The Illustrated Dust Jacket

It's a bit of a dreary gray sky start to the week for me. When I need some inspiration and a lift, I often pick up Martin Salisbury's The Illustrated Dust Jacket. This book is a wonderful large size and is chock full of all the tidbits a reader really would be interested in, as well a some bright beautiful cover art to help add some cheer on a bleak day. 

The book covers the years 1920-1970 and focuses on the artists with brief bios as well as some "behind the scenes" facts about decision processes as well as printing processes. This really is a wonderful book.

It includes many of the names you'd expect - Edward Gorey, George Salter, and Alvin Lustig. But there are so many in there that I had never heard of (not to mention so many books that just aren't around anymore) that every turn of the page is like walking down the aisle of a fantastic used-book store where all the books are facing out on the shelf.

That is another thing that I really enjoy about this book is that all of the images are of the covers as they appear today with all their shelf-bumped corners and sun-faded yellows. It really is fun.

I am no expert, but the book is laid out in a way that you can see the styles and designs change as publishers pick up on the fact that dust jackets really are like little billboards and advertising cards. As fun as the highly detailed wrap around sketched covers are, some of the type-only color blocked jackets are among my favorite. And I learned about the Kitchen Sink School (nothing to do with plumbing)! 

My book shopping experience is more fun now that I recognize some of the styles and names. 

Anyway, I hope these pops of color from Salisbury's The Illustrated Dust Jacket shared above help brighten your Monday as they did mine. I also recommend following Martin Salisbury on Instagram.

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