Friday, June 13, 2008

The Sorrows of an American

An arrestingly spare image and complex type treatment. The painterly rectangles behind the type are pretty awesome. OMG. I just noticed the E in THE is pushed over. Seems somehow appropriate.

From Henry Holt: "When Erik Davidsen and his sister, Inga, find a disturbing note from an unknown woman among their dead father’s papers, they believe he may be implicated in a mysterious death. The Sorrows of an American tells the story of the Davidsen family as brother and sister uncover its secrets and unbandage its wounds in the year following their father’s funeral."

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Abby Weintraub: Hospital

A reporter spends a year as a fly on the wall at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, and records a ton of insider observations, including the surprising difficulty of getting doctors to wash their hands.

Quite nice in person, the letters are glossy and embossed against a matte hospital green.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Evan Gaffney: The Planets

From Evan's interview with AIGA (this book is a winner of the 2005 50 Books/50 Covers competition):
"The Planets is the story of the solar system, told in chapters that merge the contemporary science and historical mythology of each planet. The jacket art, an engraving from the 17th century, is full of mysticism and wonder. The die­cut circle offers a peek onto the case art, a painting by illustrator Lynette Cook, which is a more factual rendering based on NASA documentation. "