This week's Top Ten Tuesday is all about the book covers. One of my favorite themes the past few years have been retro-styled book covers. I've noticed that quite a few of them seem to reproductions of classic travel posters, or in a similar style. Here are some reprints from Virago by Winifred Holtby that I just love.
Then there's this one by Vita Sackville-West. I actually liked the cover more than the book.
And I am absolutely drooling over this new series of British Library Crime Classics. I want to buy all of them for the covers alone. I couldn't resist buying a couple of these on my recent vacation, though I've yet to read any of them yet. Not all of them are travel-themed but here are some highlights:
And how about these beautiful reprints of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire series from Virago?
Not quite so travel-inspired, as I think they're all set in the same village, but they do have that lovely retro quality. I think these are modern illustrations but I still love them. I've picked up quite a few Thirkells at library sales and used book shops, though I've yet to read any of them (I want to finish the Pallisers and the Poldark novels before I start the twenty-nine books in Thirkell's series!)
Most of my Thirkells are Moyer-Bell editions but it's tempting to buy all the Viragos! Which I suppose is their intent, isn't it? I think publishers are working harder to create beautiful books to collect, maybe to offset the ebook sales? Bloggers, what book covers can you just not resist?
Which covers can't I resist? All of the above! I also love the original VMCs with the paintings, Katie Fforde's first novels when she was with Penguin, lots of the new OUP classics etc etc.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the green VMCs! I can hardly resist them if I see them in a used bookshop. I wish they still printed them with the nice artwork on the covers. The OUPs and Penguins also have nice covers, I especially love the new Zola editions, I think a lot of them have covers by Caillbotte who is one of my favorite Impressionists.
DeleteRetro book covers are so pretty. Thanks for sharing some of your favorites. I especially liked The Land of Green Ginger.
ReplyDeleteHere is my TTT.
I love that cover! It makes me want to plan a trip to England.
DeleteThere should be a museum devoted to book covers, I think! This would make a nice exhibit.
ReplyDeletehttps://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2017/05/book-covers-made-ya-look.html
I would so go to that exhibit!
DeleteThe british crime classics look amazing! I love their graphic, yet vintage style. I'm not much of an art-critic, so I can't say much else about it, other than that I really look forward to reading them!
ReplyDelete"Graphic, yet vintage" -- I like that.
DeleteI absolutely love those 1920's era, art deco-inspired travel posters. I am a sucker for them as postcards and have a few sets on hand plus I always pick up the National Parks version, and have a bulletin board of them. So, it comes as no surprise that I'm a sucker for book covers that use this style to hook me.
ReplyDeleteSouth Riding was great, but I forgot that Winifred Holtby wrote other novels that I'm sure I will like also.
Lovely post--made me smile just to see those lovely covers.
Thanks! I had a lot of fun choosing the covers. They definitely have that between-the-wars-era feel. I have a bunch of similar postcards which are reproductions of Chicago travel postcards and I just love them.
DeleteI did like the other two Holtby novels but not as much as South Riding. There's also Poor Caroline which I still haven't read.
Those are amazing covers! I now want to read them all! :D
ReplyDeleteI know! Those British Crime Classics are so tempting, I want to buy all of them!
DeleteLove all of these! The Maisie Dobbs mystery series also has eye-catching retro covers (I like them better than the books).
ReplyDeleteI read the first Maisie Dobbs and was underwhelmed. I know they're quite popular but I agree, the covers are better than the books.
DeleteI spent ages trying to find the Virago 'Cheerfulness Breaks In' paperback, and eventually found it was only available as an e-book, which was very disappointing. It does seem a bit misleading to give them paperback-style covers.
ReplyDeleteI like the classic travel poster style at the beginning of your post.
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