Dispatches | October 29, 2010

I know, I know—another book cover post. But I’ve had covers on the brain these days.

A colleague of mine suggested there was surely an academic article to be written about the ways in which covers, particularly of first editions, inform our reading of a text. I considered delving into the topic and reporting preliminary findings here.

Then I decided that it’d be a lot more fun to make Photoshop mashups of book covers. So that’s what I did instead.

More specifically, I’ve overlaid the titles and authors of classic books onto the covers of other classic books. The results are, well, interesting.

Can you identify each cover’s original title? (Answers below.)

Clearly, it’s time for me to stop thinking about covers. Though if any Photoshop-minded readers want to email me your own mashups, I’d love to see what you come up with and will consider including them in future posts.

Michael Kardos is the author of the story collection One Last Good Time, forthcoming in February 2011 from Press 53. While earning his Ph.D. at the University of Missouri, he served as Contest Editor for The Missouri Review. He currently co-directs the creative writing program at Mississippi State University. His website is michaelkardos.com.

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; 2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; 3. Animal Farm; 4. A Clockwork Orange