Speaking in Penguin 75: Designers, Authors, Commentary (the Good, the Bad...) about the cover of his novel Love Me, Garrison Keillor said, "Maybe it was designed for the Penguin edition of The Trial by Franz Kafka, and Kafka didn't like it so they stuck me with it."
This is just one of many amusing, insightful, explanatory comments made in Penguin 75 by authors, agents, editors, designers and artists about 75 Penguin Books covers created during the past decade.
"Garrison's comments are hands down my favorite," said Paul Buckley, executive creative director, Penguin Art Group, and editor of Penguin 75. He also contributed an introduction and was the book's originator. "I'm as fascinated by the story of how a cover comes to be as by the cover itself." Penguin 75 includes a foreword by graphic novelist and designer Chris Ware.
The book discusses, for example, the challenge of incorporating a dozen quotations on the front of Ron Currie Jr.'s novel Everything Matters! and why Moustafa Bayoumi overcame his initial reluctance about the packaging of How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America.
"I don't know if it's the zeitgeist we're in right now where everybody seems to want to know everything behind the scenes, whether it's because of reality shows or bloggers, but I think people are curious about the creative process and how it happens," said associate publisher and editor-in-chief Stephen Morrison.
Some 15 different cover designs were created for Zhu Wen's I Love Dollars: And Other Stories of China. The one that made it into print--featuring black-and-white images of a man's face, one of which is covered with a bright red lipstick print--was the favorite among the 10 people Buckley consulted: family members and friends who are Chinese Americans. "Everyone picked 'the cover with that old guy.' Field research!" he wrote in Penguin 75.
Art director Roseanne Serra reminisced about finding someone from the fashion world to create covers for Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions. Her initial idea of working with fashion designers didn't pan out. "That became a horror," she said. "They envision things in 3D, not print, they promise the world, and then they don't return calls." She had a much better experience when she turned to fashion illustrators. "What a pleasure it was to work with Ruben Toledo and get his fun and crazed e-mails," she continued. Toledo's illustrations adorn the covers of The Scarlet Letter and Pride and Prejudice, but Wuthering Heights was his personal favorite to give a couture-inspired twist. "I believe that places do shape us as much as our DNA," noted Toledo in reference to Emily Brontë's haunting tale. "The GLOOM and DOOM of the atmosphere is like an IMPOSSIBLE ROMANTIC GHOST STORY."
In addition to illuminating how a book cover comes to be, Penguin 75 emphasizes the diversity of Penguin Books. "We publish very widely and sometimes that surprises people," said president and publisher Kathryn Court. "It's really an unusual book. Even though it's about design and covers, there is quite a lot about the publishing process--how we decide to put a cover on a book, how it changes, and what the authors really think of their covers."