Today’s confession: I judge a book by its cover. No, retract that; that’s not a confession. That’s a statement of the obvious. A book’s cover is (I have no need to tell you, rational blog-readers), what draws us to that particular book out of the hundreds of others flaunting their vibrant front faces in bookshops; it is what we idly examine at night after closing but before chucking aside the chosen book; and it even perhaps determines how you arrange your collection at home.

And it is book covers that occupied me on the recent bank holiday weekend. I found my sanctuary in a quiet back room of the V&A Museum, which has until December been given over to displaying the winners of this year’s V&A Illustration Awards (which, noble reader, is worth a peek if you’re in the area).

The exhibit of particular interest is this year’s Book Cover Award Winner – namely, Marion Deuchars design for a republished Penguin edition of George Orwell’s Burmese Days.

To put my two penny worth in: I rather like it. The cover is still recognisable as belonging the classy and simple Penguin Modern Classics range, but is also eye-catching, atmospheric, and even a little amusing.
It is so inviting that I am tempted to try reading the book, despite the fact (and here you are at liberty to disagree with me, independent thinkers) that I often find Orwell’s writing too dry to be enjoyable.

Georgina Phipps, Editorial Administrator

Want to flag up a cover for our Wednesday Cover Story? Write to chiara@allisonandbusby.com with your thoughts