Book design
You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but you can still admire the artwork and craftsmanship of a beautiful book. From illustrated dust jackets to art deco books, explore some of incredible examples of stunning book design.
Illustrated books are the combination of words and art on the page. This list of influential illustrated books includes world famous artists, specialist book illustrators, pioneers from the Golden Age of Illustration, children's picture books, a diary, alphabet books, and more.
In no particular order, we present a selection of iconic book covers that we love. If you saw these particular editions in a bookshop window, then we believe you would stop and stare.
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Fine presses, private presses and small presses vary from traditional publishing houses because of their size, scope and intention. Books produced by these publishers are often adored by collectors who desire books that are not run-of-the-mill.
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From abstract design to detailed illustrations, enjoy these gorgeous vintage dust jackets.
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Typography is the art of arranging type and that includes the selection of typefaces, the point size and the leading. A typographer is someone who designs typefaces.
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Standing like an island amid the sea of cheap mass produced paperbacks and formulaic new releases, is the Folio Society. This organization is half publisher, half book club, and was founded in 1947 on the principle that books should be beautiful to the eye as well as captivating to the mind.
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Art Deco, which originated in Paris, is one of the most memorable of all design movements thanks to its modern feel and use of mathematical and geometric shapes. Oddly the actual label of 'Art Deco' was not popularised until 1968 when art historian Bevis Hillier published a book called Art Deco of the 20s and 30s.
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Penguin Drop Caps is a series of 26 rainbow-hued hardcover editions of literature's finest treasures. An edition for each letter of the alphabet, the series features authors from A (Jane Austen) to Z (Carlos Ruiz Zafon).
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A Wrinkle in Time can be classified as science fiction or fantasy, or both. The plot includes something called a tesseract where space and time are folded together. Here's a selection of covers for our favourite children's story about the space-time continuum.
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