Dust jacket

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Book with dust jacket

In book production, the dust jacket (or book cover) describes a loose cover that is wrapped around a book and tucked in at the front edge of the cover . Contrary to what the name suggests, protecting the book that surrounds it is no longer the primary function of a dust jacket.

Elements of the dust jacket

The dust jacket consists of a front and back, a back, a front and a back flap (inside and back flaps) and the mostly unprinted inside pages. The design is usually limited to the front, in some cases the back is also included. The back is usually a carrier of brief content information or promotional quotations. The front flap usually consists of a short, linguistically appealing text that is intended to arouse interest in the book, whereas the back flap is often used for information about the author.

Sometimes a book binding (or belly binding) is added to the dust jacket. It is usually added afterwards when current events are to serve as advertising, such as prizes won.

history

The history of the protective envelope is closely linked with the emergence of publishing COVER . Although a few cases of decorated book covers have been documented as early as the end of the 15th century, they remained the exception. The current form did not develop until the 19th century.

According to current knowledge, the first modern book cover comes from England in 1833. Before a firm binding by the publisher became common, books were usually given an interim cover . This cover, usually made of paper or thin cardboard and glued to the spine of the book block , has been labeled and in some cases has already been colored. The station book trade that emerged at the end of the 1840s may have played a decisive role in the further development . The traveler deciding in a hurry should be made aware of the product with bright colors and promotional labels. When the publisher's cover caught on, it was obvious to make use of these sales advantages as well. Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke therefore assumes that the cover has slipped between the book block and the cover.

Nevertheless, it took some time before the dust jacket really caught on as an advertising medium. In the second half of the 19th century, transparent paper that let the cover shine through, or wrapping paper with little print, was first placed around the book. The protective function played the decisive role here.

By 1890 the advertising dust jacket was generally established. It was now printed in multiple colors on white paper. Well-known artists and graphic designers were entrusted with the design, such as Henri Toulouse-Lautrec in France or Thomas Theodor Heine in Germany. The content and presentation were not yet related. The book art movement, on the other hand, which became very important around 1900, propagated the unity of the book, which included the determining relationship between content and external form. In 1921, John Heartfield introduced photomontage as a design element on the book cover. While it was initially more the newer literature that was advertised with a dust jacket, it subsequently also established itself for genres that had previously not been used, such as classic editions or scientific literature.

Lore

The delivery of dust jackets is problematic. In the Marbach literature archive there are 63,870 dust jackets in the book cover collection (as of 2018), which were removed from the books for conservation reasons after cataloging and are now stored separately. In practice, however, dust jackets are usually damaged or lost completely. This is also the practice in most libraries . As a rule, dust jackets are completely blemished or only preserved in fragments, for example only the blurb. Therefore, well-preserved dust jackets can add considerable value to antiquarian books.

The dust jacket today and its functions

advertising

Even today, the advertising function is one of the most important arguments for a dust jacket. It plays a major role as an incentive to buy, especially in the field of entertainment literature and books for children and young people. Most publishers therefore regard it as the most important advertising medium and the basis for any further advertising campaign.

orientation

The orientation function is coupled with this. A dust jacket should not only advertise, but also inform. It can convey the content and character of a book as well as provide information about the affiliation to a publisher or a series . Depending on the type of book, a distinction can therefore be made between typical and individual book covers. While the first is supposed to increase the recognition value according to the brand principle , the second emphasizes the specialty. In order to combine these two points, some publishers hire in-house artists, who usually shape the design of a company for many years.

aesthetics

The aesthetic value of the dust jacket should therefore often not be underestimated. 12% of book buyers remove it after buying, most of the others put the book on the shelf along with the cover. Some appreciate the dust jacket so much that they in turn want to protect it and put it aside before reading.

protection

The protection of the book against wear and tear and soiling still plays a role that cannot be neglected today. Thus, the dust jacket is usually by painting or laminating sensitive to skin oils or other contaminants with gloss films than the actual book cover materials such. B. linen or other open-pore materials. In addition, it prevents the cover color from fading due to exposure to light. Nevertheless, this function has been pushed into the background in consciousness.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Otto Mazal: Binding customer. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 1997, p. 328.
  2. ^ O. Mazal: Binding customer. 1997, p. 325.
  3. ^ Helmut Hiller, Stephan Füssel: Dictionary of the book. Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-465-03220-9 , p. 322.
  4. ↑ Marion Janzin, Joachim Güntner: The Book of the book. 5000 years of book history. Schlütersche, Hannover 1997, p. 327.
  5. ^ Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke : Brochure and dust jacket on the German book of the modern times. Gutenberg Society, Mainz 1951.
  6. ^ O. Mazal: Binding customer. 1997, p. 325.
  7. ^ O. Mazal: Binding customer. 1997, p. 326.
  8. ↑ Inventory list of special collections. Book Cover Collection. In: dla-marbach.de. Retrieved September 2, 2018 .
  9. ↑ James Dove: It could be worth a fortune but - just like James Bond in Casino Royal - a jacket is definitely required: Proof you can judge a book by its cover. In: thisismoney.co.uk. August 15, 2018, accessed on September 2, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Heinz Kroehl: The book cover as an object of communication studies. Dissertation. University of Mainz, 1980, p. 73.
  11. ↑ Kroehl: The book cover as a subject of communication studies. P. 73.
  12. ^ Gertrud Fiege: About the exhibition. In: Walter Scheffler, Gertrud Fiege (eds.): Book covers 1900–1950: from the Curt Tillmann collection. An exhibition of the German literature archive in the Schiller National Museum Marbach a. N. Deutsche Schillergesellschaft, Marbach 1971, pp. 11-15.
  13. ↑ Kroehl: The book cover as a subject of communication studies. P. 85.

literature

  • Fritz H. Ehmcke : Brochure and dust jacket on the German book of the modern times. In: Small print of the Gutenberg Society. No. 47. Gutenberg Society, Mainz 1951, ISBN 978-3-7755-0062-3 .
  • Gérard Genette : Paratexts. The book about the accessories of the book. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 978-3-518-29110-8 .
  • Mark R. Godburn: Nineteenth-century dust-jackets. Private Libraries Association, Pinner, Middlesex; Oak Knoll Press, New Castle, Delaware 2016, ISBN 978-0-900002-88-5 , ISBN 978-1-58456-347-1 .
  • Jürgen Holstein: Georg Salter : Book covers and dust jackets from the Berlin time 1922-1934. With a selection bibliography on the book cover literature. [With a contribution to typography for Georg Salter by Peter Nils Dorén]. J. Holstein, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-00-010772-X .
  • Heinz F. Kroehl : book and cover in the test. Harenberg, Dortmund 1984, ISBN 3-88379-925-3 .
  • Jürgen Lässig (Ed.): Book cover and dust jacket. Georg Salter and other book designers, with color illustrated examples from literature, art, history, culture, psychoanalysis, science. Antiquariat Jürgen Lässig, Berlin 2008, DNB 100899474X .
  • Anke Lohmüller: The book cover as a means of communication. Semiotic and market psychological aspects of cover design. VDM, Saarbrücken 2008, ISBN 978-3-639-04996-1 .
  • Martin Salisbury: The illustrated dust jacket 1920-1970 . Thames and Hudson, London 2017, ISBN 978-0-500-51913-4 (English).
  • Renate Stefan, Nina Rothfos, Wim Westerveld: U1. From dust jacket to marketing tool. Hermann Schmitz, Mainz 2006, ISBN 978-3-87439-687-5 .

Web links

Wiktionary: book cover  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations