Book Covers

Abstract

I begin, as most readers must, with book covers. Book covers are drawn into the interstices of reading, as inattentively observed or casually overlooked as a pub such as the Leaky Cauldron might be in London. The images and words on book covers convey a fleeting first impression of what may be in the book, arouse expectations; book covers draw certain readers in, select them as they select the book; book covers tacitly mould readers’ expectations and influence reading by the fulfilment or failure of those initial expectations. Every time a book is opened yet again the reader’s gaze passes thoughtlessly over the covers and something of their first influence is rekindled. Yet the part of book covers in making a (quite possibly lasting) formative impression on the reader may be forgotten under the weight of their all too tangible and constant material usefulness as the recognizable surfaces, protective coverings, of particular editions. The materiality and material usefulness of book covers often obscure their role in the process of reading. Yet book covers are implicated in the process of reading even before the reader engages with the text that is ‘contained’ between them. On book covers the covert machinations of the industry that mediates the passage of books between authors and readers are obviously and yet disarmingly casually presented to view. The point is hardly worth labouring: so I begin, as most readers inevitably do (but perhaps more attentively than is usual), with book covers.