Vintage Book Covers

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I was exploring the depths of my basement the other day and came across these books. My favorite is the first one, but I think they all have something interesting going on. (I remember the Animal Farm cover from Scott’s post a while back.) The typography of each cover is worth noting — especially the beautiful implementation of the lowercase Carousel on the “Secrets of Health…” cover! The ampersand in particular is pretty amazing. As much as I love Bodoni and Didot, Carousel has a few extra twists that make it more exciting to me.

Sometimes I wish I didn’t live in a design centric city; all the used bookstores were plundered long ago of anything with cool design at work. It is a rare occurrence that I find something worth buying at even the most remote vintage bookshop. Got out here too late!

Apologies for the iPhone photos — it was all I had at the time and I couldn’t pass up the chance to snap some shots. Also worth noting is the price of some of these…when was the last time you paid 25c for a book?

9 Comments

  1. baaz says:

    Very nice:)

    Anybody know the font used on “Secrets of health and beauty?”
    What a sweet “b” and “a” 🙂

    looks like sort of a curvy bodoni or normande but cant’s find it…

  2. Tardlovski says:

    ^hmmm.
    i would have said didoni, or maybe caslon 224. alex has it though. that italic ‘k’ is so dope.

  3. Matthew says:

    Not sure if they have Goodwill in the States, but this is where I get all my stuff. Lots of Penguin Classics from various decades.

  4. baaz says:

    Thanx for the reply!
    Seems that it’s Didoni, and Calson 224 is close with more versatility

  5. alex says:

    baaz- It’s Carousel, as mentioned in the post. Gorgeous typeface

  6. Клон says:

    Следите за пульсом блогосферы на Яндекс-Блоги? Оказывается скоро Татьянин день.

  7. Jeff Finley says:

    I think the iphone photos add something to each. I love the blurred letters on the Arthur Miller Book. That was from the photo wasn’t it, not in the actual design?

  8. Здравствуйте вы не думали о продаже ланного сайта?, интересно было-бы узнать цену, если можно отпишите на мыло

  9. Catherin To says:

    With regard to the title ISO50 – The Blog of Scott Hansen » Vintage Book Covers, it kind of took me aback for a second but finally I get it. I’ve been wondering the same stuff at my blog http://sjamessmith.livejournal.com. I’d honestly like your thoughts on what I talk about. Catherin To

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