A Brief Stay with the First Person

Yes, it's another one of these posts. What's interesting here is not only the same image being used (the first on a 2004 Faber paperback, the second on a yet-to-be-released Hamish Hamilton hardback), but the arrangement of white space and text placement is pretty similar too. To be fair, the Ali Smith cover may change between now and publication date (October 2008): we'll see.


Irritatingly, I know I've also seen this image on the cover of a third book, and even said as much in the comments to someone else's blog, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was.

UPDATE: The infinitely perceptive Sara of NYRB notes in the comments that it was a Sigrid Nunez book, The Last of Her Kind, which also uses this cover image (on both the hardback and paperback editions published by FSG and Picador US respectively).



It's also worth noting that the photograph is 'Memphis, Tennessee, 1974' by William Eggleston. It is also his photo of the girl outstretched on the lawn with a camera that turns up in this post.