Judging a Book by Its Cover : Fans, Publishers, Designers, and the Marketing of Fiction (review).

Grace Lees-Maffei

doi:10.1162/DESI_r_00034

Judging a Book by Its Cover : Fans, Publishers, Designers, and the Marketing of Fiction (review).

Grace Lees-Maffei

Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review

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Abstract

In addition to the yellowed, faded ground designed to emulate the ages appearance of used books, this book’s front cover shows two different 1957 thumbnail covers for Phillip K. Dick’s Eye in the Sky, each of which interprets its subject literally. Juxtaposed, the two thumbnails present a pair of eyes staring out with great alarm at the potential reader of Judging a Book by it’s Cover. This cover tells us that this is a book about books, visuality, and populist genres. On the back, the blurb proclaims “This exciting collection opens up a new field of enquiry for scholars of book history, literature, media and communication studies, marketing, and cultural studies.” Clearly, for graphic design historians, the analysis of book covers is not new; this anthology presents a welcome incursion into graphic design history terrain by an interdisciplinary group of scholars.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	92-93
Number of pages	2
Journal	Design Issues
Volume	26
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_r_00034
Publication status	Published - 2010

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"This is a preprint, or manuscript version and the article has been accepted for publication in Design Issues."
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Cite this

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title = "Judging a Book by Its Cover : Fans, Publishers, Designers, and the Marketing of Fiction (review).",

abstract = "In addition to the yellowed, faded ground designed to emulate the ages appearance of used books, this book{\textquoteright}s front cover shows two different 1957 thumbnail covers for Phillip K. Dick{\textquoteright}s Eye in the Sky, each of which interprets its subject literally. Juxtaposed, the two thumbnails present a pair of eyes staring out with great alarm at the potential reader of Judging a Book by it{\textquoteright}s Cover. This cover tells us that this is a book about books, visuality, and populist genres. On the back, the blurb proclaims “This exciting collection opens up a new field of enquiry for scholars of book history, literature, media and communication studies, marketing, and cultural studies.” Clearly, for graphic design historians, the analysis of book covers is not new; this anthology presents a welcome incursion into graphic design history terrain by an interdisciplinary group of scholars.",

author = "Grace Lees-Maffei",

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year = "2010",

doi = "10.1162/DESI\_r\_00034",

language = "English",

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pages = "92--93",

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AU - Lees-Maffei, Grace

N1 - "This is a preprint, or manuscript version and the article has been accepted for publication in Design Issues." Original article is available online at : http://www.mitpressjournals.org/ Copyright Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

N2 - In addition to the yellowed, faded ground designed to emulate the ages appearance of used books, this book’s front cover shows two different 1957 thumbnail covers for Phillip K. Dick’s Eye in the Sky, each of which interprets its subject literally. Juxtaposed, the two thumbnails present a pair of eyes staring out with great alarm at the potential reader of Judging a Book by it’s Cover. This cover tells us that this is a book about books, visuality, and populist genres. On the back, the blurb proclaims “This exciting collection opens up a new field of enquiry for scholars of book history, literature, media and communication studies, marketing, and cultural studies.” Clearly, for graphic design historians, the analysis of book covers is not new; this anthology presents a welcome incursion into graphic design history terrain by an interdisciplinary group of scholars.

AB - In addition to the yellowed, faded ground designed to emulate the ages appearance of used books, this book’s front cover shows two different 1957 thumbnail covers for Phillip K. Dick’s Eye in the Sky, each of which interprets its subject literally. Juxtaposed, the two thumbnails present a pair of eyes staring out with great alarm at the potential reader of Judging a Book by it’s Cover. This cover tells us that this is a book about books, visuality, and populist genres. On the back, the blurb proclaims “This exciting collection opens up a new field of enquiry for scholars of book history, literature, media and communication studies, marketing, and cultural studies.” Clearly, for graphic design historians, the analysis of book covers is not new; this anthology presents a welcome incursion into graphic design history terrain by an interdisciplinary group of scholars.

U2 - 10.1162/DESI_r_00034

DO - 10.1162/DESI_r_00034

M3 - Book/Film/Article review

SN - 0747-9360

VL - 26

SP - 92

EP - 93

JO - Design Issues

JF - Design Issues

IS - 3

ER -

Judging a Book by Its Cover : Fans, Publishers, Designers, and the Marketing of Fiction (review).

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