Beyond Miffy

Dutch illustrator and graphic designer Dick Bruna (born 1927) is best known for his hugely popular rabbit creation, Miffy.



Significantly less well-known outside Holland are his many bold, occasionally comic, and always eye-catching book cover designs for crime novels. 9For everything here, click for bigger, better versions.)

These include a number of Georges Simenons (some of which he also translated into Dutch)...








..Ian Fleming's James Bond books...



..as well as books by Havank (pen-name for Dutch journalist and novelist Hans van der Kallen, who, despite living most of his life outside the Netherlands, died of a heart attack in a hotel room only a few metres from his birthplace)...






..and the comic Tanner novels of Lawrence Block, about an adventurer who, unable to sleep due to a Korean War injury, devotes all his extra time to learning strange new skills.




Bruna has also done covers for a number of other authors.









Almost all of these covers were for Dutch publishing house Zwarte Beertjes (Black Bears), which was started by his father and then taken over by his brother (Bruna was offered the job, but wanted to keep working in design and illustration).

A huge and expensive catalogue of his Zwarte Beertjes work has been produced. Here are the front and back covers (click for huge, detailed versions).




Much more Bruniana (including most of the above) can be found in this excellent Flickr collection, and this other excellent Flickr collection. An interview with the man himself is online here.