-the-industrial-revolution-transformed-the-publishing-industry/2023/

A Brief History of Book Covers | Domestika

The Art of Book Covers (1820–1914) — The Public Domain Review

The Evolution of a Book Cover: When We Fell Apart by Soon Wiley | Penguin Random House

The history and future of book covers: the influence of cover design within the publishing industry. - Whitefox

The 25 Most Iconic Book Covers in History ‹ Literary Hub

 

Authors:

  • James Patterson
  • Albrecht Durer
  • William Morris
  • Lucy Faulkner
  • Robert Anning Bell
  • Walter Crane
  • Edward Burne-Jones
  • Hugh Thomson
  • Aubrey Beardsley
  • Aleksander Rodchenko
  • El Lissitzky
  • Karol Loganson
  • Agatha Christie
  • Jenny Bhatt
  • Emily Henry
  • Holly Ovenden
  • Alexis Hall
  • David Levithan
  • Alice Oseman
  • Cliff Nielsen
  • Tessa Bailey

 

Books/written works:

  • The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
  • The Epic of Gilgamesh
  • Garima Gospels
  • The Book of Kells
  • The Book of Hours by the Limbourg Brothers
  • Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
  • Malleus Maleficarum by Heinrich Kramer
  • The Kelmscott Chaucer
  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  • The Yellow Book
  • Salome by Oscar Wilde
  • The Savoy journal
  • La Morte D’Arthur by Thomas Malory
  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
  • The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Roots of Chaos series by Samantha Shannon
  • The Faebound series by Saara El-Afiri
  • The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
  • Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods
  • The Sheik Edith Maud Hull
  • Orlando by Virginia Woolf
  • Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
  • Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
  • Jaws by Peter Benchley
  • A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas
  • 50 Shade of Grey by E.L. James
  • Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

 

Film/TV:

  • Jurassic Park
  • The Lion King
  • Cool Runnings
  • Bridgerton
  • American Pie
  • Lolita
  • Jaws
  • Avatar
  • Twilight

I just can't help my-shelf

Books/authors:

  • The Last Hours trilogy by Cassandra Clare
  • The Andromache series by Gabriel Bergmoser
  • The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Nettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty

Shelf-obsessed (further reading and listening)

Amazing book cover art in our Libraries!

  • Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong
  • Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare
  • Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods
  • The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
  • The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
  • The Ferryman by Justin Cronin
  • Don’t Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews
  • The Elements Quartet by John Boyne
  • We were Never Friends by Margaret Bearman
  • Etta and the Shadow Taboo by J.M. Field & Jeremy Worrall