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Book jacket for The Cook with extended Giacometti-like black ink figure with chef's hat on a bright green background.
The Cook by Harry Kressing (Rhinehart and Winston), 1965.
July 01, 2019

Milton Glaser's Early Book Covers

Milton Glaser's early book covers, done not long after he founded Push Pin Studios with Seymour Chwast, served as a kind of laboratory for the techniques and styles he was exploring in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Some covers feature fine, flowing line drawings and swaths of flat, bright colors that prefigure his ground-shaking psychedelic work of the late 1960s. Others contain overt nods to historical artists and art styles (a hallmark of Push Pin). Still others are more abstract or play with the illustrative qualities of type. Book jackets were the bread and butter of Push Pin during this period, and the sheer volume of Glaser's output offers a fascinating window into the inventiveness and adaptability that has always been part of Glaser's genius, even as a young designer.
 
Exaggerated cartoonish drawing of Cyrano in profile, pink face, white hair, yellow collar, red background.
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (Harper and Row), 1963.


 
Three-dimensional text only book cover - red 1984 set in between blue George and Orwell
1984 by George Orwell (Signet), 1961.
 
Illustration of a shadowed man and little girl holding hands in the upper left corner of the book jacket. Author and title are printed along the bottom of the book jacket - Giant's Arrow, Samuel Youd.
Giant’s Arrow by Samuel Youd (Simon and Schuster), 1960.
Book cover for "Approach to Greek Art" with sihouetted mythical figures in pink, red, and brown on a black background.
Approaches to Greek Art by Charles Seltman (Dutton), 1960.
 
Book cover for Hypnotism with O in Hypnotism joined with another O to make glasses with black, blue, and white interior circles and a red dot.
Hypnotism by G.H. Estabrooks (Plume), 1959.
Book cover for "Leo Tolstoy" with a curvy and curly purple L on top a similar green T.
Leo Tolstoy: The Years of Development, Volumet I (Vintage Books), 1960.
 
Book cover for Little Disturbances with five blue and green hearts each containing a photographic image.
The Little Disturbances of Man by Grace Paley (Meridian Fiction), 1960. Art directed by Elaine Lustig Cohen.
Book cover for The Letters of Machiavelli with handwriting making the shape of Machiavelli in profile plus blood stains.
The Letters of Machiavelli, edited and translated by Allan Gilbert (Capricorn Books), 1961.
Book jacket for The Magic Barrel. Matisse inspired cut-outs in orange, red, and green on a pink background.
The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud (Farrar, Straus and Cudahy), 1958.
Book cover for The Man Who Was Thursday with comical illustration of bird with giant head on human-like legs and and bird feet.
The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton (Capricorn), 1960.
Book jacket for New Maps of Hell. Black Miro inspired creatures and sun and moon on a blue background.
New Maps of Hell by Kingsley Amis (Harcourt Brace), 1960.
Book jacket for Pen-ultimates with comical drawing of man looking in hand mirror, which reflects and image of the devil.
Pen-ultimates by Martin E. Marty and Dean Peerman (Holt, Rinehart and Winston), 1963.
Book jacket for The Petty Demon with pen and ink drawing of a man. The place where is nose is cut and folded open to reveal a drawing of another man on brown paper.
The Petty Demon by Fyodor Sologub (Random House), 1962.
Book jacket for The Pleasure Seeker with two women and one man in black and orange with an angel perched on his head. The background is pink.
The Pleasure Seeker by José Luis de Vilallonga (Simon and Schuster), 1962.
Book jacket for Portrait of an Unknown - cut out white profile with yellow profile cut out in opposite direction on a purple background.
Portrait of an Unknown by Nathalie Sarraute, c. 1960.
 
Book jacket for The Puzzleheaded Girl with profile made up of 3 cut out pieces. The pieces are disjointed and over a series of 4 images, come together.
The Puzzleheaded Girl by Christina Stead (Holt, Rinehart and Winston), 1967.
 
Book jacket for Seven Men and Two Others with black and white illustration of balding man in suite with cane.
Seven Men and Two Others by Max Beerbohm (Vintage Books), 1959.
 
Book cover for Varieties of Modern Social Theory with abstract colorful stack of flowing ribbons in red, green, blue, and white.
Varieties of Modern Social Theory by Hendrik M. Ruitenbeek (Dutton), 1963.
 
Book cover for Some People with delicate and detailed black line drawings in colorful pink, yellow, or orange boxes. Drawings are of Victorian people, a cat, clothing, and landscapes.
Some People by Harold Nicolson (Vintage Books), 1957.
Book cover for The Territory Ahead with 4 squares, each with a different view/detail of the American flag.
The Territory Ahead by Wright Morris (Atheneum), 1963.
Book cover for The American with white figures of a man and woman in profile. The man has blue stars running diagonally across his body, the woman has a fleur de lys on her dress.
The American by Henry James (Signet) 1963.
Book cover for The Confession with Priest with long black robe and cross on a background of purple and white circles.
The Confession by Mario Soldati (Knopf), 1958.
 
Book cover for The Medici with drawings in pink, orange, red, and black of a castle, man on horse, men in boat.
The Medici by Ferdinand Schevill (Harper), 1960.
 
Book cover the Unfaithful Wife, with two cut-out clouds and landscape of tent and three palm trees on yellow and orange ground.
The Unfaithful Wife by Jules Roy. (Knopf), 1956.