Writers in London in the 1890s: cover art

Showing posts with label cover art. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The Picture of Dorian Gray Book Cover Collection

The Picture of Dorian Gray was possibly the most scandalous book of the 1890s. It was first published as the lead story in the July 1890 edition of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Right away, reviews criticised the novel for its decadence and homosexual content. During his infamous trials in 1895, the prosecuting attorneys used the novel against Wilde, referring to it as a “sodomitical book.” Wilde was sentenced to prison for shamelessly loving young men the courts, along with the press, made Dorian Gray became the chief exhibit of his shamelessness.

Book covers are used to sell books and the way they are designed reveals aspects of how the reading public receives the contents within.

The original magazine publication, 1890.

First edition, 1891.

Charles Carrington, Paris, 1908.

Penguin, 1949.

Thriller Picture Library, 1956.

UK Edition, 1960s.

Franklin Library, 1988.

(Accented in 22kt gold.)

CÁTEDRA, 1992.

Penguin Books, 2010.

Intervisual Books, 2010.

I think my current favourite is the 1988 edition, accented in gold. There's merit in producing an editon of the Picture of Dorian Gray as elaborate as that.

And so, for a whole year, [Dorian] sought to accumulate the most exquisite specimens that he could find ... books bound in tawny satins or fair blue silks and wrought with fleurs-de-lis...

Books are beautiful things.

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Thursday, July 4, 2013

The Wonderland Postage Stamp Case

Lewis Carroll a.k.a. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the author of Alice in Wonderland, was also known for this little-known invention: the Wonderland Postage Stamp Case. Now that we use postage stamps so sparingly, it's hard to imagine the need for such a thing or what it would possibly be like.

The Wonderland Postage Stamp Case was a cloth-backed folder with twelve slots, two marked for inserting the then most commonly used penny stamp, and one each for other denominations to one shilling. The folder fit into a slip case decorated with a picture of Alice on one side and the Cheshire Cat on the other. The whole thing fit in your pocket or purse. When you bought it new it also included a copy of Carroll's pamphletted lecture, Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter-Writing.

Carroll begins this lecture:

Some American writer has said “the snakes in this district may be divided into one species—the venomous.” The same principle applies here. Postage-Stamp-Cases may be divided into one species, the “Wonderland.” Imitations of it will soon appear, no doubt: but they cannot include the two Pictorial Surprises, which are copyright.

You don’t see why I call them ‘Surprises’? Well, take the Case in your left-hand, and regard it attentively. You see Alice nursing the Duchess’s Baby? (An entirely new combination, by the way: it doesn’t occur in the book.) Now, with your right thumb and forefinger, lay hold of the little book, and suddenly pull it out. The Baby has turned into a Pig! If that doesn’t surprise you, why, I suppose you wouldn’t be surprised if your own Mother-in-law suddenly turned into a Gyroscope!

On the flip side, the Cheshire Cat fades away.

First editions of the Wonderland Postage Stamp Case have sold for over $8,000, although they continued to sell throughout the 1890s at least for the remainder of Carroll's life.

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Monday, April 22, 2013

Dracula Book Cover Collection

Do you have an old copy of Dracula? If so, I'd love to add as many different covers to what I've already posted here. The popularity of my post on the War of the Worlds Book Cover Collection and the fun I had looking over all of those images made me want to do a similar thing here with my favorite Count.

Dracula was originally published in 1897. The yellow jacket was supposed to warn readers the the book's contents contained pornography. There's nothing pornographic about Dracula by today's standards and subsequent editions of the book quickly lost the yellow jacket. First edition copies of this book sell for $10,000-75,000.

What followed in Dracula's book cover design reflects what aspects of the novel publishers thought would appeal to the reading public. It's also a fine collection of book cover art!

Doubleday & McClure, 1899.

(This was the first American edition.)

1901 Edition

Archibald Constable & Co., 1901.

(This copy is actually on sale for over $9,000.)

Doubleday, 1902

Constable, 1904.

Archibald Constable, 1904.

Rider & Son, 1916.

Country Life Press, 1927.

William Rider & Son, 1925.

Rider & Co., 1927.

Grosset & Dunlap, 1930.

Modern Library, 1932.

Oifig Dublin, 1933.

Armed Services Editions No. 851, 1945

Pocket Books, 1947.

Modern Library, 1960.

Marabout, 1963.

Limited Editions Club, 1965.

Penguin Classics, 1993.

Barnes and Noble, 1996.

Dover Thrift Edition, 2000.

Centipede Press, 2007.

Simon & Schuster, 2011.

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Friday, April 12, 2013

War of the Worlds Book Cover Collection

Ever go for a walk with someone, maybe your brother, and start talking about something crazy, like what if aliens or zombies descended on the scene. What would you do? Where would people hide? How would you survive? H.G. Wells had just that sort of walk, actually with his brother, and it resulted in The War of the Worlds (1898).

It's so fun to think that idle talk about martians landing in Surrey resulted in a book that has never been out of print and is one of the most inspirational novels of all time. The book cover collection is a testament to that fact, which is sincerely worth a look (click here). Here are just a few of my favorites: