Five More Favorite Antique Book Covers

 

Image by G.C. from Pixabay

I have a love-hate relationship with book covers. I know a book is supposed to have a good cover. As a broke graphic design school dropout, I design what I think are passable covers for my books. I'm sure actual book cover artists would disagree. 

However, we aren't here to talk about my questionable book cover design skills.

Back in December, I published a post featuring some of my favorite old-fashioned book covers. If you'd like to revisit that post, here's the link.

https://sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-art-of-old-fashioned-book-covers.html

Today, I'd like to share a few more gems from the golden age of publishing.

I really do have a thing for classic book covers, and while I am not one to judge a book by its cover, this cover screams "quality." The red lettering and embellishments on the muted golden-brown background is classy and classical. An angel is telling us this book would be a divine read. What's not to like?

As for the cons, this cover does nothing to hint at the contents of the book. Still, it's undeniably an impressive piece of artwork.

This cover, on the other hand, tells the reader exactly what they can expect. The image features a variety of animals in a pleasing shade of green. The artistic style gives the creatures a three-dimensional quality. The elephant looks like it's about to march right off the book's cover. This is a stunning work of art.

This little skeleton is marvelously freaky. I love it! I'm assuming this is a journal or diary. However, it would make an excellent cover for a collection of macabre poetry.

This cover is a masterpiece! The way the snake threads through the skull's eyes, the bat holding the skull in its claws, the bright golden stars on the gray background; all the elements come together in fantastical, macabre beauty. This is the sort of book that I would put in a glass case and not let anyone touch it. 

Wrapping things up on a less eerie note, these charming golden frogs on a rusty background with green leaves and little white bell-shaped flowers draw the eye to the center of the image. This cover is a delightful work of art.

I hope you've enjoyed this little diversion. I know these covers wouldn't work for today's market, except perhaps with a poetry collection. However, I always appreciate their true artistic quality and the hard work that went into designing and creating them.

longandshortreviews.com

The Art of Old Fashioned Book Covers (and Mr. Sweet Potatoes)

 

Friedrich Christian Accum. A Treatise on Adulteration of Food and Culinary Poisons. London, Longman, 1822.

The question was posed on the Long and Short Reviews blog: What do I wish would come back into fashion? Never really being a follower of fashion, I nearly admitted defeat. Then I thought about old book covers. Some of these are true works of art!

W. T. Horton. A Book of Images. London: The Unicorn Press, 1898

The title promises more awe-inspiring images to ponder. I honestly am not familiar with its contents, but if I saw it in a bookstore or library, I'd at least take a look at it.

Neil Munro. Gilian the Dreamer, His Fancy, His Love and Adventure. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1899. Cover by Thomas Watson Ball 

Gilian sounds like the kind of guy who got scolded by his teachers for daydreaming. Pay attention, Gilian! Stop woolgathering, Gilian! Do your math problems, Gilian! Meanwhile, Gilian just wanted to wander among the tall, skinny trees and find a little adventure, a little fancy, and a bit of love.

William Wesley Cook. Practical Lessons in Hypnotism. Chicago: Charles Thompson, 1901.

You'll be on top of the world when you learn William Wesley Cook's secret method for knocking your enemies out with lightning from your fingertips!

I actually love this cover. It's very dramatic, and being a bit over the top is one of the things that sets the book covers of old apart from their modern counterparts. 

Arthur Stringer. The Loom of Destiny. Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1899.

I wonder if M. C. Escher ever saw this book cover. Its clever maze of lines certainly would have appealed to his sensibilities.

Ignatius Donnelly. Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel. New York, D. Appleton and Company, 1883.

I bought a copy of Ignatius Donnelly's book about Atlantis in the 1980s. It was a reprint, of course. If I could get hold of a first edition, I would keep it in a glass case and allow no one to touch it.

You can see many more of these old-time masterpieces on this page.

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-art-of-book-covers-1820-1914/

Whatever you do, don't look at Mr. Sweet Potatoes.

Mr. Sweet Potatoes and Other Stories. New York: Werner, 1899.

I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. He made me do it.

I hope you enjoyed this exploration of the fantastic book covers from a bygone era.

I admit, my book covers suck by comparison. 

In fairness, my book covers suck in comparison to most book covers. I'm a graphic design school dropout working with no budget, designing my own. 

I wonder if Mr. Sweet Potatoes influenced H. P. Lovecraft's descent into madness. Young Howard would have been nine years old at the time that abomination was unleashed upon the world. Who knows how many children's minds were permanently warped by the sight of Mr. Sweet Potatoes?

Right, this is just getting silly. It's late, and I've had a hard couple of days. I've been kicking around the idea of creating my own limited-edition book covers for my poetry volumes, but I'm not an artist. I could end up creating an even worse eldritch abomination than Mr. Sweet Potatoes.

Enjoy some holiday romance, including a sweet second-chance story by C. L. Hart in the For the Love of Winter collection. Guaranteed free of Mr. Sweet Potatoes.

https://amzn.to/3ASUIBq

https://www.longandshortreviews.com/miscellaneous-musings/wednesday-weekly-blogging-challenge-for-december-4-2024/