A Novel Art - Fiction Cover Designs Part One
The other week I was having a browse through a couple of books from the art section in the library, one on John Minton and the other on Edward Bawden (The Snail That Climbed the Tower and Other Work by John Minton and Are You Sitting Comfortably: the Book Jackets of Edward Bawden, if you’re interested). Both were English artists of the inter and post-war period, and both earned a regular income through providing illustrations for book covers. As I leafed through, two immediately caught my attention. I recognised them from the fiction collections down in the stack. What other fiction still boasting covers designed by artists might also be found down there? I decided to have a good old delve. The John Minton cover is for John Wyllie's 1954 book Riot, a crime novel set in an unnamed West African country. Minton was influenced by the British neo-romantic artists of the pre-second world war years, in particular Michael Ayrton (of which more later). He gained renown as a portraitist,