THE MOCK COVERS
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Polish graphic artist Andrzej Klimowski created the book covers for the UK Quercus MacLehose editions of Marek Krajewski's Eberhard Mock series?
They are very evocative of the decadence and liberal values associated with Weimar Germany, but interestingly the Polish covers are very conservative in comparison.
Do you think the UK covers might put off certain readers?
Which do you prefer?
posted by Uriah Robinson at 10:54 AM
7 Comments:
No, I love the UK covers. They're much more fun and original than their Polish counterparts.
Cheers,
Jeff
To be honest, the bottom two could be found on the Erotic Print Society's website. Not that I'm saying that's bad. They are simply typical of an era.
I think the top covers would be more likely to put of readers, less so the one on the left which is evocative.
Bottom two: very provocative. Might assault British reserve, although we are losing it fast in today's world.
Personally I prefer the Polish ones, though I think that the 1930s-style English editions are very stylish. They don't put me off, but I prefer the more classical versions. I assume that we are so used to Aubrey Beardsley that most people would not be put off by the UK covers, but let's see if anyone proves me wrong.
Just to add: I don't like the one bottom right at all. Hate the tail & hate the way she seems to merge into him. Don't like his gaping eye socket either.
And now, looking at them again, the UK covers seem to copy the Polish in format, with all that black at the top of the page and picture underneath. The UK's are far more attracting to my eyes, and offer a novel, a story. The Polish could be non-fiction texts and the sort of books you might find in a museum that concentrates on WWII.
So, I believe I am saying the UK covers work for offering what is promised to this UK eye. I rather like the monochrome with intervention only by red, too. And more to the point: very, very different to the usual in the UK, so should be further eye-catching. If only for the curiosity factor...
But again, who would risk picking up bottom left from the shelf for a browse in Waterstone's say?
We may have got to the stage of issuing leaflets to school kids in the UK that suggest "an orgasm a day keeps the doctor away" because it's good for cardiovascular health - yes, really, in Sheffield, 40k of them - but crimefic readers are generally older. Perhaps these covers will entice another generation into reading crimefic, the one we are messing up and burdening with debt.
Those are the Mock covers? Where are the real ones? Sorry.
I'll look for American covers, which I can guarantee you will have way less erotic appeal than the British ones.
==============
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crimeficreader I thought it was "an apple a day" and at my age I suspect that is about all my prostate can take, anything more exciting could be dangerous.
Is it any wonder we have the highest teen pregnancy rates in Europe?
I see we now have US style proms at schools and the psychological damage all this must be doing to those who are not considered sexually attractive by their peers is worrying. We are indeed messing up a generation.
It could be that we teach so little history that the publishers believed that a UK readership needed the hint that Weimar Germany was liberal and decadent so put it on the cover in terms the Brits could understand.
Peter, perhaps they could use the British covers for California and do a more staid cover for the conservative Mid West and South. New Orleans could use the French covers.
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