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08-020. Paul Rand
Prejudices: A Selection book cover
Vintage Books
USA, 1958
4.25 x 7.25 x 0.75"
Bound paper
Facsimile signature and manufacturer's mark
When it rains, it pours (part 2).
Shortly after pulling the hard bound H.L. Mencken title shown in the previous entry from the moving sale bookshelf, I came across this paperback. Normally I prefer hard cover books, because I have some ill-concieved notion that hard covers carry higher status on a bookshelf than a lowly paperback. Hard bound books are intended to be treasured while their lowly paper-covered cousins are throwaways, goes this sort of thinking. Paul Rand, however, designed many covers available in paperback only, which has begun to broaden my appreciation for the form.
This cover in particular is interesting because of the specific techniques Rand used to make a dynamic presentation. A while ago I was watching a video presentation by Steven Heller, one of the most respected Rand scholars today, where he spoke about this particular cover. Again we see his flat cut-out forms creating the core visual of the cover, but in this instance Heller points out that Rand trimmed out a photograph of the author into a somewhat simplified human form. The shape is much more dramatic than the photograph (which incidentally was taken by publisher Alfred A. Knopf), and in doing this he has made a boring snapshot jump to life ... matching the buoyant and witty prose of the author to the visual on the book cover. So I give a mighty "bravo!" to this lowly paperback!
Found on May 24, 2008 in Urbana, IL.
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