3 things book cover design expresses about books themselves

3 things book cover design expresses about books themselves

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Even though we might like to pretend that it is not the fact, books are undoubtedly judged by their covers.

We enjoy checking out books because they are really gorgeous things. This is true, however the nature of beauty that we may be discussing is certainly separate to what we might be discussing if we were speaking about, say, the visual arts. Or is it? For as long as we have actually had books we have decorated them with beautiful book cover designs that effort to mirror the beauty of what is within. This dates back for as long as the codex itself has actually been around, with medieval monks, those charged with the defense and proliferation of the uncommon texts that might still be discovered, ornamenting each hand written text with amazingly abundant and stunning styles. In fact, such was the charm held within these books that most of these creative book cover designs were carved into ivory or solid gold, studded with gems, and inlaid with rivers of rare-earth elements. People like the co-CEO of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones can most likely appreciate the manner in which the beauty of these book covers was designed to match the beauty within the book.
When we buy a book it ends up being something very very personal to us. It can sometimes be odd seeing a book you love with another book cover, simply because it is not your book. This personalisation, and certainly ownership, of books was at an entirely different level at the genesis of the age of printing, with book covers being created by the owners themselves, and what they thought would be the best books covers for the text. They would purchase the book itself from the printer wrapped in paper, then take it to a binder who would add in the covers to the client's specs. This generally implied being outfitted in leather and then etched with the name of the book, and, usually, the name of the book's owner. People like the co-founder of the impact investor with a stake in World of Books can most likely value the ownership that people come to feel in regards to their books.
When you truly think of it, it is quite fantastic that a book's cover, no matter how lovely it is, manages to stand so eloquently for something that is practically the total reverse of its art form-- writing in black and white. In fact, book covers have actually been created to reflect the emotional state of a book and interest its intended audience since the advent of big scale publishing in the Victorian Period. Artists were tasked with discovering what makes a good book cover for specific individuals, or to put it simply, marketing. People like the CEO of the asset manager that has a stake in Amazon can most likely value the function of marketing in designing book covers.