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Sunday, December 06, 2009

Favorite Book Covers of 2009, Part Two: RiverRun Bookstore, Portsmouth, NH

Here's the second of this year's Favorite Covers of 2009 posts, chosen by some of the staff members of RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth, NH. Some contributors chose to let the covers speak for themselves, others provided some words about their choices.

The first post is here. And like last week, there's a poll.

RiverRun's favorites are:

Time, design by Henry Sene Yee:


Let the Great World Spin; design by Robbin Schiff & Anna Bauer, drawing by Matteo Pericoli (full wrap over here): "The delicately drawn city cuts a slice in the cover, much like the beautiful slivers of lives inside the book."


The Death of Bunny Munro, design by Charlotte Strick: "An evil bratty bunny! In no way does this indicate that it will garner a "Bad Sex in a Book" nomination."


Animals and Objects In and Out of Water, illustration by Jay Ryan: "Are they animals? Or are they stuffed animals come to life? Are they sweet, or evil, or both??"


Yummy, illustration by Lucy Cousins: "Incredibly kinetic, this cover let's you know it's not going to be fairy tale business as usual."


Pictorial Webster's, design by John Carrera:


The Great Perhaps, design by Jamie Keenan:


The Housekeeper and the Professor, design by Henry Sene Yee (full wrap here):


The Gone-Away Word, design by Evan Gaffney (full wrap here): "Equally as awesome as the fuzzy pink and green hardcover, this zooming orange design perfectly sums up the ride you're taken on."


Chronic City, design by Rodrigo Corral:


Beat the Reaper, design by Ploy Siripant:


The Bedside Book of Beasts, design by CS Richardson:


The Anthologist, design by Jason J. Heuer: "Simple, elegant, and the plum is actually referred to in the story."


Alphabeasties, design credit to come:



18 comments:

Martha Wilson said...

I have a copy of Beat the Reaper and it says the jacket was designed by Ploy Siripant.

Gould said...

The Lethem cover is a rip off of Sene's cover for Bonfire of vanities.

I'm amazed nobody didn't even notice.

KN said...

such different taste from the previous entry, and I enjoy the last one more. even though Henry Sene Yee is my favorite book cover designer.

vote for "Let the Great World Spin", cool illustration. but I love the typography of "The Housekeeper and the Professor", already read this book and 100% agree with the cover!

Joseph said...

Gould: We've previously discussed the similarities between those two covers.

Joseph said...

Martha: Thanks for the info!

Ingrid Paulson said...

Bedside Book of Beasts was designed by CS Richardson.

Joseph said...

Thanks, Ingrid!

catie said...

Here's the info on the Pictorial Webster's: http://www.quercuspress.com/websterhome.htm I'm pretty sure even the trade cover was designed by the listed author, Johnny Carrera...

There's also an AMAZING video here that documents the incredible process of making the fancy version of the books: http://vimeo.com/5228616

Mig Reyes said...

Really digging the Animals and Objects In and Out of Water.

TEAM GUTTY said...

Animals and Objects In and Out of Water FTW

Joseph said...

Catie: thanks for the info!

Unknown said...

I know the Chronic cover's similarity to Bonfire has been discussed but i don't think anyone mentioned that the photo itself was uncredited, at least on the Chronic cover. It's by Berenice Abbott. And it's awesome.

dves said...

I like all of that covers. But I chose Yummy.

Sandy Littell said...

I like the drawing in Animals and Objects In and Out of Water, illustration by Jay Ryan, but I can't even SEE the title on this webpage....hmmmmmmmmm
Don't you think you should at least be able to read the title???

So I'm going with Yummy too.

Anonymous said...

What's great about the cover of 'The Death of Bunny Munro'?
Can someone enlighten me?
I think it's sort of terrible.

Duncan Long said...

Thanks for going to all the work of selecting these covers - and sharing them. It is always a treat to see well designed book covers.

--Duncan
=====================
Freelance magazine and book cover illustrator for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, American Media, Fort Ross, Asimov's Science Fiction, and many other publishers. See my illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html

Anonymous said...

Wow! A surprising number of people are loving Animals and Objects In and Out of Water. Frankly, I just don't get it. The illustration isn't doing much for me, and I'm disappointed by the lack of interesting typography.

dvestv said...

The cover with horse and alphabet is cool. This would a great effect to the students in learning.