We DO Judge a Book by its Cover

A 1/30/11 San Francisco Chronicle review by Seth Lerer of a book about J. D. Salinger noted with interest Salinger's "control over the cover design of his book ["Catcher in the Rye']...[He] 'instructed Bantam on what typeface to use, the precise size and kerning of its characters.'" Apparently Salinger "'even mailed a swatch of the exact color he wanted used for the book's cover....To this day, Salinger's design arguably remains the most beloved and cherished book presentation in American literary history.'" I find this fascinating. It is true that certain individual book covers are iconic. Certain trade paperback series covers are also evocative, to me, of classics read in college classes: the Penguin Classics, for example, or the Riverside Editions, or Vintage Books. I can still see in my mind's eye the piles of books bought for certain literature classes, with their crisp and familiar cover designs. Certainly book covers elicit certain emotions and visceral reactions, and publishers know that covers can make a difference in sales. To me the cover is part of the whole physical, tactile, visual, multi-sense experience of holding and reading a book. The design may be iconic, may be vivid, may be subdued, may be minimalist; whatever it is, it is a part of the character and identity of the book.