The Horror! The Horror! (1)

What's that? You don't want to read my long, involved, boring story of why there have been no posts for ages? Well, fine, be like that. Have some covers instead.

These are the six Penguin Horror books released a couple of months ago, a series "curated" by Guillermo del Toro (whose introduction is fortunately far better written than the vampire books he 'wrote'). The covers are the work of Penguin design supremo Paul Buckley. I wasn't sure sabout them when I'd only seen thumbnails online, but in the flesh they're luridly wonderful, using a range of expensive cover treatments (neon ink, silver ink, SuperMatt varnish--the one that feels like rubbery skin--and spots of viscera-like gloss varnish) to make them tactile and unsettling.

Click all images for embiggening...

Each cover makes use of a different fluorescent ink

Most series would reuse the same bit of distressed/damaged art for the back covers, so full marks for giving each book its own piece of nastiness

All the page edges are black as well, to add to the atmosphere

Here the books are shown with a tiny graveyard, for no useful purpose whatsoever

Del Toro's introduction (the same in each book) seems to suggest that at one point Henry James's The Turn of the Screw was meant to be a part of this series. It would be interesting to see how Buckley combined the over-the-top nature of the series design with that book's more restrained horrors.

Alphabetical Order

I've long enjoyed Daily Drop Cap, a design blog by Jessica Hische, where she posts an initial letter she has designed pretty much each day (and has done so for nearly three years). The range of forms and styles she has created from the 26 basic letter shapes is quite amazing.

Penguin obviously think so too, as they've commissioned her to create letterforms for the covers for their new Penguin Drop Caps classics series: 26 deluxe paperback editions of classics books, chosen for the initial letters of the authors' surnames. For example, the first three books are by Austen, Bronte (Charlotte) and Cather: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre and My Antonia. Click for bigger versions of the first six books... (All cover designs by Jessica Hische and Paul Buckley).

As you can see, the spines will match, and the changing colours of the set will create a full spectrum by the end.

I'm in two minds about this set: on the one hand, they will undoubtedly be gorgeous, while on the other they are probably entirely unnecessary (this will be Penguin's 235,623th in-print edition of P&P, for example); but then, the classics are probably getting harder to shift in these days of free public domain ebooks, so making the paper versions as pretty as possible is probably the way to go.

As for Jessica Hische, she has an extensive set of beautiful type-centric book cover designs in her portfolio. Here are some of my favourites, starting with different desigsn for two of the classics above, these versions done for Barnes & Noble. Click an image for much larger versions.

An as-yet unpublished project by Hische herself

Above and below, a pair of dramatic, Jazz Age designs

I wasn't sure whether to risk Eggers again after some disappointing past experiences, but this cover design has pushed me into spending my money

Sadly, not yet a real cover: part of the Lolita Cover Project

Mistah Kurtz

Holy cats! This is how you do it: Mike "Hellboy" Mignola covers Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness for Penguin Graphic Classics, under the aegis of Paul Buckley.

Coming in September, which seems a long, long way away.

Typography of Lust

The full, folded-out cover for the new Penguin Classics US deluxe edition of the Kama Sutra (first discussed here); sex-type by Malika Favre, overseen by Paul Buckley. Click for a much bigger version.

I think this qualifies as the most obscene spine in my library, or at least equal-most with this one.

Ink on the Skin

[Note: I have been asked by Penguin US to remove two of these covers, which I have done, as the images I was displaying were far from the finished work. Sorry for jumping the gun! I hope to be able to show them closer to the books' publication dates.]

In August I posted the first two covers for the forthcoming Penguin Ink series, which Penguin US is putting out in June next year as part of their 75th anniversary celebrations (Penguin is milking these Big Number anniversaries a lot recently--it's the 60th or 70th or 75th anniversary of one arm of the company somewhere in the world all the time these days, it seems).

Now I've managed to get the other four covers from the series (though one is incomplete). As well as Coetzee and Foster Wallace (see that first post), we have...

[Removed because not final image]

..Ian Fleming, cover by Chris Garver ...

..Martin Amis, cover by Bert Krak (click for bigger)...

..Helen Fielding, cover by poster artist Tara McPherson...

 [Removed because not final image]

..and Keri Hulme, with an appropriately Maori-inspired cover by NZ-based Pepa Heller.

These covers were commissioned by the great Paul Buckley, a VP Executive Creative Director at Penguin US. The Money cover was stolen from his flickr page. Buckley has also been busy producing another of those beautiful volumes which commemorate Penguin's design history. This one, Penguin 75, looks at 75 covers, with commentary from those involved in their creation. Due out at the same time as the Penguin Ink books, it has no cover yet, but here's one of the internal page spreads (click for a bigger look).

Finally, here are the covers of the two collections of work by Tara McPherson, most of which is distinctly more disquieting than her Bridget Jones cover.

 

Tatts

And in a follow-up to the last post, here's another Buckley-overseen wonder: Penguin Ink, which uses tattoo artists to create book covers. Here are the first two (again, click for bigger versions).

Coetzee by Chris Conn.

Foster Wallace by Duke Riley.

I'm no afficionado of tattoos, but these covers are grand. Basically, Penguin US want all my money, and I want to give it all to them.

UPDATE: I asked Paul Buckley about these covers, and here's what he said: "They come out in the first third of next year. I'm not exactly sure which month. Yes, there will be more... I just got Chris Garver's work; Bert Krak will be turning one in soon; I have a Maori one coming up, and Tara McPherson (yes, I realize she is not a "tattoo artist") has agreed to try her hand at creating some flash art for me."

Back to the Good Stuff

Turning back to the good stuff, this is just a brief post to direct you towards this flickr set by book designer Paul Buckley. He has put up all of the covers (both front and full, including French flaps) for the complete set (so far) of Penguin's Graphic Classics books, where great works of literature get covers designed by some of the best comics artists currently working. Here's a taste--click for bigger, legible versions.

Edith Wharton covered by Jeffrey Brown.

Mark Twain covered by Lilli Carré (previously discussed here).

Shirley Jackson covered by Thomas Ott.

Herman Melville covered by Tony Millionaire.

Ken Kesey covered by Joe Sacco.

Franz Kafka covered by Sammy Harkham (previously discussed here).

Really, go and look at them in all their glory. They are a fantastic, beautiful set of books.