Edward Gorey: cover star of book design

The author and illustrator is much revered for his own weird and wonderful books, yet his 200-plus jacket designs are virtually ignored. Steven Heller celebrates his contribution to a unique era of publishingDeliciously and subversively cryptic, Edward St John Gorey’s books, plays, postcards, toys, stage sets and costumes – indeed an entire lifetime of utterly sublime, mockingly apprehensive artistry and authorship – are celebrated and critically acclaimed by everyone from cultural pundits to goth cultists. The rare front-page New York Times obituary, on 17 April 2000, is testament to Gorey’s eclectic narrative range. “In creating a large body of small work, he made an indelible imprint on noir fiction and on the psyche of his admirers,” Mel Gussow wrote.Yet, understandably, less attention is devoted today to the 200-plus illustrated paperback covers and hardcover jackets that Chicago-born, Harvard-educated Gorey (known to his friends as Ted) created while working as a staff artist, art director, editor and freelance illustrator at various American publishing houses for a large portion of his career. In two brief sentences, his obituary tossed aside this impressive output: “After graduation he remained in Boston, illustrating book jackets. Then he went to New York and worked in the art department at Doubleday, staying late in the office to create his own books.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook 'Idiot's Guide' Inadvertently Makes Case for E-Books

Writing a how-to book in a static medium like paper about something as dynamic as Facebook is challenging at best and at worst...well...idiocy. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kelman shortlisted for Guardian First Book Award

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 14/11/2011 - 08:15 Stephen Kelman's Pigeon English (Bloomsbury) has made the shortlist of the £10,000 Guardian First Book Award, equaling its achievement on the Man Booker Prize this year, with Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Guardian First Book shortlist heads Down the Rabbit Hole

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 14/11/2011 - 08:12 Stephen Kelman's Pigeon English (Bloomsbury) has made the shortlist of the £10,000 Guardian First Book Award, equaling its achievement on the Man Booker Prize this year, with Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ribblestrop scoops Guardian Children's Book Award

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 11/11/2011 - 07:30 Return to Ribblestrop by Andy Mulligan (Simon & Schuster Children's Books) has been awarded the Guardian Children's Book Award, beating off shortlisted titles including David Almond's My Name is Mina and Simon Mason's Moon... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House of Canada Tests New Book Tour Model

Random House of Canada is experimenting with a different kind of book tour this fall--one that guarantees book sales from every person attending a launch. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bodley Head buys book from Blair's ex-chief of staff

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 10/11/2011 - 15:52 Tony Blair's former chief of staff is writing a book for The Bodley Head about the intricacies of negotiations between governments and terrorist organisations. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New York Magazine Raises Cover Price $1 to $5.99

At a time when many magazines are lowering prices or giving content away, New York Magazine is choosing another route. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Australian book industry moves to ease import restrictions

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 09/11/2011 - 09:15 Australia’s publishers have moved to compromise in the battle to protect their industry from parallel importing. According to a report from Inside Retail, the Book Industry Strategy Group (BISG) has made a recommendation to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Japan's Rakuten to Acquire E-book Retailer Kobo

Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten said on Tuesday that it plans to acquire Canadian ebook and e-reader company Kobo in a bid to expand in the area of media... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Haynes tops Amazon's best books of 2011

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 09/11/2011 - 08:12 Amazon.co.uk has chosen Elizabeth Haynes' debut Into the Darkest Corner (Myriad Editions) as its best book of 2011, as part of a top 50 selection made "after thoughtful consideration and lengthy debate", and taking into... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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French VAT rise threat to books

Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Tue, 08/11/2011 - 09:26 French prime minister François Fillon has announced that the reduced VAT rate applying to books would be raised from 5.5% to 7% from 1st January as part of a fresh economic austerity package to help rein in France’s massive... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Startups Aim to Share Books Better

The idea of "social reading" has been around for years, but there's a cluster of new companies trying to make it actually work. Two of these startups, Subtext and Findings, launched Oct. 25. Another, Readmill, built around sharing clips/excerpts, is currently being tested. Subtext, for example,... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘The Great Big Book of Horrible Things,’ by Matthew White

Matthew White, a self-described “atrocitologist,” at the African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chopra book to Amazon in "game-changing" deal

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 08:45 Amazon has acquired a memoir by bestselling author Dr Deepak Chopra and his brother Dr Sanjiv Chopra. Amazon's Larry Kirshbaum and David Oldawer at Amazon's New York publishing imprint bought world English rights for... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books24x7: Professional Books Go Digital

Given ebooks’ recent growth in the trade, professional books are clearly ahead of the digital curve. Books24x7 was one of the earliest companies in the professional ebook space, licensing and repackaging ebooks for IT professionals on a subscription basis for nearly two decades. A subsidiary of... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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World Book Day to revamp for 2012

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 09:15 World Book Day is set for a 2012 revamp, with new management, branding and digital promotional ideas hoping to achieve more than one million book token redemptions. WBD will return on 1st March 2012—led by children’s marketing... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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World Book Day plans reinvigoration for 2012 event

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 04/11/2011 - 15:27 World Book Day is set for a 2012 revamp, with new management, branding and digital promotional ideas hoping to achieve more than one million book token redemptions. WBD will return on 1st March 2012—led by children’s marketing... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon sweetens Prime with Kindle book lending

Is Amazon Prime the best deal in tech? It just may be: Amazon now offers the capability for customers to loan out over 5,000 books for their Kindle or Kindle Fire devices. The Kindle Owners' Lending Library will allow for one book per month to be lent out, and there are no due dates. To borrow a... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2011-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Physical book sales slump £12m in October

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Thu, 03/11/2011 - 09:57 Printed book sales in October slumped 8% year-on-year, due largely to poor sales within the paperback fiction and biographies/memoirs sectors, Nielsen BookScan data has revealed. In total, £144.7m was spent on physical books in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Prime Book Lending: Your FAQs Answered

Users can start borrowing books from Amazon right now, so here's what you need to know about using the service with your Kindle device. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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