The Very Best of Book Cover Design

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There’s nothing we love more here at Flavorpill HQ than judging books by their covers. Be it plausible-seeming but tonally inappropriate covers or dust jackets that scream “don’t date me!”, we admit that it’s awfully fun to pooh-pooh the cliché adage. Dear readers, mark your calendars, for today — thanks to your help — we’re going to set all snark and judgement aside and take a look at excellent reads that also happen to have extraordinarily well-designed covers.

In honor of the adorably outfitted, exceptionally designed (inside and out) Prius c, design love is all around, so join us as we round-up engaging prose combined with exceptional design. Showcasing the work of legendary typographers, art directors and graphic designers alike, click through to see what stunning contributions the literary world has made to design, and vice versa. Tell us your favorite from our selection in the comments below!

Pass Thru Fire by Lou Reed

Design by Stefan Sagmeister. Image credit: The Book Cover Archive

Leave Me Alone by David Karp

Design by Paul Rand. Image credit: WAXN & MLKN

Amerika by Franz Kafka

Design by Alvin Lustig. Image credit: Melville House Books

On Seeing and Noticing by Alain de Botton

Design by Laura Oakden. Image credit: The Book Cover Archive

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Design by Paul Sahre. Image credit: Office of Paul Sahre

Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton

Design by Leanne Shapton. Image credit: Blue Print Pree

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Design by John Gall. Image credit: The Book Cover Archive

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Design by Chip Kidd. Image credit: GOOD IS DEAD

Black Beauty by Annal Sewell

Design by Jillian Tamaki. Image credit: Black Eiffel

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Design by Alvin Lustig. Image credit: Mid Century Blog

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Design by Coralie Bickford-Smith. Image credit: Coralie Bickford-Smith

The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

Design by Paul Sahre. Image credit: Jason Fulford

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

Design by Rodrigo Corral. Image credit: The Book Cover Archive

The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories

Design by John Gall. Image credit: The Book Cover Archive

The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton

Image credit: ISO50

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Design by Carol Devine Carson. Image credit: The Book Cover Archive

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Design by Stephen Doyle. Image credit: The Book Cover Archive

Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith

Design by Richard Bravery. Image credit: The Composite

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Design by David Pelham. Image credit: Smashing Magazine

The Elements of Style by Strunk, White, and Kalman

Design by Peter Buchanan-Smith and Maira Kalman. Image credit: Maira Kalman