Wednesday 20 August 2008

Brian Cronin

In my John Wyndham post I wondered at who had done the covers for the 2008 Penguin re-release of five of his books. The most excellent John Self of Asylum let me know that the artist was Dublin-born, New York-based Brian Cronin.







Before knowing who it was, I knew I'd seen that style somewhere before. Once I had the name, I was able to work it out. Cronin also did the covers for Penguin US's special centenary editions of six of Graham Greene's novels...








..as well as the artwork for the now-redone original NYRB editions of Joyce Cary's novels.




He also did the cover for the US hardback of Louis De Bernieres' Bird Without Wings...



..and at least one other cover, that for Real Farm: Encounters With Perception by Patricia Tichenor Westfall, which appears to be a city-couple-tries-to-make-a-go-of-it-in-the-country book.

6 comments:

Levi Stahl said...

I feel smart now, or at least at attentive: when I got my copy of The Kraken Wakes in the mail the other day, I said, "This looks like a Graham Greene novel." Now, a more attentive person, like John Self, would have looked at the artist's name and checked it against his Graham Greenes . . .

Anonymous said...

Sadly I didn't, Levi - I just went into the bookshop yesterday, found the covers and reported it. Only now am I kicking myself because I have that edition of The Heart of the Matter and didn't make the connection. All detective work is credited to JRSM.

Anonymous said...

Have just re-read The Kraken Wakes (feels very relevant what with all the floods) but what on earth has Brian Cronin's youth-in-deckchair with gelled hair, nasty little moustache and plunging neckline got to do with anything in the book? As a reader and bookseller, I just found it annoying. Btw the Chinese comments above seem to be ads for porn sites if you put them into Googlefish.

Anonymous said...

Have just re-read The Kraken Wakes (feels very relevant what with all the floods) but what on earth has Brian Cronin's youth-in-deckchair with gelled hair, nasty little moustache and plunging neckline got to do with anything in the book? As a reader and bookseller, I just found it annoying. Btw the Chinese comments above seem to be ads for porn sites if you put them into Googlefish.

JRSM said...

Well... he's underwater, I think? But the way you describe him is certainly not encouraging :) It's a great book, though.

Those comments are spam, unfortunately--one morning I logged in and EVERY POST had them. I deleted about half, and then lost track. I'd better get back to it!

Unknown said...

Did no-one notice that the cover of The Chrysalids shows a person with two right feet? The book only mentions the six toes problem. Drawing-wise it's an easy and common enough slip.