And Another Thing ... Dust Jackets and the Art of Memory

LOGOS 14.3_2nd 17/10/03 11:42 am Page 155

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And Another Thing ... Dust jackets and the art of memory Jack Matthews In spite of the old saying, a book sometimes can be judged by its cover – or at least its vintage can usually be judged within a decade or so. Certainly, this is true of dust jackets. In A Primer of Book Collecting, 2/e (1935), John T Winterich pointed out that the collector will find that the jacket has passed through six evolutionary phases:

Essayist, fiction writer and l. Plain unlettered wrapper. Distinguished Professor of 2. Protective wrapper with name of book and English at Ohio, Jack Matthews author on face or backstrip or both, in plain type – a simple label. is also a collector of rare books 3. Protective wrapper with name of book and who looks for first editions author displayed with some attempt at effec- (Mark Twain, Henry James, et tiveness – a stage above the mere label – and al), Americana, and has a special perhaps with an illustration from the book. 4. Same as No 3, with addition on back of enthusiasm for pamphlets and wrapper (hitherto blank) of advertising text, biographies of Mason L Weems but not about the book encased in the (1759–1825), best known for his wrapper. Life and Memorable Actions of 5. Wrapper with an approximation of the blurb George Washington The New copy of today, plus an eye-catching layout. . 6. Same as No 5, with addition of listing and York Times called Matthews “a descriptions of other books on back cover. master of prose conversation and deadpan charm. He is ironic, cool Since Winterich’s book, the dj has entered seventh and shrewd”. and eighth phases featuring a shift from advertising other titles by the publisher to puffs that promote the book’s author exclusively. In the eighth phase, significantly overlapping the seventh, the author’s photo began to appear. In a way, it is surprising that there has not been more experimentation with dust jackets. It is impressive to contemplate how little they have remained unchanged, without significant devia- tions in either size or conformation. Why hasn’t someone designed a perforated dust jacket, for example? Or one shaped like a butterfly? Or one that encloses a book like a paper bag?

Jack Matthews

* * * * * This sounds sensible, of course, although it’s not entirely accurate, for there have occasionally Even though dust jacket art is a recent been radical differences in the different texts of phenomenon, there are already masters in the field the “same” book. Indeed, the history of biblio- – artists like Edward Gorey, Maurice Sendak and graphical research teems with the evidence of Ben Shahn, for example; or Wendell Minor, who books that have possessed startling variations in is certainly one of the most gifted. Minor’s paint- the various printings and editions of the same title. ings can be found on the dust jackets of a great For centuries, books have been idealized range of writers, including John Hersey, Mary almost to the pitch of spiritualization. In spite of Higgins Clark, Toni Morrison, Paul Theroux, their contents, however, they are not ethereal; Judith Rosner, Ray Bradbury and other celebrated they are physical artifacts made of cloth, leather, literary figures of today. His jackets are not merely paper and type fonts. The packaging of a book, “decorative”, in the usual, often somewhat pejora- therefore, is never utterly extraneous to it or irrele- tive, sense, but valid in themselves, even as they vant. The book itself is a package, and we are open up possibilities for interpretation that obliged only to understand the layers of its transla- gladden and awaken the spirit. Of course they are tion into form, coming to it from dust jacket, to derivative in the special sense of being illustrative binding, to printed leaves . . . and finally to that of the books they are designed to serve; but they matter which is not matter at all, but spirit. rise above such service, even as they perform it. “I build the church,” Pat Conroy wrote in a recent * * * * * book on Minor’s dust jacket art, “he makes the stained-glass windows.” It is hardly surprising that the art and design The promptness with which we adapt to new of dust jackets should flourish in our time, the age ways is a constant marvel. Protagoras and Heraclitus of the image. Not only have modern print tech- were both right – fashion is king, and everything nology, computers, television and film exalted changes. Combining the testimonies of these two pictorial values to an extent unimaginable in older ancient philosophers leads to a wisdom that seems times, but they have assimilated them into our to have a uniquely modern bite: we are so quickly basic sense of what reality is. The old philosoph- absorbed by the latest custom that the hair styles of ical axiom of “To be is to be perceived” has taken a previous generation can look as exotic as those in on a new and literal meaning beyond that of its old photos of the Bakalai or Melanesians.Thus it first formulation. happens that James A Michener can report upon The world teems with signals, and the signals being “startled by the barren look” of one of his keep changing. Why else would we study history novels when he came upon it unclothed, lacking and try to learn from it? And to study history in the dj. Notwithstanding their addiction to extrava- modern texts is more often than not to enter its gant design – as manifest in books printed by the precincts via the dust jacket with its unique testi- Kelmscott Press – most Victorians would have been mony concerning what has been found there and startled in the other direction upon seeing a modern synthesized into an image of this time and place, dust jacket, no doubt finding its embellishments but leading to the world within the text. gratuitously bizarre. Since all things happen in time and therefore And yet, for all their pictorial elegance, many come out of the past, it is always interesting to go old-fashioned book lovers find it difficult to think sniffing for antecedence, a quest that inspires so of dust jackets as being in any way condign with many scholarly adventures. The seemingly imprac- the printed text within – for print, as an instru- tical enterprise of seeking out the pedigree of ideas ment of interior meanings, is the meat and matter may seem trivial in a busy and troubled world, but of their passion. A great book, as non-collectors it is worthwhile, after all. Making connections is like to argue, transcends its avatars in paper, cloth making meaning, something we can hardly ever and leather. get enough of. Such enterprise is important, it just