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This is indeed an important point. I've come across more than a few covers I didn't appreciate upon reading the books they were designed for, but after finishing the novel, I found the covers very appropriate - and good even. The always so present challenge for a book cover designer, is to portray the text in a good and functional manner, while drawing the attention of the customer in the bookstore. You are one of a kind to succeed perfectly every time. Not to mention that a cover can look fantastic in someones eyes, and horrible in others. The UK/US covers for FAAD just an example here on this thread!
There's a interesting (and quite funny) TED talk with Chip Kidd on the matter of book covers on Youtube (it's the first video that comes up if you search his name). That talk was used as a reference to the subject of book covers by one of my teachers, when I was studying graphic design some years back.
Is it this one you're thinking of?
The practical usage of a dust jacket is limited, of course. It does protect against small wear, like tiny scratches on the surface of the book. This has happened to some older books I have where the dust jacket has been thrown (not by me), or books published without one. I have a Norwegian edition of LALD which was published dust jacket-free - identical to this one:
It, of course, have wear to it. On one book I have, I was unfortunate enough to spill coffee on the dust jacket. Luckily the dust jacket was a glossy one, and the coffee could be wiped off without leaving any stains on the book itself - and even the dust jacket.
The inside flaps also sometimes provides additional information you won't necessarily be able to have place for on the back of the book. There are of course other ways publishers could have done this - but it's easy to just place it on the flaps.
In 2018 there is of course possible to print 'full-coloured' covers with illustrations or images straight onto the book, instead of the 'simple monochromes' you mention (I think I have a couple of books with the full cover printed onto the book itself - with an additional dust jacket around them). I think however, that printing straight onto the book - instead of a glossy paper dust jacket and a pasteboard(?*) cover with nothing much on it - is more expensive that printing the full-coloured cover on cheap paper.
*my English fails me here, I'm afraid - 'pasteboard' is the correct word to use, right?
That would be my main one! Hate to think how that book would have looked like hadn't the dust jacket been there. I once spilled hot cocoa on a paperback. That book looks like it's been dragged through the mud.
Waterstones Leadenhall: Lunchtime signing (June 1st)
Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall (June 1st)
Waterstones, Canterbury (June 6th)
Daunt Books, Marylebone (June 7th)
Waterstones Glasgow: Lunchtime signing (June 11th)
Waterstones Edinburgh (June 11th)
Waterstones Manchester (June 12th)
Waterstones Reading (June 13th)
Waterstones Brighton (June 14th)
Chiswick Book Festival (Sept. 15th)
Appledore Literary Festival (Sept. 22nd)
Henley Literary Festival (Oct. 3rd)
Cheltenham Literary Festival (Oct. 6th)
https://www.thebookbond.com/2018/05/anthony-horowitz-appearance-schedule.html?spref=fb
Your English is excellent but the correct word for a hardback front and back is normally just “the boards”.
Yes it is.
PussyNoMore quite likes this one. It’s not perfect but it’s good.
Other than the fabulous Richie Fahey covers for Penguin, this is one of the rare occasions that our American brethren did something better.
The art has a nice, retro, ‘Mad Men’ feel to it and is infinitely better than the U.K. first edition.
Tom Cull really knows his Bond and his opinion bodes well.
Roll on next Friday.
Didn't know that. Thanks for telling me! :-)
Yes, that's a really nice cover. The typography is bold and simple, and I quite like that it's placed in perspective. That's something you don't see that often. The illustration is smart, I think. Don't want the cover telling me how I should picture Bond when reading the novel. Here are a couple of unused illustrations by the same illustrator, Mark Stutzman. They are really nice, but not how I picture Bond in the books:
https://illustrated007.blogspot.no/2012/08/unused-book-cover-artwork.html
To me, it always looks like Bond is letting off bright red wind in the second picture. But of course I'm silly like that. ;)
If anyone is going to one of these would you be willing to get one signed and send it to me across the pond (I can PayPal you or something???)
It reads incredibly well. PussyNoMore’s excitement cup runneths over.
It's better presented than Trigger Mortis, for my money. The Waterstones version has a sticker saying 'exclusive Fleming content', which is two pages of Fleming's notes, at the back, with a forward by Horowitz. This is much less than the Waterstones version of Trigger Mortis, which had six or seven pages. But still essential to the Fleming enthusiast. I'm wondering if there's versions of this book around without these pages in?
Here's the signature (or stamp, if you prefer).
The page ends have a yellow tint, which is most pleasing with the dark blue cover. The title is embossed, it's lovely.
And the content? I'm on chapter six, and it's fantastic. I won't post spoilers but I will tell you about one charming bit that won't spoil anything. When Bond meets his secretary (miss Ponsonby) for the first time, and sees his office, he tells her to get an ashtray, and tells her how he likes his coffee. It makes you wince a little, because it's 2018, and men shouldn't order secretaries round like that anymore. But this is just how it would have been in the early fifties. Then he tells her (in a quieter voice) how he's going to find (the previous) 007's killer, and how he knows they must have been close.
And you see that despite the implied misogyny, he's actually a proper hero. A real old school good guy, who you're on the side of. You get the same feeling when you read Fleming.
And this is Horowitz's strength. As well as being an ace storyteller, he understands Fleming's Bond in a way that few of the continuation authors do. We're in Bond's world. Horowitz is a gift to Fleming fans. He knows what made the Fleming books so readable, and does the same in a skilful way.
Hope mine arrives on/before Thursday...
Like the way the did the golden print on the boards (thanks again for telling me the correct word to use, @PussyNoMore). A little more details and the title/Horowitz's name, and you almost have a decent cover with these elements alone.
According to the Horowitz notes in Trigger Mortis, there were nine Fleming 'treatments' for the TV series. Five were used in later Bond novels, and Horowitz had the choice of the remaining, unseen four.
So we've had two so far .... that means there's two more. It's interesting stuff for those into Fleming. So far we've had 'Murder on Wheels' (used in Trigger Mortis) and Russian Roulette (used in the new book). So I wonder what are the other two?
And what were the ones that were used later called? In the back of Forever and a Day, Horowitz says that they were used in the two short story books, (FYEO and OP/TLD). But there's eight (I think) short stories in those two books. So which five were taken from the proposed TV treatments?
I believe those are FYEO, THR, R, OP, and TLD.
FAVTAK was the background for Drax in MR. TPOAL was from Sotheby's catalog. QoS doesn't feel like a TV script. 007 in NY can't be one.
But I could be wrong.
Encouraging words! Thanks. It’s wonderful to finally get an author who actually understands Bond. Bond belongs in the 50s and 60s. If we had a modern day Bond, it just wouldn’t seem like we were reading about the real chap. Unfortunately, the reality is, that if we have a contemporary Bond, certain aspects of his personality are changed.
I’d love to read the Fleming bits but I move around, so I’ve moved on to Kindle and i books which omit the Fleming material. Hardcovers just take up too much room and weigh too much.
I’m not sure if I should read this book straight away or leave it for a few months like I did with TM (my initials :) ) in order to savor the excitement coupled with the fact that we only get a new Bond book around every two and a half years.
Happy belated birthday Mr. Fleming! I was on top of the Great Wall of China on May 28, just over four years ago. I always remember the date because of the great man’s birthday.
It sure looks bluer to me! I like it!
I liked the colour of the cover as it was, but if they changed the colour for the signed edition, it's a nice touch by the publisher/designers.
Speaking of, I just registered an account on Waterstones in order to buy a copy of the signed edition, but when registering my postcode, I only get a message reading: "Please enter a valid postcode or zipcode". Postcodes in Norway are only four numbers long with no letters, so I tried entering 'N-' and 'NO-' before the four digits. That didn't help.
Any tips how to solve this?
I used to have this problem in Ireland. Try putting in six zeros into the postcode box - 000000, that used to work for me.
Just got my copy of Forever and a Day in Waterstones. Looking forward to reading it as soon as I get home!
I tried the 000000 solution, but unfortunately that didn't work. Thanks anyway! Sent a mail to their online customer service. Hope they reply quickly.