Memory of Megan (initially released as The Ghosts of Megan) is a book by Marc Lovell. The plot revolves around an actress named Stella Grifith, who decides to head to her ancestors' hometown of Rythgollen in an attempt to escape from Hollywood and Sam Cullen, her boyfriend. However, things go south after she finds herself having to deal with the ghost of a girl named Megan, and Sam Cullen, who manages to track Stella down. Originally released in 1968 by Doubleday, the book has been republished by several different companies, including Ace Books, whose second printing was released in May 1973.

The typeface for the title is Oxford Italic Swash, which is distinguished from its non-swashed counterpart by several details, including the single-story g and presence of swash alternates. The f is apparently a modification, as none of the face’s alternates have a ball terminal on the bottom for that letter.

The history of Europe, with rhinoceros. Gábor Schein’s book Ó, rinocérosz is a real fantastic read. The poetic novel plays with the dazzling idea of how the history of Europe and Western civilization can be written if the rhinoceros is included in its mythical and real stories as a flesh-and-blood figure.

The illustration “Rhino Wrapped Up” is by István Orosz.

About the book, by Pereine Press:

The country is flooding. Every day the sea claims another kilometre of land. The prime minister holds a daily press conference. Scientists try to find an explanation, without success. The museums are emptied of their valuable works. Some people stay. Most leave. Once the evacuation is complete, and the rest of the world is already moving on, a climate activist, a young poet and an oceanographer voyage across the new sea. They are drawn back into the heart of a changed nation, seeking what they have lost in the deluge.

About the author, via Penguin Random House:

Eva Meijer is a Dutch author, artist, singer, songwriter and philosopher. Bird Cottage is her first novel to be translated into English, has been nominated for the BNG and Libris prizes in the Netherlands and is being translated into several languages. Eva Meijer was awarded the Halewijn Prize in 2017 for all of the books she has written so far.

This Hungarian edition of Zee Nu (English: Sea Now) was translated from the Dutch by Orsolya Réthelyi and published in 2025 by Magvető Kiadó as Tenger Most. The montage, which brings Haeckel’s iconic illustrations to life, symbolizes the sea, featuring a yellow ring in the middle that suggests a lifebuoy.

Szemet ​adtam neked, s te a sötétségbe néztél (“I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness”) is an audacious and entrancing novel in which the lines between the dead and the living, past and present, story and history are blurred. In it, Irene Solà draws on oral tradition as well as art, literature, and fairy tales to tell a completely new kind of story.

This novel is a carnival cavalcade of memory and forgetting, reality and fairy tales, light and darkness, with lots of color, desire and magic.

Irene Solà (b. 1990) is a Catalan writer. In 2020 she won the European Union Prize for Literature.

Source: pictures.abebooks.com License: All Rights Reserved.

This copy of the first book in the series – first edition, first printing, signed by both the author and the illustrator – is currently offered for no less than $1,250,000 (shipping not included).

Cochin is the typeface used for the Harry Potter series of children’s fantasy novels as published by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom.

The covers of the seven books were illustrated by Thomas Taylor (vol. 1), Cliff Wright (vols. 2 and 3), Giles Greenfield (vol. 4), and Jason Cockcroft (vols. 5–7). The cover design at least for some books is credited to Michelle Radford.

Source: www.abebooks.com John Atkinson Book. License: All Rights Reserved.

Spines of a full set of first printings of the paperbacks

Source: www.abebooks.com Michal Sawka Rare Books. License: All Rights Reserved.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Bloomsbury, 2000 printing

Source: www.abebooks.com Michal Sawka Rare Books. License: All Rights Reserved.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Bloomsbury, 2000 printing

Source: www.abebooks.com Michal Sawka Rare Books. License: All Rights Reserved.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bloomsbury, 2000 printing

Source: www.abebooks.com Michal Sawka Rare Books. License: All Rights Reserved.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Bloomsbury, 2000 printing

License: All Rights Reserved.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Bloomsbury, 2003

Source: en.wikipedia.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Bloomsbury, 2005

Source: www.amazon.de License: All Rights Reserved.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Bloomsbury, 2007

About the book, by publisher Book*hug Press:

From award–winning French writer Sibylle Grimbert comes The Last of Its Kind, a moving story of friendship, trust, respect, and the desire to endure and survive. In 1835, Gus, a young zoologist, is sent to Iceland by the Natural History Museum of Lille to study North Atlantic fauna. It is there that he witnesses the bloody massacre of a colony of great auks. Amidst the violence, the curious researcher pulls a single wounded bird from the water, unaware that he has recovered what will eventually be the last of its kind. Over the next fifteen years, Gus comes to realize that he is closely observing something inconceivable: the extinction of a species. From there, a singular preoccupation is born, and the inevitable fate of his feathered friend eclipses everything else around him.

Originally published as Le dernier des siens, the Hungarian edition was translated by Kornélia Kiss and published by Magvető Kiadó as Az ​utolsó egyed. The skeleton printed in spot UV on the cover instantly hints at a grim conclusion. Linotype’s Bodoni Bold Condensed is used for the title, combined with Adobe Jenson Italic for the author’s name.

Penguin’s first paperback edition of Ulysses, published as Modern Classics 3000.

Mike Dempsey comments:

Penguin’s master typographer Hans Schmoller (1916–1985) designed this elegant cover in 1969 [1968]. Selecting the perfect typeface Spectrum, modifying the capital letters and arranging it perfectly on the blackest of backgrounds, making the result timeless and beautiful.

The interior – starting with a short bio of Joyce – is set in Plantin.

The open caps on the title page aren’t from Jan van Krimpen’s Open Kapitalen as one might expect. Instead, they are from Max Caflisch’s similar Columna, here used with an alternate Y.

The back cover has a drawing of James Joyce by Augustus John.

Outlawed is a feminist western novel written by Anna North and published by Bloomsbury in January 2021. Rachel Willey’s jacket design was selected as LitHub’s Best Book Cover of 2021 (tied with Thomas Colligan’s work for Mona). Jury member Erik Carter comments:

I love how this cover plays with Western tropes—a cowboy hat, handkerchief, and slab serif typography—but then subverts them with a healthy dash of campiness and fun that you rarely see in the genre.

The title appears to be in caps from Egyptian Ornamented. The condensed face with mid-stem spurs was first shown in wood in 1870 and was digitized by mpressInteractive in 2013. I’m not sure about the author’s name. It could be Clarified JNL, a 2020 digitization of a Clarendon Extended – but with squeezed letterforms. The small bits – “A novel” and R.O. Kwon’s blurb – use one of the digitizations of Haas Clarendon.

Art direction by Patti Ratchford.

Front cover, featuring Short's name and the title set in Serendipity (condensed). Author tagline set in Volta (halbfett; Bauer, 1956); “Formerly” tagline set in News Gothic (regular; ATF, 1908). “A Fawcett Gold Medal Book” presumably set in Grotesque #9 (italic; Stephenson Blake, 1949).

Photo-Lettering's Benguiat Serendipity (1965) in rare use – rare compared to its fruitier, more ornamented brethren – on the fourth(?) edition cover of Barren Land Showdown (Fawcett Book #R2177, first published in 1951; originally titled Barren Land Murders) by American western author Luke Short, who might have taken his pen name from the Old West gunfighter.

From the back cover:

A hard-hitting story of the Northwest, where the chill winds couldn't cool hot tempers—where the whole Territory wasn't big enough to hold two men...

The book is set in the Northwest Territories, meaning not Colorado; even so, it still gets by as a western.

Volver la vista atrás is a novel by Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vásquez. First published in 2020, it was awarded the Mario Vargas Llosa Biennial Novel Prize in 2021, and translated to the English as Retrospective in 2022. Shown here is the Czech edition, translated by Anežka Charvátová and published by Paseka as Ohlížení in 2024.

The book design makes use of two typeface families by Storm Type Foundry. The cover and title page (not shown here) feature the then freshly released Populus, in two contrasting weights: the author’s surname is set in the heaviest style, Populus Black, with the round alternates for V, A and E, accessible via Stylistic Set 1. It runs from the bottom edge all the way to the top, dividing the cover into two halves. Vásquez’ first names and the title are added to the left and right, in Populus Medium, likewise in all caps.

František Štorm characterizes Populus as a “‘variation on the Solperian theme’, created after the Areplos update as an attempt at a more robust monolinear counterpart.” It’s inspired by the 1970s when designers conceived large typeface families for photocomposition that ranged from hairline to ultra-bold cuts. One such family is ITC Serif Gothic (1972). With its tiny serifs and the alternate round E, it was likely one of the reference points. On a deeper level, though, Populus takes cues from the work of Jan Solpera (b. 1939), Štorm’s professor at the Prague Academy. Solpera also advised on the design.

The text typeface used for the interior as well as the back cover is Beletria (2019). Conceived by Štorm as contemporary looking book typeface, it comes in three optical sizes and has a sans-serif counterpart called Beletrio.

Spiral (1995) and Loop (1998) are the two sequels to Ring (1991), a mystery horror novel by Japanese author Koji Suzuki. Just like the first book in the trilogy, the dust jackets for the first UK editions of these books from 2004 and 2006 use Typo American, too. Title and author name are presented in all-lowercase letters.

The Killing of Idi Amin is the first novel by Fleet Street journalist Leslie Watkins, inspired by his experiences in the crazed dictator’s Uganda where he was covering a minor war. First published in 1976 by Everest Books, this is Avon’s US paperback edition from 1977, featuring two contrasting styles from the Gill Sans family for the title, Kayo and Bold Extra Condensed. The cover artist is unknown. It could be Hector Garrido.

From publisher 4th Estate:

Annie Proulx’s highly acclaimed, international bestseller and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Quoyle is a hapless, hopeless hack journalist living and working in New York. When his no-good wife is killed in a spectacular road accident, Quoyle heads for the land of his forefathers – the remotest corner of far-flung Newfoundland.

With ‘the aunt’ and his delinquent daughters – Bunny and Sunshine – in tow, Quoyle finds himself part of an unfolding, exhilarating Atlantic drama. ‘The Shipping News’ is an irresistible comedy of human life and possibility.

The Shipping News was first published in 1993. The 2019 edition by 4th Estate uses Alias Elephant for title type .

Decoded by Maj Jia was designed by Rodrigo Corral and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, using Nobel by Frere-Jones Type.

Decoded is a 2002 spy thriller, translated from the Chinese by Olivia Milburn and Christopher Payne in 2014, about a brilliant but autistic mathematician, Rong Jinzhen, recruited by the top-secret Chinese intelligence agency Unit 701 for code-breaking during the WWII era and its aftermath.

Predator is the third book in Wilbur Smith’s Hector Cross series, co-written by Diana Thomas under the pen name Tom Cain, and published by William Morrow in 2016. The first-edition jacket was designed by Richard L. Aquan using Shàngó Gothic Medium for the author names. The title appears to be in stretched, stroked and weathered LP Saturnia Bold, and the small text in Trade Gothic Bold Condensed No. 20.

About the book:

Former operative Major Hector Cross must face off against a pair of lethal enemies and prevent an international catastrophe in this gripping contemporary adventure-thriller—perfect for fans of Clive Cussler, Ted Bell, and Vince Flynn—from the legendary worldwide bestselling author of Desert God and Golden Lion.

One of the most formidable fighters in the world, ex-SAS warrior and former private security consultant Major Hector Cross has survived explosive tangles with depraved enemies—warlords, pirates, and arms dealers—from the Middle East to the heart of Africa. Now, Cross must take the law into his own hands once again to stop a vengeful old enemy who has resurfaced—and hunt down a deadly new nemesis in pursuit of global domination.

The Radio Planet is a science fiction novel written by Roger Sherman Hoar (1887–1963) under the pseudonym of Ralph Milne Farley. The third instalment in his Radio Man series, it was first serialized in Argosy, in six parts, starting 26 June, 1926.

This is the first book edition, published as Ace Book F-312 in 1964, with cover art by John Schoenherr. The (uncredited) typography combines Peignot Bold with Latin Bold.

Fun fact: in his other life, Hoar served as state senator and assistant Attorney General for the state of Massachusetts.

[More info on ISFDB]

From publisher MacLehose Press:

When her mother emigrates to China for work, 21-old Chizu moves in with 71-year-old Ginko, an eccentric distant relative, taking a room in her ramshackle Tokyo home, with its two resident cats and the persistent rattle of passing trains.

Living their lives in imperfect symmetry, they establish an uneasy alliance, stress tested by Chizu’s flashes of youthful spite. As the four seasons pass, Chizu navigates a series of tedious part-time jobs and unsatisfying relationships, before eventually finding her feet and salvaging a fierce independence from her solitude.

A Perfect Day to be Alone is a moving, microscopic examination of loneliness and heartbreak. With flashes of deadpan humour and a keen eye for poignant detail, Aoyama chronicles the painful process of breaking free from the moorings of youth.

Translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood

Alias Ano is used throughout. The original Japanese title, ひとり日和 (Hitori biyori), is set in Heisei Mincho as identified by Akira Yoshino.

The Muppet Show Book was published in 1978 by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. The book adapts material from the first two seasons of The Muppet Show, with illustrations by Tudor Banus.

The main text font used throughout the book is ITC Souvenir. The characters’ names and initials are each set in a unique font, see the image captions for details. A few minor characters’ names are in ITC Souvenir.

“Introduction” is in the roman style of Bookman Swash. The character-specific fonts are Art Gothic for Kermit the Frog; Sweetheart for Miss Piggy; Yagi Link Double for Sgt. Floyd Pepper; Benguiat Laurent (with Psychemat effect) for Dr. Teeth [edit: rather Bullseye, a copy of PLINC Capricorn, see comments]; ITC Neon for Zoot; Crayonette for Janice; and Shatter for Animal.

Second page of the introduction, ft. Interline for Statler & Waldorf (without the pattern fill in Statler’s case); Scorpio/Hoopla for Fozzie Bear; and Burst Caps for Crazy Harry. The sound effects (“BANG”, “HA HA HA …”) are in caps from Caslon No. 471/540 or similar.

ITC Bookman Demi with swash caps

“THE NEW GO-FER” is in Franklin Gothic Extra Condensed.

An outline version of Cooper Black is used for Scooter and Hobo for George the Janitor.

Reward poster for Kid Fozzie, ft. Figaro

The typeface chosen for Rowlf is Reklameschrift Secession.

Moore Computer features for Kermit’s robot doppelgänger.

“GONZO THE GREAT” uses more of the aforementioned Caslon caps. The character font is Lydia.

Sam the Eagle is presented in a chromatic setting of Stripes Caps.

Cloud Bank for Dr. Julius Strangepork and Countdown for Captain Link Hogthrob

The initial I is from Thunderbird.

The initial S is unidentified.

Microgramma Condensed is used for Nigel

The formal script used for “The Lives and Loves of Gonzo the Great” is Typo Script Extended.

Round Rosie is the font used for Vincent Price’s initials … 

… and Smoke is the one chosen for Uncle Deadly.

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is set in Gemini.

Filmotype Pixie was spec’d for Hilda.

Another Bookman Swash

Manuscript Capitals for “Bein’ Green”

The P from Mira identifies Koozebanian Phoob.

Chianti is used for Robin.

Kermit the Pig is in an unidentified font similar to Rubens and Duerer.

Playbill is used for J.P. Grosse. On this page, the o’s in Scooter’s name are altered to look like his glasses.

For Kin (2026), Tayari Jones presents a striking cover designed by John Gall, published by Alfred A. Knopf and selected for Oprah’s Book Club. The design is set entirely in Etna X Condensed by Mark Simonson Studio—title, author name, and cover blurb unified in a single typeface.

What makes the cover memorable is how the floral illustration weaves through the letterforms until type and image become inseparable. Etna X Condensed’s high contrast and flared terminals hold their own against the density of the flowers—the two elements reading as one rather than layered on top of each other.

The Oprah’s Book Club sticker features Miller Display, designed by Matthew Carter for Carter & Cone.

The New Mystery is an anthology of short stories by 42 different writers, edited by Jerome Charyn and published in 1993 by Penguin Books under the Dutton imprint. The jacket was designed by Dean Motter, with illustrations by Vidal Centeno.

The title is primarily in stretched Arcadia, although the N, W and M appear to be derived from Washington. Futura, also stretched, is used for “New and Classic Stories by” and “The International Association of Crime Writers [...]”, and Senator is used for “and 30 other major crime writers” and the editor’s credit. The authors’ names are in Industria.