On the occasion of the UK publication of Spitalfields Life, a collection of sketches about life in London’s East End, the writer behind the book, known only as “The Gentle Author,” has written a short but lovely sketch of the book’s designer, David Pearson. Pearson…
This year marks the centennial of William Golding’s birth, and to celebrate, his publishers in the US and UK are releasing centenary editions of Lord of the Flies with a new introduction by Stephen King. As the new edition hits American shelves this month, here’s a…
Penguin UK has unveiled a new addition to its already robust series of, well, series. Beginning with eight books by Evelyn Waugh (and eventually to include more titles and authors), the new Hardback Classics Editions are given an elegant, minimal design treatment with nothing beyond…
Today, fans of Irish literature are descending on Dublin to relive the events of Ulysses and honor the memory of Ireland’s most famous literary export, James Joyce. But how can the design-minded among us mark the occasion? The Casual Optimist points to Vintage Irish Book…
Ask any book designer these days who counts among his or her greatest influences, and certain names are bound to come up: most likely, you’ll hear about Alvin Lustig and Paul Rand, two artists whose clever and boldly graphic covers helped to usher in a golden…
The quirky British publishing upstart Visual Editions have been making a lot of headlines over the past few months with their newest book, Jonathan Safran Foer‘s Tree of Codes. (And regardless of how you feel about the book or its author, this behind-the-scenes video of…
The design blog Unbeige reports that star designer Rodrigo Corral has been tapped to take over as creative director of Farrar, Strauss and Giroux beginning next month. Corral began his career as a designer at FSG in 1996, later moving to Doubleday and eventually opening…
In 1923, a young organization called the American Institute of Graphic Arts mounted its first annual “Fifty Books of the Year” exhibition. In its early years, the show featured examples of fine design, typesetting, and production on books by authors like H. G. Wells, Rockwell…
Not content to rest on its heels following Borders‘ bankruptcy, Barnes and Noble is embarking on a new branding effort. AdAge reports the retailer has dumped their previous creative agency, SoHo’s Merkley and Partners, and will now tap Boston-based Mullen, whose client roster includes JetBlue, Zappos,…
Designers are known for cultivating massive libraries—collections of books we dutifully drag from apartment to apartment, filling shelf after shelf with reference material, visual inspiration, favorite writers, and of course, all those books that caught our eyes at the bookstore and convinced us we couldn’t…
