This week’s Weekly Geeks is all about judging a book by their cover. Pick a book – any book, really—and search out multiple book cover images for that book. They could span a decade or two (or more) ... Or they can span several countries. Which cover is your favourite? Which one is your least favourite? Which one ‘captures’ what the book is about?
My selection is John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’, which happens to be one of my personal favourites. My old copy of the book has been missing for the longest time and I’ve been looking for an edition with a great cover that I could purchase for my own collection. Anyway, this week's Weekly Geeks gave me a good excuse to start doing some research on the variety of editions available, here's what I found:
~~~1937~~~~~1965~~~~~~ 1975~~
~~1986 ~~~~ 1993~~~~~1994~~
~~~1994~~~~~2000~~~~ 2000~~
~~2001~~~~ 2002~~~~~ 2003~~~~ 2006~~
Apparently, the 1937 edition is selling at Christie’s for about $230. The 1937, 2001 and 2006 edition is my favourite book cover design. I didn’t really like the 1986 version because the colour and picture just didn’t stand out.
Going through the various cover designs, I’m more likely to purchase the 2002 version which comes in a set of 6 other books by Steinbeck. It’s a box set that includes The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, The Pearl, Cannery Row, Travels with Charley and In Search of America.
12 comments:
I really like the original version as I find I always do with Steinbeck novels. I did Travels with Charley for my WG. check it out.
I like the way you presented this as a time line.
I love the original one the most, but that's quite a bit of money...
The 2001 version is probably my second favorite.
An excellent post. I too liked the timeline approach
Fascinating to see how the covers have changed over time. Great post.
Yup I think its facinating too how the covers change over the years. Each cover seem to reflect the era and the design elements that are quite popular.
I really like the last one. Beautiful photography.
I'm pretty sure the 1937 edition was in the box of books belonging to my parents that my grandma threw away. I remember the cover very well. Oh well.
And, I'm sure I've been to your blog before, but I don't remember if I've commented before this. Either way, it's great to see a fellow Malaysian bookblogger and WG-er!
I'm pretty sure the 1937 edition was in the box of books belonging to my parents that my grandma threw away. I remember the cover very well. Oh well.
And, I'm sure I've been to your blog before, but I don't remember if I've commented before this. Either way, it's great to see a fellow Malaysian bookblogger and WG-er!
I like 1994's cover, don't know why.
I haven't even read the book. I've read Tortilla Flat by Steinbeck and really liked it, and always wanted to read all the rest by him but never did:(
Thanks Marineko... I'm glad to meet new people. Did you just say you threw away a copy of Mice and Men???? :( You just lost an opportunity to gain $250 odd dollars... !
I like the old version of it!
Covered!
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