Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover?

And It’s hot, it’s half term, its holiday time, and it’s the start of the Hay Book Festival, which is located not quite in Herefordshire. Each of these statement is worthy of a blog in its own right but we are taking time out and pursuing an only semi-serious train of thought inspired by books.

Understandably, a Book Festival is full of books, is full of people trying to sell them and full of people who are probably willing to buy them. And what is the first thing that you see? The cover.

Book covers have been around as long as the books which they contain. Protection, identity and the cult of the words and pictures they enclose were as relevant in early book production as they are today. Monkish calligraphers wrapped their technicolour volumes in leather or even ivory or silk. These materials were embossed, engraved, tooled and inlaid with gold and jewels.
Thank you Wikipedia (***https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_cover***) for this image of the front cover of the St Cuthbert Gospel, said to be produced around 700 CE. The binding is described as “*original tooled red goatskin*” and thought to be the earliest surviving Western binding.

Modern book covers are still designed to impress and catch the eye but today must also tempt the target audience to reach for their credit card and purchase the volume which attracts them. Women’s magazine covers are still marketed, by and large, by a single image - a woman’s face - and although human figures still make popular book covers (illustrating either the author or the protagonist) many other contrivances are now employed to lure the reader.

Just how does landscape fare in the competitive world of book cover design? Take the Quiz - answers please to blogterroir.net@gmail.comor in the comments below - and we will let you know the results!

Topic 1 Poetry

Based on the covers below, would you buy Book A or Book B?