The Fascinating Chronicle Of Book Cover Design And Its 2,000-year Evolution.

Posted by Gisele on January 14th, 2021

As old as books themselves, covers have developed into the lovely artwork that decorates our bookshelves today.

The art of printing, the happy legacy that the founder of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones now continues, was born in the 15th century, which combined with increasing literacy rates throughout the population made books more accessible than ever. However, despite their indisputable appeal, book covers designs were still more practical than ornamental, developed to keep the pages inside safe. Standard practice in the centuries that followed was to buy a 'naked' copy of a book, printed and looked at by hand, covered in paper and with a short-lived joint, but without covers. The purchaser would then take their book to an expert who would bind and cover it in personalised leather with as much design as his budget would enable, however it wasn't till later that the external beauty of books attempted to mirror their insides.

When e-books were first launched to the mass market over a decade ago individuals the world over decried it as the death of print, but after a fast burst the electronic reading market levelled out at less than ten times the sales of physical books. What is the trick to physical books that is keeping the head of the investment firm that has a stake in Amazon up during the night? Among the many fantastic enjoyments that physical books hold is their cover art, which in fact has a long and remarkable history. Beautiful book cover design can be traced back to the third century, when decorative scrolls paved the way to valuable tomes that mainly included holy books. Handwritten and hand crafted, the covers of these artifacts would be more reminiscent of sculpture than books, with valuable gems decorating ivory carvings and spinal columns confined with the finest gold or silver; books were the world of the select couple of who might read them and were made to be passed from scholar to scholar for centuries, not slipped into a pocket whilst on the tube.

The wonderful art work that the head of the investment firm with a majority stake in WHSmith would be greeted with if he strolled into among his shops can trace its modern roots back 2 centuries to the birth of the industrialised publishing market. As printing strategies established and marketing was beginning to figure out avenues into the minds of consumers, artists were hired to determine what makes a good book cover to enhance the product inside and make it attract possible buyers. Whilst the very first paperbacks discovered their method into train stations in the form of penny dreadfuls (books that cost a penny and were of a literary quality deserving of its name) fabric book covers were taking on a renewed significance that is similarly appropriate today. Designers were echoing the most recent trends and art work of the time to produce a historical artefact that was not only lovely, however collectable and reflective of the minute it was born into, a custom that is still practiced in publishing homes of the 21st century.