Dust jacket for The Unauthorized Biography of Kenneth Anger, written by Bill Landis and published by HarperCollins in 1995. From the inner flap:

Known worldwide for his bestselling Hollywood Babylon books, Kenneth Anger is an underground filmmaker whose tremendous influence has been acknowledged by by directors as diverse as Stephen Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Dennis Hopper. As the father and most highly regarded member of American cinema's avant-garde, Anger made three films now considered masterpieces: Fireworks, Scorpio Rising, and Lucifer Rising. More than forty years later his aesthetic ripple is still being felt in contemporary mediums such as rock videos.

Designer Chip Kidd spells out the artist’s pseudonym in crammed letters from Franklin Gothic – it’s either the Condensed, widened, or the regular width, squeezed. In combination with the color red, this adds up to a typographic visualization of the the word’s meaning. For the smaller text including the subtitle and the author’s name, Kidd opted for ITC Franklin Gothic, Victor Caruso’s 1980 revision and expansion of Benton’s classic, distinguished by a larger and higher ear in g, among other things. These lines are set with very loose letterspacing, further increasing the claustrophobic expression of “Anger”.

Kenneth Anger died earlier this month at the age of 96. See the obituaries by the New York Times and the Guardian. RIP.

Dust jacket for Alfred A. Knopf’s first edition of Michael Crichton's bestselling science fiction novel Jurassic Park, designed by Chip Kidd. The front panel and spine of the jacket feature text set in Enge Steinschrift, later and perhaps more widely known as Akzidenz-Grotesk schmalhalbfett (medium condensed). The K has been slightly modified from its original form, wherein the diagonal strokes should meet at the vertical. Here, the strokes appear to meet in a T, likely formed by artificially extending the upper diagonal stroke down to the lower half of the vertical.

A silhouette of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, illustrated by Kidd and loosely based upon the famous specimen AMNH 5027, spans the front panel, spine and back panel of the jacket.

The back panel features an advance comment set in Franklin Gothic Condensed and an attribution set in Times. The front and back flaps also feature text set in Times. The spine and the title page feature Publicity Gothic. On the latter, additional text is set in Electra.

The front panel and spine of the jacket feature text set in Enge Steinschrift, later and perhaps more widely known as Akzidenz-Grotesk schmalhalbfett (medium condensed).

The back panel features an advance comment set in Franklin Gothic Condensed and an attribution set in Times.

A silhouette of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, illustrated by Kidd and loosely based upon the famous specimen AMNH 5027, spans the front panel, spine and back panel of the jacket.

The front and back flaps also feature text set in Times.

The title on the spine is set in golden caps from Publicity Gothic.

The title page text is set in Publicity Gothic with additional text set in Electra.

Paperback edition of Suttree (1979) by Cormac McCarthy, published by Vintage International in May of 1992. The author’s name and the title on the front are set in Electra Bold. The interior is set in Times.

Consumed is the first novel by Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg. It was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in September 2014. The jacket is by American graphic designer Chip Kidd, using Roger Excoffon’s half tone 3D effect font Calypso (1958).

This stunning design for John Updike’s Seek My Face uses Chip Kidd’s neoclassical typeface of choice, Monotype Bulmer, in its Display cut. The extreme close-up photograph (shot by Kidd’s regular collaborator Geoff Spear) alludes both to the title and the theme of the novel — the artistic avant-garde in New York during the 1950s and 1960s. The accompanying sans serif is Interstate.

Chip Kidd chose Gotham letterforms for Gotham sounds. Forthcoming from Atavist, Twice Upon A Time is “a unique, multilayered digital experience combining a beautiful prose essay on the sounds of New York with the extraordinary music of Moondog and binaural recordings of the city itself.” Designed by Tobias Frere-Jones in 2000, Gotham was inspired by signs and architectural lettering found on the streets of New York.