The illustrated dust jacket, 1920-1970

Salisbury (Anglia Ruskin Univ., UK) interprets the history of dust jackets from the perspective of a working artist. His book is a catalog, and its strength lies in the large number of color illustrations showing the best book jackets made from 1920 to 1970 in the English-speaking world. The immense variety of beautiful jackets will enchant bibliophiles and designers. The contents are arranged alphabetically by artist, and included among the them are such well-known figures as Duncan Grant, Ben Shahn, and N. C. Wyeth. Some books featured are by major authors, such as Ernest Hemmingway, Virginia Woolf, and Jules Verne. Each entry is accompanied by a descriptive paragraph and a biography of the artist. Barbara Jones's concept art for her own jacket is reproduced along with the final product. An introduction traces the history of jackets, related terminology, and the design process. Salisbury attributes the success of illustrated book jackets to the Bloomsbury group. Realism, Romanticism, neo-Romanticism, and Art Deco are identified as stylistic categories. This volume will be of interest to professional designers and illustrators; collectors of American ephemera; and anyone interested in or studying illustration, graphic design, or American visual culture. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; students in technical programs; professionals; general readers. --Travis Nygard, Ripon College

Whoever said that you cannot tell a book by its cover has never been exposed to the elegant pictorial dust jackets of the early 20th century. This collection of outstanding examples from the United States and UK, hand drawn or painted by artists of the period 1920-70, represent a great variety of styles, techniques, and printing processes. The aim of the dust jacket was to reproduce by graphic means, by design and style, the idea of the book: its theme, its artistic ambition, its essential character. The excellent illustrations are accompanied by extensive entries including biographical information, historical aspect of the work, and its place in the continuum of the medium. The familiar and the unusual is represented: the macabre of Edward Gorey, the graphic of Rockwell Kent, traditional English scenes from Brian Cook, Vanessa Bell's work for Hogarth Press. Author Salisbury (illustration, Cambridge Sch. of Art) has worked and written extensively in this field, and his scholarly approach is tempered by what is clearly a great devotion to the illustrative arts. VERDICT Lovely to view, delightful to read, but necessary only for collections of book arts and similar areas, or those collections dedicated to one or more of the artists included.-Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.