There is a New York Times story called The Book on a Graphics Superhero. The article is about Chip Kidd, a graphics designer that does book covers for Alfred A. Knopf publishing.
Mr. Kidd has a new book out that shows the book covers he has created over the last twenty years. The book is Chip Kidd, Book One: Work: 1986-2006
Link to book
Chip Kidd, Book One: Work: 1986-2006
Another interesting related book.
By Its Cover: Modern American Book Cover Design
Book description from Amazon:
We all know we’re not supposed to judge books by their covers, but the truth is that we do just that nearly every time we walk into a bookstore or pull a book off a tightly packed shelf. It’s really not something we should be ashamed about, for it reinforces something we sincerely believe: design matters. At its best, book cover design is an art that transcends the publisher’s commercial imperatives to reflect both an author’s ideas and contemporary cultural values in a vital, intelligent, and beautiful way. In this groundbreaking and lavishly illustrated history, authors Ned Drew and Paul Sternberger establish American book cover design as a tradition of sophisticated, visual excellence that has put shape to our literary landscape. By Its Cover traces the story of the American book cover from its inception as a means of utilitarian protection for the book to its current status as an elaborately produced form of communication art. It is, at once, the intertwined story of American graphic design and American literature, and features the work of such legendary figures as Rockwell Kent, E. McKnight Kauffer, Paul Rand, Alvin Lustig, Rudy deHarak, and Roy Kuhlman along with more recent and contemporary innovators including Push Pin Studios, Chermayeff & Geismar, Karen Goldberg, Chip Kidd, and John Gall.
Another Good Book
Front Cover : Great Book Jacket and Cover Design
From Library Journal :After considering the 300 colorful illustrations in this book, readers will find it difficult to avoid taking a more discerning look at the designs on hardbacks, paperbacks, and wraparound paper covers. These paper book jackets (more commonly known to Americans as dust jackets) have often been discarded as temporary, resulting in the loss of graphic designs characteristic of their times. While the purpose of any cover design is to serve as a marketing device to catch a potential buyer’s eye, British author Powers (Univ. of Greenwich Sch. of Architecture and Landscape) discusses the importance of cover design in visually conveying (or not) the book’s essence. An introduction giving historical context starts with the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Powers then groups his examples into four categories: the impact of modernism (1920s and 1930s), the creation of style (1940s through 1960s), a revolution in print (1960s and 1970s), and design in the digital age (1980s and 1990s). Within each, he insightfully discusses genres, individual books, designers, and publishing houses. The lists of designers and publishers at the end, however, do not include all those he refers to in the text. Nevertheless, the book is definitely recommended for both academic and public libraries. Anne Marie Lane, Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie