Look of the Book by David J. Alworth - ISBN: 9780399581021
Hardcover
Uncover the secrets behind captivating book covers and their hidden stories.

Look of the Book

Jackets, Covers, and Art at the Edges of Literature

$108.82

  • Hardcover

    256 pages

  • Release Date

    7 December 2020

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Summary

Why do some book covers instantly grab your attention, while others never get a second glance? Fusing word and image, as well as design thinking and literary criticism, this captivating investigation goes behind the scenes of the cover design process to answer this question and more.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

As the outward face of the text, the book cover makes an all-important first impression. The Look of the Book exa…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9780399581021
ISBN-10:0399581022
Author:David J. Alworth, Mendelsund
Publisher:Ten Speed Press
Imprint:Ten Speed Press
Format:Hardcover
Number of Pages:256
Release Date:7 December 2020
Weight:1.47kg
Dimensions:35mm x 327mm x 223mm
What They're Saying

Critics Review

Praise for The Look of the Book:

“A book about books that deserves a spot in every bibliophile’s collection.”—Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Cover:


“In the past decade, Mr. Mendelsund has designed about 600 book jackets, ranging from a sober, sophisticated cover for Tolstoy’s War and Peace to his whimsical Pop Art-like treatment of Kafka’s novella Metamorphosis, to the hypnotic fluorescent swirls on Stieg Larsson’s thriller The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”New York Times

“Cover is foremost a visually enticing tour of some of the most important books of recent times, made even more memorable by Mendelsund’s daring covers.”Washington Post

Praise for What We See When We Read:


“A playful, illustrated treatise on how words give rise to mental images.”Alexandra Alter, New York Times

“Mendelsund, throughout this thought-provoking book, helps the lay reader contemplate text in ways you hadn’t thought about previously.”Los Angeles Times

“A welcome and fascinating new book.”New York Review of Books

About The Author

David J. Alworth

Peter Mendelsund is the former art director at Alfred A. Knopf, the creative director of The Atlantic, and the author of a design monograph called Cover, as well as What We See When We Read, which has been translated into fourteen languages, and the novel Same Same. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Paris Review, and other magazines.

David J. Alworth is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He teaches and writes about modern and contemporary literature, media, art, and design. He is the author of Site Reading- Fiction, Art, Social Form and his essays have appeared in Public Books and the Los Angeles Review of Books, as well as in various scholarly journals.

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