Cover designs for book series/sets

November 9, 2014 11:06 AM

I'm looking for striking book cover designs that work separately for each book, and as a set (when the books are assembled next to one another, to tell some sort of a visual story, or that fit together like pieces of a puzzle). Any ideas?
posted by cyrusw8 to Media & Arts (16 answers total)

If you put all seven of the anniversary editions of Harry Potter together you get Hogwarts.
posted by Violet Hour at 11:22 AM on November 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but maybe the Penguin Drop Caps series?
posted by yeahyeahrealcute at 11:23 AM on November 9, 2014

The Harper editions of the Tales of the City series, if laid next to each other in order, assemble into the street sketch of San Franciso seen at the bottom of this page. (You can see the individual covers by selecting different titles in the "Books" dropdown).
posted by Juliet Banana at 11:23 AM on November 9, 2014

Some new Clarice Lispector covers were the first thing that came to mind for me.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 11:34 AM on November 9, 2014

Margaret Atwood
posted by saucysault at 11:35 AM on November 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

Tezuka's "Buddha" series
posted by stray at 12:21 PM on November 9, 2014

The Vintage Oliver Sacks covers are a great example of jigsaw fronts, vs spines.
posted by libraryhead at 12:41 PM on November 9, 2014

Pretty much all and any manga series.
posted by Jesse the K at 12:53 PM on November 9, 2014

I have this edition of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Each book cover has four fourths of pictures, and you can arrange the books in four ways to show one complete image at a time.

On the spines there is an image that looks like a color vision test. If you put the four books in the correct order, it spells "42".

I also have a German edition of Armistead Maupin's "Tales from the City" series that looks like this (first part). If you put the books side by side, you get a panorama photo of San Francisco, and the spines are all two-colored to form a complete rainbow if put next to each other.
posted by amf at 1:15 PM on November 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

The edition of the Lord of the Rings that I read as a kid did this. Here's an article about the sale of the original cover art, apparently by a Barbara Remington: http://www.antiquetrader.com/antiques/antiques-americana/auctions/vargas_girl_willcox-smith_break_records_at_auction.
posted by Tsuga at 1:16 PM on November 9, 2014

The cover art for the original edition of Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green-Sky Trilogy formed a triptych.
posted by jackbishop at 2:02 PM on November 9, 2014

I really apologize if this is too off topic, but VHS tapes are very similarly shaped to books; the VHS collection of Pee-Wee's Playhouse has a great collage along the side.
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:05 PM on November 9, 2014

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (paperback boxed set)

Boxers & Saints by Gene Yang (boxed set edition)

2666 by Roberto Bolaño (3-vol. boxed set)

Oliver Sacks series designed by Cardon Webb

Clarice Lispector series designed by Paul Sahre

Also of interest: Juniper Books (customized book sets)
posted by jammy at 5:47 AM on November 10, 2014

Roger Hargreaves' Mr Men series.
posted by glasseyes at 7:25 AM on November 10, 2014

The covers to the Walking Dead trade paperbacks show a long, unbroken line of zombies.
posted by zoetrope at 7:25 AM on November 10, 2014

The University of Chicago Press edition of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time has the Poussin painting from which the books take their name spread across the covers of the four volumes (as well as the same on the spines).
posted by oakroom at 5:38 PM on November 10, 2014