Book Covers

As the saying goes, you cannot judge a book by its cover...however...the combination of these specially designed clothbound covers with well loved classic children's tales...well lets just say the covers & the contents match each other perfectly.  I'm lucky enough to have a Nan in her nineties who still insists on sending me money for my birthday...and every year I try and think of something that we will both love to spend it on.  I mean, you can't just buy a bunch of iTunes cards or Photoshop actions...they don't mean anything much to a grandmother :)

So this year I ordered some books from this set, books that I read and loved as a kid yet somehow don't have on my bookshelf (except for Anne of Green Gables...dog eared and wrinkled...exactly how it was intended to be).  The instagrams* above really don't do them justice...the colours and the cloth covers just look gorgeous in real life, especially all lined up together on your book shelf.  If you're local, Dymocks stock the boxed set for $100 and Collins Books have some individual copies for $20. 

Otherwise, they are available online. Of course, the natural next step would be to start looking into the Penguin Cloth Classics range designed by Coralie Bickford Smith...

The thing is, I really want to have just books I have read on my bookshelf (which means I should be taking down Nelson Mandela's "Long Road Home"...I tried, I really did...sorry Nelson).  I'm sad to say that I haven't read nearly as much of these classics as I really should have...although Mum & Dad had a massive original Penguin Books collection, the ones with the orange covers, and that's how I discovered & loved "Jane Eyre" & "Rebecca"...that counts for something right? Speaking of Jane Eyre, I just came across this new series of classic book cover designs by the amazing Jessica Hische...complete with metallic foil, marbled end pages, ribbons and coloured page edges.

Lastly, I found out about this TED Talk via my favourite podcast about books and reading, Books on the Nightstand. If you have a remote interest in book cover design, or are just up for a laugh, check it out, he's one of a kind that's for sure! (*insert language etc. warning here just in case*)

*the instagrams in the first photo show part of the cover pattern only

Design Elements: In Good Company Leora Sanford paper, Chasing the Sun Paislee Press label, Ali Edwards Arrows, Love Elsie stitching