MY DREAM COME TRUE... SERIOUSLY

Holy canoli. Presenting The Book Cover Archive ("steady beta").
1351 covers and growing. Some features even have the typefaces identified!

I die.

OH LOLITA

Some of my personal favorites from the collection of cover designs for Nabokov's Lolita. While I wasn't a huge fan of the novel - understandably, I found the material a little rough to get through at times - it's fascinating to see how designers throughout time and place have approached the cover to the infamous book with designs as varied as readers' reactions to the novel.

Which cover do you find most appropriate for Lolita? Any thoughts on how the content of the novel should be translated onto the cover?

Original images via Covering Lolita.

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I think you might relate when I say that I often feel like I need to be a "trailblazer" of sorts - think of something no one else has thought of, make something no one has ever made, do something no one has ever done. And honestly, this sense of responsibility to be a "trailblazer" can be paralyzing at times as I turn inward to find that kick of genius. At times, it can be a fruitless struggle.

Let's just say that I'm thrilled to have re-discovered the magic of the library. I've come to truly appreciate through my time in the stacks just how many awesome people doing awesome things came before me/are working around me. If I want to be "trailblazer," I need to turn outward in addition to inward to know what paths have already been made and learn from what's being done around me. I forget that I do not and should not exist and work in a vacuum. This is something I'll say I've always known in the back of my mind, but really failed to take advantage of until very recently in my creative career. 

So, when I find myself with the glorious gift of "free time" these days, I make the short walk to the art library, peruse the shelves, sit my butt down, and devour book after book. For many of us college students, the library seems like a pretty grim place to spend one's free time; it's Senior Spring, I should be partying it up, getting drunk, reveling in the last of my glory days as an undergraduate. But as someone who discovered her passion late in the liberal arts game, I feel a pressing need to take advantage of the resources provided by Dartmouth and the time I have as a student to get the information I want and need before I graduate and enter the "real world."

It's crunch time! READ MORE!

Do you have any books you'd like to recommend?
 

COVETED COVERS / 1

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but I have to admit, I always do.

Among the hundreds of choices presented to me on my pilgrimages to Barnes & Noble, each book only has so much to make a first impression, and in the sea of visual and tactile overload, a well-designed cover is what hooks and reels me in. I'm a huge fiction fan, always on the hunt for a good read, and as much as I'd like to say my book purchases are driven by a respect for content, I'm coaxed time and time again by beautiful covers. The well-designed cover whispers "pick me up, take me home, give me a chance," and for some reason I'm convinced that the content of the book will match the quality of the cover (forgetting, momentarily, how many times I've been wrong about this in the past).

Cover designs have not only informed my spontaneous book purchases, but have also served as rich sources of design & art inspiration and let's just say this is first of many posts to come featuring cover designs.

Enough of my chatter. This week's post features the designs of Trevor Baum. His concepts for Faulkner titles took my breath away. I love how the designs pay respect to the works of both Faulkner and the illustrious photographer Sally Mann. I hope these concepts go to print one day - I would love to have these on my shelf.

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Go check out more of Trevor's Faulkner covers as well as his other beautiful designs on his website; he has some great work!