Every dilettante and half-conscious book-person on this side of the Atlantic knows there’s something wrong. Every one of us knows that Penguin UK gets better covers than we do in these United States, but we don’t know why. We can expect them to be different, maybe, but consistently and invariably superior? Is this some held-over animosity from the War of 1812?
Please examine the following exhibits.
Recent Exhibit 1: We all saw the ominous black-and-red Shepard Fairey covers that the UK got for their classic Orwell, with Big Brother’s glaring eye and Old Major’s porky pig.
Recent Exhibit 2: We saw the candy-colored sexuality of the Michael Gillette bond covers and the dangerous nymphs in different hues, titles contoured to their bodies.
And yes, I love the content just fine, but reading a good book in an inferior cover is like eating some outstanding pâté off of Wonder Bread.
The reason for this post: Recent Exhibit 3. Why-oh-why won’t Penguin release their Central European Classics here? Yes, one of them (the Gregor von Rezzori) is available through New York Review Books Classics, but why can’t I sell the rest of these beautiful books in my store? They’re not paper-over-board, but I’ll hazard that they’re as stylish as Open Letter’s books and that, freres et soeurs, is saying quite a lot.
And so I throw down the gauntlet, Penguin. Answer me, or I will have my satisfaction at the expense of your new orange Mini Cooper. Tomorrow. At 1pm. And I’m bringing bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
But happy 75th anniversary all the same.
I am not sure if I like each individual cover in the Central European Classics series, but the total effect of the series is quite good.
Are the Penguin Classics done the same in the UK? (I’m not referring to the many re-packaged classics that have gotten cover makeovers on both sides of the ocean but rather the standard-issue classics, of which there are hundreds.) I actually like the way the U.S. ones look; I like the black cover and spine motif with the red font, and the selection of cover image is usually inspired.
But, yes, the Central Euro fiction series. I can only imagine it’s a rights issue . . . can’t possibly be that Penguin US doesn’t trust the creator of the Great Ideas series to sell books, no?
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