Ned Drew & Paul Sternberger

By Its Cover: Modern American Book Cover Design

In this groundbreaking and lavishly illustrated history, Drew and Sternberger establish American book cover design as an evolution of sophisticated, visual languages that have shaped to our literary landscape. The book traces stylistic progressions in American commercial book cover design, from the introduction of European modernism through contemporary trends. The study goes further to explore cultural implications of this visual material, from the interaction between art and design, to the interrelationship between publisher and designer, to the theorization of the social utility of design.

Sternberger's other books include Between Amateur and Aesthete: The Legitimization of Photography in America, 1880-1900, while Drew has also authored Design Education in Progress: Process and Methodology, Volumes 1, 2 and 3.

See The New Yorker book review, October 17, 2005.