Boring cover art

[Paul Elliott]

Surely this is a nice cover?



My friend Domitius posing Hadrian's Wall....

[Nathan Ross]

That's funny that same image has been used for so many books. What is it taken from? Trajan or Marcus' column?

For anyone who wants to put the ubiquitous 'barbarian guy' on their book cover (and I think Jona really needs him :wink: ):

Barbarian fighting a Roman legionary. Stone relief from Rome (early 2nd CE)
Louvre, Departement des Antiquites Grecques/Romaines, Paris, France

Lessing Photo Archive

[Jona Lendering]

Barbarian fighting a Roman legionary. Stone relief from Rome (early 2nd CE) Louvre, Departement des Antiquites Grecques/Romaines, Paris, France

Lessing Photo Archive

I think it's from the Forum of Trajan.

[Cheyenne]

Is that book cover Version 2.0 paul...

I have the version of your book with the blu-ish cover on..

I think that one you've posted is really nice

[Alanus]

Jona could put the "barbarian guy" on his cover in electric blue, with a "balloon" caption coming from his lips-- "Wrong!" OR he can purchae rights to my "spangenhelms" as a cheap and historically inaccurate example to boost his argument! :roll:

Paul's cover is excellent, eye-catching with simplicity... AND accurate. :grin:

[Forty-One]

The title, De klad in de klassieken. Waarom onze kennis van de Oudheid onbetrouwbaarder wordt, waarom dat zorgwekkend is (ook voor wie niet in de Oudheid is geïnteresseerd) en hoe daar iets aan kan worden gedaan, means something like "Classics in peril. Why our knowledge of Antiquity is increasingly incorrect, why that matters (even if you're not interested in Antiquity) and what we can do against it". The long subtitle is intentional - people will smile, and pick up the book (I hope, because I am d-mn serious).

Sadly, I predict that nobody, who isn't interested already, is going to bother to read past the word "klassieken". It looks like a school book. If you want non-classicist people to buy it, put some Roman babes in skimpy tunics and buff gladiators on it. :mrgreen:

I'll have to special order this. My local boekhandel doesn't even display any of your books - but has them on their online ordering thingy. I order a book and then go in a week later to pick it up.

[Robert Vermaat]

Here's the design for my next book. I like it; it is quiet and suggests that I am offering a serious argument. At the same time, I would not be surprised if people in the shops don't notice it. My proposal was something completely pink with the title in fluorescent green.

I agree with Harry. I think you'd best shock people, therefore I would suggest the title:
"WEG MET DE KLASSIEKEN".

[PhilusEstilius]

I think that the cover I produced for the late Raymond Selkirk's book "On The Trail Of THE LEGIONS" showing some good looking re-enactors with the backdrop of Hadrian's Wall was very good cover art.
However just looking at some of the recent posts on this subject I think that an AVATAR of a smart looking cavalryman sitting astride his horse would make a good cover so get going with it Jurjen.

[Nathan Ross]

THIS actually looks like a very interesting book, but it's a shame that the bust used on the cover appears on almost every other book about Constantine. Also, the frieze in the background is certainly from Constantine's arch, but actually dates from the Trajanic era...



:?

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

Here is the cover of my new book, never to be published since i never wrote it



M.VIB.M.

[Alanus]

Statue-torially speaking, is it true that Constantine's eyes were bigger than David's hands? :roll:

"Give that sculptor a hand, will you."
"No thanks. He needs to work on his eyes."
"Ayes?"

Ah, the old Women Who Made Rome Tremble ploy! Right up there with The Origin of Spangenhelms, except the eyes are bigger... again. 8-)

[philsidnell]

As a commissioning editor of ancient military books, it is something I constantly struggle with so it is interesting to read this discussion. For me the key thing a book cover has to do is stand out on the bookshop shelf (or in the Amazon search results)and catch the eye of the right sort of person (ie the sort of person who might actually be interested in the subject matter of the book), so it has to be relevant.

Specially-commissioned artwork is too expensive for specialist non-fiction books (so it's your fault - you simply don't buy enough books! :wink: ). Also, they can make the book look like a novel, which to some people makes it look less serious (everyone knows fiction, or 'the F word' as I call it, isn't proper reading, right?). Text-only covers can look like school text books and so are going to attract even fewer of the general public to buy.

That basically leaves reenactors, or something contemporary. With both, you have to take what you can find. Even assuming you can find a reneactor shot which is historically accurate for the exact period covered by the book (and let's face it, you would be ripping the book even more viciously to shreds for an inaccurate cover than for a boring one), they often just look like reenactors (it could be the skinny white legs and beer bellies that make them look unconvincing warriors). And that's assuming the images themselves are of sufficiently high quality, not poorly composed and of inadequate resolution. That said, I have used reneactor/experimental archaeology images for covers and I think I will use a lot more in future. Look at Hellenistic & Roman Naval Wars (okay, its a reconstructed ship so not quite the same thing) and the forthcoming Twilight of the Hellenistic World,the main image for which was kindly provided by somebody on RAT.

'Something contemporary' usually means an artefact or statuary, friezes or Again it is often very difficult to find something that is right for the specific period and suitably dramatic so inevitably all such images tend to have been used lots of times before. Publish anything on Alexander for example and you have basically got the 'Alexander Sarcophagus', the 'Issus Mosaic', a few busts and some coins. Both the mosaic and the sarcophagus are fantastic images, but every inch of them has been used again and again (I have my hand up here). It's almost as though those ancient civilizations, and those fighting the wars over the intervening centuries that have destroyed so much of what must have existed, simply were not thinking of the implications for future book cover design at all!

Arguably, sometimes those images are so well known that they have become iconic, which means a browsing potential customer will instantly be attracted and have some idea what the book is about. Think of Constantine and you think of that colossal head (complete with bulging eyes), see that head and you instantly think Constantine. How many other images are there of Constantine? That particular Constantine jacket mocked above is just a first draft and can still be changed, so if anyone has a better idea I am interested to hear suggestions. As for the frieze from Constantine's arch being recycled from an earlier period I think that is perfectly justifiable - if Constantine thought it was good enough to represent his victories, who are we to argue?

Next time I am about to brief our designer on an ancient military title, which will probably be in the next few days, I'll throw it over to you lot for ideas and see what material you can come up for for our designer to play with. Up for that?

Phil Sidnell
Pen & Sword Books

[Nathan Ross]

That particular Constantine jacket mocked above is just a first draft and can still be changed, so if anyone has a better idea I am interested to hear suggestions. As for the frieze from Constantine's arch being recycled from an earlier period I think that is perfectly justifiable - if Constantine thought it was good enough to represent his victories, who are we to argue?

No mockery intended Phil! - my apologies if you got that impression. It's a good looking cover, and I appreciate the lack of available images. The Trajanic frieze does look satisfyingly Roman, and as you say was clearly thought to be representative by people of the day - but there are other friezes on the arch (like this one) which are more characteristically fourth-century, and portray scenes from the actual military campaigns of Constantine, so it seemed a pity not to use them rather than the more usual bits dating from the Principiate.

And, as I say, it looks an interesting title, so I'll probably get it whatever's on the cover...

[Epictetus]

Next time I am about to brief our designer on an ancient military title, which will probably be in the next few days, I'll throw it over to you lot for ideas and see what material you can come up for for our designer to play with. Up for that?

Something like "crowdsourced design"?

[Nathan Ross]

Meanwhile, I'm not really sure what to say about this one:



hock: