Monday 16 January 2012

Flipping Hitch

An odd thing I just noted. Here are the Australian and one of the UK covers for the late Christopher Hitchens' big book of essays, Arguably.




It's the same photo, but for no readily apparent reason, flipped over. This means that somebody had to go in and fix the book spines in the flipped image (which would be the UK version at bottom), though it hasn't been done quite perfectly. The Vanity Fair Portraits on the floor has had its spine fixed, but not the front cover (original on left, retouched on right--click for bigger).


And the books on the shelves have been changed, too: the books in the box have been flipped around, but the book immediately above them has had its spine flipped, but not its cover--peer closely, and you'll see the mismatch.



So I find myself wondering why this was done at all? Why flip such a tricky photo when the original seems fine? Why make so much pointless work for a graphic designer? And, more importantly, why have I then wasted a whole heap of time peering at this and pointing it out?

8 comments:

  1. welcome to the illogical world of publishing. well, then again, you know.

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  2. And now I begin wasting a morning pondering the very same questions.

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  3. I blame the Coriols Effect.
    John Pepper
    Pembroke, Ontario

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  4. I reckon someone got a bee in their bonnet about the window being on the right. Something about the negative space of the window pointing the right way and encouraging you to turn open the cover. Or something.

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  5. negative space? They could have cropped the photo in a bit, moved the bookshelf creeping on the edge of the photo? The picture is quite full. who would have thought 'what a waste, there could have been an advert, a film poster, a kitten in that space, but you left it all empty!'

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  6. Hitchens used to lean left. Then he leaned right.

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  7. Nick's probably cracked the real reason, but Jeff: your solution made me genuinely laugh out loud. Thanks, all!

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  8. What side of the road do the Australians drive on? That must be it.

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