By its cover : modern American book cover design

192 Pages·2005·14.393 MB·English

by  Sternberger, Paul Spencer, Drew, Ned

BY ITS COVER
Modern
American
Book
Cover
Design
BY ITS COVER
NED DREW
PAUL STERNBERGER
Princeton Architectural Press New York
Published by
Princeton Architectural Press
37 East Seventh Street
New York, New York 10003
For a free catalog of books, call 1.800.722.6657.
Visit our web site at www.papress.com.
© 2005 Princeton Architectural Press
All rights reserved
Printed and bound in China
08 07 06 05 4 3 2 1 First edition
ISBN: 1-56898-497-9
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without
written permission from the publisher, except in the context of reviews.
Every reasonable attempt has been made to identify owners of copyright.
Errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent editions.
Editing: Mark Lamster
Cover Design: John Gall
Book Design: Brenda McManus and Ned Drew
Design Consultant: Paul Sternberger
Special thanks to: Nettie Aljian, Dorothy Ball, Nicola Bednarek,
Janet Behning, Penny (Yuen Pik) Chu, Russell Fernandez, Jan Haux,
Clare Jacobson, Mark Lamster, Nancy Eklund Later, Linda Lee,
Katharine Myers, Lauren Nelson, Jane Sheinman, Scott Tennent,
Jennifer Thompson, Paul G. Wagner, Joseph Weston, and Deb Wood
of Princeton Architectural Press —Kevin C. Lippert, publisher
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 7
i
JUDGING THE BOOK 8
1 A UNION OF FUNCTION AND FORM: THE EVOLUTION OF THE BOOK JACKET IN AMERICA 18
2 AMERICANIZING UTOPIA: PROGRESSIVE DESIGN IN AMERICAN HANDS 42
3 MODERNISM AND BEYOND: HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTING THE FUTURE 72
4 THE BLAND BREEDING THE BLAND: AMERICAN BOOK COVER DESIGN DISORIENTED 96
5 THE PILLAGED, PARODIED, AND PROFOUND: POSTMODERNISM AND THE BOOK COVER 114
6 REDEFINE AND REDESIGN: MAKING POSTMODERNISM WORK 134
NOTES 172
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 178
INDEX 182
IMAGE CREDITS 186
6
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are indebted to the many design historians, Among the designers and their families to whom 7
archivists, designers, colleagues, and friends who we owe many thanks are: Elaine Lustig Cohen,
helped realize this book. This project would not have Roy Kuhlman, Paul Bacon, Bob Giusti, John Gall,
been possible without the groundwork laid by a and Carol Devine Carson. Many archivists and book
number of recent design historians. Steven Heller— aficionados have been incredibly generous with
the tireless contributor to the history of American their time and knowledge, including Jane Seigel at
graphic design—has produced an astounding body Columbia University Rare Books and Manuscripts,
of scholarship, including some of the most rigorous Kari Horowicz and Becky Simmons of the Rochester
studies of individual designers and inspiring Institute of Technology Archives and Special
compilations of texts. Ellen Lupton, along with Collections, Gabriela Mirensky at the American
J. Abbott Miller, has written, edited, and curated many Institute of Graphic Arts, Joe Skokowski of Albatross
of the last decade and a half’s most influential design Books, Tom Dolle of Pratt Institute, and Mark Lamster
books and exhibitions. Roger Remington deserves the and Deb Wood at Princeton Architectural Press.
appreciation of the entire field of design history—he We would like to express our warm appreciation for
is a dedicated archivist who has been preserving and the patient support of our friends and colleagues at
interpreting irreplaceable artifacts and documents Rutgers University in Newark, among them Edward
of modern American graphic design. Rick Poynor is Kirby, Annette Juliano, Ian Watson, Frank D’Asolfo,
perhaps the most lucid and insightful observer of Nick Kline, Sandie Maxa, Mark Sanders, Crystal Grant,
contemporary design, interweaving narrative history and Permelia Toney-Boss. We would also like to thank
of design with cogent analytical observation. Philip Rutgers students Suzy Morais and Paul Pereira for
Meggs was an outstanding educator and mentor in their indispensable assistance in the conception
both the practice and history of design. He will be and organization of this project.
greatly missed.
And our deepest thanks go to Brenda McManus and
Joan Cummins for their unhesitating help every step
of the way.
i
INTRODUCTION
JUDGING THE BOOK
Books are a thing of beauty,but so are horse-drawn carriages.
DICKBRASS Vice President of Technology Development, Microsoft1
Is the printed book destined for eventual extinction?
Is the thoughtfully designed book cover approaching
obsolescence? The availability of ebooks has indeed
increased, and print-on-demand technology will
likely change the way books are marketed and
purchased. But there is something special about the
mass-produced book as an object– it is more than
8 just a presentation of the ideas of an author. When a
text is published and the book is designed and printed,
it becomes a physical manifestation not just of the
ideas of the author, but of the cultural ideals and
aesthetics of a distinct historical moment. Should the
physical book endure the onslaught of virtual forms
of information, it will likely be its very materiality
that facilitates its survival. The book as an object is
comfortingly substantial in its content andits material
presence. At a time when so much information is
dispersed in virtual form, it is especially important
to examine the book as a distinctive object reflecting
a marriage of authors’ words and designers’ vision.
The cover is a book’s first communication to
the reader, a graphic representation not simply of
its content, but of its point in history–in the history
of American design, in the history of American
9
ERNST REICHL ULYSSES 1934 Random House
literature, in the history of American culture. Books
and their covers are vital, physical manifestations
of an evolving American intellectual tradition. In
retrospect, the most intelligently designed covers
of American books recall particular moments in our
cultural memory. The designs conjure up associations
of our personal and collective encounters with the
groundbreaking intellectual expressions of our times.
They define what we were, what we hoped to be, and
sometimes, what we have become.
10 The study of great literature and the printed
word allows us to better understand our world, and
examining how designers have interpreted these
words at a particular historical moment sheds light on
the complexities of the American design realm. The
cover design of James Joyce’s ULYSSES, for instance,
was the focus of early American interpretations of
modernism and has ultimately returned to its original
form of seventy years ago. The first American edition
of the book was made possible in 1933 with the lifting
of the U.S. ban of the text for obscenity. In his cover
for the 1934 Random House edition, Ernst Reichl
created a functional and dramatic jacket design that
seemed as modern as the text itself. Reflecting a
modernist heritage that would take firmer root in
America in the decades to come, Reichl used type as
a meaningful compositional device in and of itself.