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The 20 Most Iconic Book Covers Ever

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[Editor's note: While your Flavorwire editors take a much-needed holiday break, we'll spend the next two weekends revisiting some of our most popular features of the year. This post was originally published September 3, 2011.] We recently read an article over at We Made This in which Nick Hornby writes that ”the days of the iconic jacket illustration, the image that forever becomes associated with a much-loved novel, are nearly gone. The stakes are too high now.” If this is true, it’s just another way that advertising is ruining our lives, since one of the things we love best about the book as art object and experience is the way well-designed covers complement and enhance your reading, and the way they figure in your mind when you remember a book. To remember the good old days, and give a little nudge to the new, we’ve compiled a list of the 20 most iconic book covers ever (in our minds), all examples of amazing book cover design. Click through to see the cover art we chose, and let us know if we’ve missed any of your favorites in the comments.

Catch 22, Joseph Heller, 1961. Cover design by Paul Bacon. As a designer, Bacon was known for pioneering the “Big Book Look,” characterized by the title and author’s name in large, strong print, accompanied by a small conceptual illustration.

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Comments (59)

One jacket cover that I am still impressed by, in fact I bought the book because of it, is The Time Traveler’s Wife. That little girl standing beside a man’s folded up clothes, in what appears to be the middle of nowhere drew me in right away.

Very fond memories of many of these. Certainly an art form, and a shame to think otherwise!

It’s difficult to look at the cover of THE GREAT GATSBY without thinking of the South Park episode “Taco Flavored Kisses.”

The original Hobbit cover

As I clicked through each cover, I was increasingly frustrated not to see Pernaciaro’s Fahrenheit 451 cover. Thank you for saving it for last. I spent most of my teens trying to draw like that guy.

I think the paperback cover of Grapes of Wrath is more iconic – the hardcover jacket is too soft and not one I remember. Perhaps one of the difficulties with a list like this is that the books themselves are “iconic” and sometimes the cover one remembers reading is the cover that represents that experience? Altho that isn’t entirely true – some/most of the covers in this list are definitely iconic outwith the contents of the book they cover.

Amazing how many of these covers are still in use. I love the Fahrenheit 451 cover …seems pretty timeless to me. Also liked the The Clockwork Orange one which unfortunately is not the cover of the edition I own. I honestly don’t care for the Great Gatsby one. It seems rather dated to me …and not in a good way either.

Fun to see “ancient” covers, especially as someone involved with designing and choosing covers today. I remember all of these books, but not all of these covers. Thanks for the look back

I like the covers chosen for this, but I think “ever” really meant “of classic novels of the 20th century”. There have been some of the first ten years of this century that are instantly recognizable, though I don’t know if they’ll have the staying power of these.

Also, the green paperback of Lord of the Flies is probably better known to most readers from about the mid-80s to present.

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[...] The 20 Most Iconic Book Covers Ever [...]

What about Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? The hitchhiking planet is one of the most recognizable symbols of any literary series.

With exception of Brave New World, not impressed. What about more modern ones?

I agree with Alonso–Wladislaw Finne’s jacket design for VALLEY OF THE DOLLS is one of the most iconic ever created.

And I think the movie-logo design for both LOLITA and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE were much more iconic than the numerous book jackets these books have had over the years.

A GREAT selection of work HOWEVER I feel the title is a bit much: THE MOST ICONIC BOOK COVERS EVER…?!

Perhaps you would venture to scratch EVER and replace with “of the20th Century” or “of the Mid-1900s”. To be fair, the selection presented is very narrow. Agreed, the 60s was a very good decade for design, and book jackets in particular, but I think you are amiss not to include some more current ICONIC works. To name only one: A Million Little Pieces, Designer Rodrigo Corral. There are so so many. The book jacket industry is rich with talented designers right now — that’s all.

Thanks!

all great covers–but are they so powerful because the books are iconic?

These may have been iconic books, but who ever picked these as iconic from a design standpoint, should do a bit more research on book jackets and see what else is out there.
The best example being the Palladino cover for Psycho because it was an IDEA, rather than a fair illustration from the 50′s.

Jurassic Park

was thinking. haven’t even read half the works on the list! but great art true

Yes, for the DEATH OF A SALESMAN cover. That one says it all. Always has, always will.

[...] today, @randomhouse tweeted a link to Flavorwire’s The 20 Most Iconic Book Covers Ever. All of the books listed were classics, which I guess makes sense, but I didn’t think many of [...]

[...] covers have evolved over the past decades, we think you’ll find some ideas in this post on the 20 Most Iconic Book Covers. A few design elements we saw? Simplicity, eye-catching colors, symbolism, and story-relevant [...]

The Salinger copy was notoriously in need of some editing.

I don’t think that the evolution of the book cover is a sign of advertising ruin it – it’s an example of bad advertising that’s all. A book cover is an advert and this post worships that advert!

Aside from that, I really lament the latest trend of covers that have photos of actors made-up to look like the protagonist. It’s as if they’re saying, “In case you can’t be arsed to use your imagination, here’s what he/she looks like!”

I LOVE Jon Gray’s cover design for Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”. Very distinctive and instantly recognisable.

The paperback cover of Kafka’s The Castle with Magritte’s “Castle in the Pyrenees” is one of the most iconic I can think of.
http://bit.ly/pBrhFd

Amazing covers! Also, the majority of these covers can be found at Out of Print (www.outofprintclothing.com), the literary t-shirt company.

The word iconic as used currently in the lexicon has a non-value base. It has been overused, misused and reduced to lettered rubble. It is so, or given an example by the subjective planting of it in the title of this piece. While a child might enjoy “all the pretty covers/colors,” I am not chained to an editor’s homage to collected covers deemed “iconic.” Iconic need stay in ancient Greece, it no longer has meaning among us.

Flavorwire censors. They didn’t like my pointing out their misuse of iconic. Such fragile egos and so entirely boorish.

@Debrae “I think the paperback cover of Grapes of Wrath is more iconic”. I really agree with your statements. The cover becomes integral to the reading experience. Roddy Doyle’s “A Star Called Henry”(1999 HB) features a young member of the Irish Republican Army on patrol.

@Chris What are you talking about? No one censored your comment.

No list will satisfy all, that’s why I think this list is great. Thanks!

[...] “The 20 Most Iconic Book Covers Ever.” Really? Ever? Only twenty? [...]

@Caroline – It disappeared for a while, hence my second post. Take it down, put it up, look it up, scroll here, there…where…I…don’t really…I mean really…care.

[...] 20 most iconic book covers ever at [...]

[...] The 20 Most Iconic Book Covers Ever [...]

@Chris – Lately we’ve been having some weird technical issues with our comments section, but I can assure you, we don’t remove posts just because they’re critical of our content.

[...] this piece from Flavorwire gathers the 20 Most Iconic book covers, many of which are ingrained in our collective cultural [...]

Am i the only one who thinks those are some of the fugliest book covers I’ve ever seen? Okay, so Psycho and The Godfather weren’t bad, but the others…eeewwwww!

Call me a sci-fi geek, but I suggest Dune should be added to this list.

I think this blog is great.

[...] Flavorwire The 20 Most Iconic Book Covers EverSep 3, 2011 Cover design by Paul Bacon. As a designer, Bacon was known for pioneering the Big Book Look, [...]

[...] 20 Most Iconic Book Covers [...]

[...] today, @randomhouse tweeted a link to Flavorwire’s The 20 Most Iconic Book Covers Ever. All of the books listed were classics, which I guess makes sense, but I didn’t think many of [...]

[...] covers have evolved over the past decades, we think you’ll find some ideas in this post on the 20 Most Iconic Book Covers. A few design elements we saw? Simplicity, eye-catching colors, symbolism, and story-relevant [...]

[...] first published? While many classics — The Great Gatsby, Catch-22 — have retained their iconic, original covers over the years, others have changed with the times. As a follow up to last week’s roundup of [...]

[...] FlavorWire (clique e veja um slide show), um portal cultural, fez uma pesquisa e chegou a 20 capas de livros [...]

[...] to get an IFR clearance when there were radio problems.)…” Here is a follow-up post.Iconic book covers.Repairs in Bethlehem: “BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Preparations for a long-needed [...]

[...] talked about book cover designs — both new and old — quite a lot this year, and it’s no surprise. Being completely obsessed with pop [...]

I like the script on the George Orwell cover. The Art of Fielding makes use of a similar font.

I need more books on my reading list…. MORE! MORE! MORE!

[...] The 20 Most iconic Book Covers of All Time  |Flavorwire| [...]

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