Friday, 5 December 2008

Poe!

Early next year Penguin UK is putting out a Peter Ackroyd-edited collection of Edgar Allan Poe short stories, with a very unconventional and really cool collage cover.



I love the way that even the Penguin Classics branding uses cut-up bits of old Penguin designs: a 1970s Modern Classics logo, a 1990s 'Penguin Classics' bit of type, and the author's name from the newest 2000s Classics type.

I don't yet know who did this, but big praise to whoever is responsible.

UPDATE: Designer Stefanie Posavec write to say that she provided the cut-up Penguin bits, and the original collage (see below) was altered by Harland Miller.

Also, if you ever see that film of 'The Black Cat', the poster of which decorates the wall in that collage, you're in for 65 minutes of serious bonkersness.

UPDATE: Super-star JonathanM of the Bookseller Crow points out what I was too stupid to realise, which is that this is a Poe-ised modification of Richard Hamilton's 'Just What Is It that Makes
Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?'.
at

5 comments:

  1. JonathanM7 December 2008 at 03:43

    After Richard Hamilton, though, surely?

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  2. JRSM7 December 2008 at 14:08

    Of course! Me duh! Will amend the post to reflect that.

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  3. Ian Koviak15 December 2008 at 17:33

    excitedly wonderful!

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  4. Anonymous23 February 2009 at 07:18

    Hey, I worked on this cover! Actually: the Richard Hamilton collage has been altered by the artist Harland Miller.

    http://www.whitecube.com/artists/miller/

    I 'chopped up' old Penguin covers for the text in order to go along with the whole appropriation theme Harland Miller (and Hamilton) used in the illustration.

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  5. JRSM23 February 2009 at 13:57

    Thanks, Stefanie: I'll update the post with that info. Harland Miller's work is great (I also really liked his novel). His rejigged Hemingway hard-man cover is brilliant.

    ReplyDelete