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Wonderful Murakami Covers from All Over the World

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Today is the birthday of one of the world’s best-loved writers, Haruki Murakami, whose most recent novel, 1Q84, has just been released in English to much acclaim (in case you, um, haven’t heard). The cover art gracing American editions of his books is some of the most colorful and iconic in contemporary book-cover design, and it’s no wonder — they’re (at least for all relatively recent editions) designed by two of our all-time favorites: the hardcovers by Chip Kidd, the complementary paperbacks by John Gall. And true to form, 1Q84 has gotten quite a lot of attention for its amazing design as well. But since our experience with Murakami is so connected with the visual experience of his novels and collections (there’s a certain scene we flash on every time we see that Chip Kidd bird eye, without fail), we wondered how the rest of the world might see him, so we’ve put together this collection of wonderful Murakami book covers from other parts of the world — some beautiful, some strange, some inexpressible. Click through to check them out, all arranged by book for comparative viewing, and let us know your favorites in the comments.

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle

American editions (designed by Chip Kidd and John Gall, respectively)

Catalan edition

Turkish edition

Spanish edition

Israeli edition

German edition

French edition

Greek edition

UK edition

Chinese edition

Romanian edition

UK edition

Croatian edition

Slovakian edition

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Comments (32)

This was great. Now I know I share a birthday with one of my favorite authors too! Thanks!

Actually the colorful “Caçando Carneiros” cover is from Brazil.
But nice catch!

No Serbian edition :(

Why only Korean version is not unique …
Anyway It’s lovely almost of them !

I think the brazilian cover of “Kafka on the Shore” is one of the most beautiful I ever came across. It isn’t so connected to the themes of the book like the others show here, but i found it very powerful and attractive.

I’m from Poland and it’s not fair there are only two Polish editions. we have really nice covers, I have all Murakami’s books and I would like to show more of them to people from other countries. And I like covers from Israel, they are so lyrical.

(Wind up bird)

So beautiful editions but I must admit I (generally) like the British versions best. I like how they’re simple and kind of link together. Except for 1Q84, it kind of annoys me how that doesn’t fit with my row of Murakami books (I even made a post about it on my blog)

All the Slovakian covers have the logo of a certain bookstore on them (the ‘M’ in the bottom left corner) I happen to have 3 of Murakami’s books in Slovak, and the logo is not on them. Should I scan those covers for you? Where should I upload them?

The Croatin poster is an ad for a book publisher (buy 3 book for the price of 2) and has nothing to do with Murakami.

Thank you for adding the Romanian covers . I have all Murakami’s books and love them all !
Happy Birthday !

Tanti carissimi Auguri al mio Autore Giapponese preferito

Uk and polish versions are the best, pity you showed not so many of them

uk -edition – Vintage it might be the paperback?
because of it not being litteral and explicit
the uncertainty showed by the picture of the cat, the traditional danger produces the picture of the bird.

The Israeli cover is my favorite — the graphite drawing of the bird with the little gear in its beak captures the spirit of the book.
But I also loved the mechanical birds of the Slovakian and Greek covers. (Now I want to start a collection of wind-up birds, darn it.)

the italian book http://www.google.it/imgres?q=haruki+murakami+l%27uccello+che+girava+le+viti+del+mondo&um=1&hl=it&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=685&tbm=isch&tbnid=Zsuk3SyeMvvdcM:&imgrefurl=http://www.aphorism.it/haruki_murakami/libri/luccello_che_girava_le_viti_del_mondo_/&docid=qB-C3U2SCmVsNM&imgurl=http://www.aphorism.it/img/books/L%252520uccello%252520che%252520girava%252520le%252520viti%252520del%252520mondo_Haruki.jpg&w=654&h=1000&ei=MvweT-fhL4qB4ASmpv2NDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=119&sig=117642361078732067810&page=1&tbnh=165&tbnw=112&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=33&ty=86

Here’s the polish edition. http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=kronika+ptaka+nakrecacza&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=np&biw=1307&bih=610&tbm=isch&tbnid=YKwWnuYgXXjMaM:&imgrefurl=http://www.book.hipopotamstudio.pl/%3Fp%3D178&docid=lVFFcW1h-pRG1M&imgurl=http://www.book.hipopotamstudio.pl/wp-content/gallery/books/murakami1.jpg&w=800&h=1122&ei=kfweT_r9IYWLswaPk53bDA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=366&sig=118196072329148247699&page=1&tbnh=132&tbnw=94&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&tx=45&ty=38

there are only 2 translated books in slovakia :-/ can’t wait for the third one!!! and visually i like that Catalan edition

Kristina, go for the tcheque translations.. I like the Israeli version.

Where it says “Portuguese edition” = “Brazilian Edition”.

The Windup Bird Chronicle: American and UK versions. I adore the UK special edition of Kafka On The Shore. And the French Edition. I love my American version as well. I’d love to have one of the Japanese editions. They’re all lovely. And After Dark, American is one of my favorites (right). Almost all of the Hard Broiled Wonderland And The End of the World book covers are beautiful. Particularly American and Dutch versions. I love the American, Dutch, and UK Sputnik Sweetheart covers. South of the Border, West of the Sun, I like the American and French versions. Both captivating. Dance, Dance, Dance, American cover, is my favorite of those. For Wild Sheep Chase, the American version is nice. A lot of these covers make me curious as to why they were chosen. (Art major, I can’t help it.) Norwegian Wood: American, UK, and French. UK cover is lovely with that red. IQ84: American version. I think it’s awesome. I haven’t bought it yet but I always go look at it in the store. I love book design. These artists are incredible.

I think I like the UK edition with the cat best, but my own was the UK edition w/ the blue man.

The cat speaks to the story better than the birds that match the title. IIRC – it’s been a while!

wonderful! lithuanian is my favorite

What a marvellous novel, I had read 200 pages in only 2 hours.

The Swedish edition (see Nina’s link above) is nice. But my favourite must is the one from Israel.

Turkish edition… oniric and poetic one… oriental dream… Read it and enjoy !

have you seen the ones from Vietnam? I think they’re quite ok…at least eye-catching

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