One of my favorites on this list. The embossed curtain isn’t visible in today’s all-important thumbnail form, but would reward in person and in larger reproductions. Meanwhile, the fine, floating, metallic hand and lettering catches the eye in any form or size. By conjuring mystery and engaging readers’ curiosity, this cover not only illustrates something fundamental and compelling about the book’s contents, but immediately implicates readers in its central conceit by causing us to wonder if we aren’t the ones who are “too curious.” Brilliant.
Edward J. Goodman. Too Curious. London; Guildford: Bentley & Son, 1888. Image and caption info from the Public Domain Review.
Whether stark or lush, a great book cover design will catch the eye, invite close inspection, spark the imagination, and leave the observer wanting more. And, of course, that “more” can only come from the actual content of the book itself.
Many of the older covers on this list probably wouldn’t be made for today’s market. Even so, you can see how the presence of strong, contrasting graphic elements remains a consistent component of beautiful book design. I would buy any one of these off a bookstore shelf. In some cases, I already have.
A number of the images included in this post are from The Public Domain Review’s “The Art of Book Covers (1820–1914).” For more examples from their collection, click here or on the links provided in the relevant captions. You can also check out more historic and recent covers on my related Pinterest page.
Funny, surprising, to-the-point, and a little absurd, this is my pick for best cover, on this list or elsewhere.
John Lord Peck. Dress and Care of the Feet. New York: Fowler & Wells, 1871. Image and publication info from the Public Domain Review.
Eastlake style cover for a book of poems by Thomas Hood. Published by E. Moxon, Son, & Co.: London, 1871. Image and caption info from Books and Art.
This cover design exists in a few color combinations, but I’m a sucker for green. The white and metallic elements were probably originally much brighter. However, the relative subtlety of its current color combination might actually be better, as it draws the viewer in by encouraging closer inspection of its complex design. Image from Pinterest.
Whimsical and weird, this cover catches the eye with its red background; sprawling, pastel, hand-drawn letters; and staring, oddly humanoid cats.
Robert Michael Ballantyne. The Three Little Kittens. Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1891. Image from University of Florida Digital Collection.
The imagery for this cover is so powerful I can look past the poorly aged mustard yellow.
W. T. Horton. A Book of Images. London: The Unicorn Press, 1898. Image and caption info from the Public Domain Review.
1902 cover for Charles G. D. Roberts’ The Kindred of the Wild. Image and publication info from Geisterseher via Pinterest.
An appropriately enigmatic cover for the author of Dracula. What at first appears to be an empty swathe of negative space is in fact the mysterious sea of the title.
Bram Stoker. The Mystery of the Sea. London: William Heinemann, 1902. Image and publication info from archive.org via Pinterest.
The sparking stars, naive style, and gapped-tooth smile contrast intriguingly with the dark symbolism of the bat, skull, and snake slithering through eye sockets. But all this book really needed was the bat to earn a spot in my heart.
Felix Schloemp. Das unheimliche Buch. Munich: Georg Mueller, 1914. Image and publication info from the Public Domain Review.
The Hobbit has many beautiful editions. Even so, this sumptuous version, which depicts Mirkwood through nearly solid stripes of bold color crossed by lines of gold spider webs and vines, stands out from the pack. Image from Pinterest via Tolkien Library.
I found a copy of this edition years ago at a garage sale. I already knew and liked the story, but this clamoring, surreal cover by Ian Miller meant that I got to love the object-ness of the book as well as its contents. Image from Heritage Auctions.
I’m not usually a huge fan of covers employing photographs, especially photos of people. But this reprint cover for Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go is a definite exception. The extreme close-up of the young girl’s face and averted eyes manages to be both enigmatic and confrontational. Her large, balanced features against the stark, black text is also effective on a purely graphic level, causing the observer’s mind to constantly bounce back and forth between the face’s humanity and its more abstract beauty. Image from artblog.org.
