As the title indicates, this book refers to a very particular portion of the publishing world.  Compton claims 1917-1934 "comprise the greatest inventiveness in book design," and goes on to explain they "they are also years when creation in all fields, including the arts, enshrined the hope for a better life in a country which, compared to the United States and Western Europe, remained backward in spite of modernization at the beginning of the century" (9). Avant-garde artists (writers, visual artists, architects) were leaders of the Utopian movement, and were part of the national movement striving for high literacy.  The texts and their covers both strove to embrace a newfound freedom and compel others to action.  The variety of techniques for designing book covers was broad - lithography, rubber stamps, wall-paper, hand-colouring - and reflected the freedom artists were experiencing for the first time.  Though the aesthetic varied among books, one thing remained the same: virtually all covers were politically charged and influenced.

This 1967 text, though somewhat dated, is a comprehensive introduction to the various elements included in book design.  Author Adrian Wilson devotes chapters to a variety of topics, from typography to paper to binding.  Of particular interest is chapter eight, which is devoted to Jackets and Paperback Covers.  Wilson addresses the problem of scale with book covers; the design must do double-duty, being able to attract readers from a bit of a distance when displayed frontally, as well as enhancing a customer's interest when he or she has already been intrigued by the title and chooses to pull the book from the shelf for a closer look. 

The various levels of the publishing industry are explored by Bailey in this book.  The scope of the text is very broad, providing cursory information for multiple aspects of the process of publishing a book.  He touches on the importance of having an effective cover, designed and produced within the careful confines of the budget and to meet the satisfaction of the marketing department.  Bailey likens the jacket of a book to wrapping on a gift - it is intended to excite and entice the reader, and compliment the contents. 

Vanderbilt does a wonderful job making the business of publishing accessible and entertaining.  In the chapter entitled "Judging a Book by Its Cover" the author explains the overwhelming importance of an effective cover design for many stages of the selling process, from reaching distributors to targeting the readers themselves.  "With so much of the book's facte dependent on everything but what is between its covers," Vanderbilt explains, "publishers have learned to treat a book's skin with loving care" (91).  Alfred A. Knopf understood the critical importance of an alluring cover, something which helped propel him to his position as a top-tier publisher.  Following Knopf's success, other publishers, too, began to labor over every element of the book covers, from type-face to author photoraph. 

This comprehensive text is divided into three primary sections: The History and Structure of the Industry; The People Who Make Books; and Key Outsiders in the Book Trade.  In "The Manufacture of Appeal" (a subset of the People Who Make Books section), the authors explain the importance of book covers.  According to the authors, the importance of the book cover cannot be overstated, particularly in the paperback world.  Pages 219-221 provide an excellent explanation of the importance of book covers and their various incarnations. 

The aim of this text, as outlined by the author, is to provide a broad introduction to the book industry and help position those seeking jobs in the industry to be in the most advantageous situation.  Clark outlines the roles of people at essentially every stage of the book-selling process, including the sect known as "packagers."  Packagers "tend to produce mainly highly illustrated and saleable, expensive to produce, informational colour hardbacks which are published and marketed under the imprints of other firms" (67).  The notion of the Cover Copy is also explained: "Printed covers or jackets are needed well in advance of the printed book for promotion and sales purposes.  Thus the cover copy (e.g., title, author, blurb and ISBN) is passed to the designer" (94) early in the process, and the proofs are checked later.  The designs for book covers are highly specialized, and "most kinds of books, other than the most utilitarian, requires specific design attention which may be executed by in-house cover designers, or by art directors, who may commission freelances.  The designers responsible for covers are usually quite distinct from the book designers" (101-2). 

Server conveys the seductive nature of many paperbacks in post-WWII America.  He describes this area as a "brief but gloriously subversive era in the history of American publishing.  These cheap, pocket-sized editions came wrapped in lurid cover art and screaming headlines, hyping stories about crime, lust, and violence.  Casting a neonlike glow from wire racks in drugstores and bus depots across the nation, they conveyed an alluring collective vision of a corrupt and sensual world" (9).  The covers Server presents are shocking to a modern sensibility, what we would consider highly politically incorrect.  He features titles such as 12 Chinamen and a Woman (which replaced the original title of 12 Chinks and a Woman), A Swell-Looking Babe, Love Hungry Doctor, and Indiscretions of a TV Sinner.  Common to these books and almost all of the others depicted here is the overt sexualization of women.  They are often depicted in the nude, in varioust states of undress, and in seductive poses.  The books are riddled with triumph of the heroic man - over attractive women as well as over other various threats to society, such as mobs and drugs.  These paperbacks were not critically acclaimed, but did have a wide readership - due in large part to their sensational covers. 

Schiffrin offers insight into the international publishing world with this narrative history. He recounts his experiences in the publishing world, describing pivotal moments (acquisitions of companies, market censorship, the emergence of blockbuster best-sellers) through his personal lens. This book provides an interesting and accessible introduction to the evolution of the publishing industry over the second half of the 20th century.

The authors take the reader through a history of American book cover designs, from the inception of the book jacket as a utilitarian object in the 1820s to the incredibly influential and indicative introduction to the text that we now know them to be.  Drew and Sternberger trace the technological, political, and social trends that contributed to the evolution of book jackets.  The book is visually engaging, as well, with numerous color photographs to illustrate the text.  Each chapter begins with an introduction to the chapter's theme (with ambiguous or difficult terms and concepts helpfully explained), and then progresses on to numerous case studies.  In general, supplementary sources are helpful to elaborate on the grand themes of the book, but the basic ideas are more than adequately supported with examples.