Tuesday 24 November 2009

Some Much-Loved Covers From My Book Collection


'Bamn' (Penguin, 1971) - anthology of 'radical and visionary movements, groups, and cells of protest and propaganda of the past five years'. Lots of artwork too. 'BAMN' stands for By Any Means Necessary, by the way. 'Do It!' (Simon & Schuster, 1970) - Yippie classic, the whole book is a work of art thanks to design by Quentin Fiore. Includes chapter titles such as 'Every Revolutionary Needs A Color TV' and 'Money Is Shit - Burning Money, Looting and Shoplifting Can Get You High' - love it. I may scan some of the contents in the future because the layout is so good.



Bruce Pennington's cover for the NEL (1969) edition of Amis's guide to sci-fi fiction from '61 is one of my favourite covers of all time - iconic, simple, pure vision of the saucer phenomenon. The Gernsback from 1950 is just so of its time that I had to include it - dial-up webcam anyone?



I'm sure you can see why 'The Paint House' (1972) cover by Omnific/Martin Causer is here. Who doesn't love a NEL Richard Allen cover? Joe Hawkins 'swapped his boots and braces for a velvet-collared Abercrombie coat', y'know - so did I back then, although unlike Joe, it wasn't to become a 'city-slicker'. Nostalgia necessitates it's inclusion here.



No designer credited for the Mayflower-Dell first ed of 'The Spying Game' (1967) but I think it's a gem, exploiting the Bond factor as if real spies frequently encounter barely-clothed babes pointing pistols at them. Finally, Fiore & McLuhan made the perfect marriage in '67, a landmark integration of typography and text which you should buy on sight if that kind of thing appeals.

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