The Illustrated Dust Jacket, 1920–1970

Whoever said that you cannot tell a book by its cover has never been exposed to the elegant pictorial dust jackets of the early 20th century. This collection of outstanding examples from the United States and UK, hand drawn or painted by artists of the period 1920–70, represent a great variety of styles, techniques, and printing processes. The aim of the dust jacket was to reproduce by graphic means, by design and style, the idea of the book: its theme, its artistic ambition, its essential character. The excellent illustrations are accompanied by extensive entries including biographical information, historical aspect of the work, and its place in the continuum of the medium. The familiar and the unusual is represented: the macabre of Edward Gorey, the graphic of Rockwell Kent, traditional English scenes from Brian Cook, Vanessa Bell's work for Hogarth Press. Author Salisbury (illustration, Cambridge Sch. of Art) has worked and written extensively in this field, and his scholarly approach is tempered by what is clearly a great devotion to the illustrative arts.