Design Books to Win

Win Copies of Two Books by Peter Mendelsund

Five copies each of two new books by book cover designer Peter Mendelsund – “Cover” and “What We See When We Read” – will be given away

September 3, 2014

Update, September 10, 2014: This giveaway is now closed. The winners are Ricardo Alonso, Tree Callanan, Alexandra Cooper, Jordan Derrien and James Martin.

Watch “Design Books to Win” for our newest giveaway.

We’re giving away five copies each of Cover and What We See When We Read by book cover designer Peter Mendelsund, known for his iconic covers for works of literature and nonfiction. Five winners will each receive a copy of  both books. Enter to win through Tuesday, September 9, 2014, 11:59 PM (EST).

What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund, 2014 (Vintage Books), 8 x 5.4 inches, paperback, 448 pages; and Cover by Peter Mendelsund, 2014 (powerHouse Books), 9.25 x 11.25 inches, hardcover, 304 pages

Enter the drawing to win a copy of each of these books (each winner receives both books):

Win Two Books by Peter Mendelsund

Drawing ends Tuesday, September 9, 2014, 11:59 PM (EST).

From powerHouse Books on Cover. Peter Mendelsund has enjoyed years as a much-sought-after book cover designer and art director. Among the many recognizable jackets he has created are those for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; collections of the works of Joyce, Kafka, Dostoevsky, de Beauvoir, and Foucault; the contemporary works of Martin Amis, Tom McCarthy, Ben Marcus, Jo Nesbø, and James Gleick; and many more. Cover abounds with Mendelsund’s completed book jackets along with ephemera from his previously unseen creative method, including jacket sketches, interior art and editorial illustrations, and scores of rejected drafts. These images are punctuated by Mendelsund’s reflections on his work and his process, as well as by texts from writers with whom he has worked and designed for. 

From Vintage Books on What We See When We Read. A unique, fully illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of reading—how we visualize images from reading works of literature, from one of our very best book jacket designers, himself a passionate reader. What do we see when we read? Did Tolstoy really describe Anna Karenina? Did Melville ever really tell us what, exactly, Ishmael looked like? The collection of fragmented images on a page—a graceful ear there, a stray curl, a hat positioned just so—and other clues and signifiers helps us to create an image of a character. But in fact our sense that we know a character intimately has little to do with our ability to concretely picture our beloved—or reviled—literary figures.

Read our interview with Peter Mendelsund, “Covering Reading.”

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