Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s catalogue of fiction and essays has been re-issued as an audiobook collection by publisher SNR Audio using Futura Display as the main headline typeface.

Each cover also features an original illustration. Designer(s)/artist(s) uncredited.

Originally published in 1866, Le joueur ("The Gambler") is a novel written by Fyodor Dostoevsky. This particular edition was designed in 1953 by La Guilde Du Livre, a Swiss publishing house and book club created in 1936 in Lausanne by Albert Mermoud. Considered the first French-language book club, this non-profit organization sold publications by mail order until 1978.

From the design elements to the choice of materials, the designers have meticulously considered every detail to introduce readers to the book’s theme. The cover replays visual codes of gambling with minimalism, featuring black and yellow Serrées bas de casse numerals in 66 points. Displayed as a grid, the design stands out against the green background, the traditional hue of the game tables.

The inside features illustrations by Philippe Jullian and the text set in Garamond, a timeless typeface choice for a literature publication. The title uses Perpetua Titling.

Федор Достоевский. Сильные впечатления (Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Strong Impressions) was an exhibition dedicated to the Russian author’s 200th anniversary. It took place at Moscow’s State Literature Museum from May to September 2021.

Extravagant, especially for such a topic, Neue Machina (Ultrabold) and quite a traditional Times New Roman (Bold) are two typefaces that form the basis of the custom ‘chimera’ display lettering. Unexpected yet stylistically precise letters perfectly reflect Dostoevsky’s spirit in the most important messages. The same two fonts were chosen as a support team for subtitles and typesetting.

Geray Gençer’s book covers for the Literature Classics Series by Doğan Kitap/Egmont Publishing Istanbul show captivating two-color illustrations that hint at the books’ content or title. The typography does with a single weight of Futura — the Heavy from Bitstream’s version. The author’s name is rotated, secondary information about the writer of the foreword appears centered. The axis is completed by the publisher’s logo at the bottom.

Fyodor M. Dostoevsky — Suç ve Ceza (Crime and Punishment), translated by Özlem Asiltürk

Jack London — Beyaz Diş (White Fang), translated by Nil Tuna

Gustave Flaubert — Madam Bovary, translated by Bahadırhan Bozkurt

Jane Austen — Gurur ve Önyargı (Pride and Prejudice), translated by İrem Yüce Almaç

Nikolay V. Gogol — Ölü Canlar (Dead Souls), translated by Günay Çetao Kızılırmak

The Best Short Stories of Dostoevsky

Gordon B. Neavill (1979). The Modern Library Series: Format and Design, 1917–1977. Printing History, 1(1), 26-37:

In the mid-1970s, as the prices of both paperback and hardbound books escalated, Random House began to hope that there might again be a market for comparatively inexpensive hardbound editions of classics. In the spring of 1977 thirty-two Modern Library titles were reissued in newly designed jackets and bindings. The reissues included titles from the old regular and Giants series and were priced between $4.95 and $7.95.

A classical appearance was sought for the reissues, and an attempt was made to keep costs as low as possible. The dust jackets, designed by Random House's corporate art director R. D. Scudellari, employ a uniform typographic design and are printed in two colors on uncoated tan paper. [S. Neil] Fujita's version of the torch-bearer appears in ocher and the author and title, lettered by the free-lance typographer Ray Cruz, are in one of four colors: dark maroon, blue, dark gray, or green. The binding material is smooth, rust-colored Kraft paper. The books are perfect bound instead of sewn. In contrast to the 1960s, when the Modern Library switched to offset printing for most titles, many of the reissues are printed letterpress.

Thanks to Paul Shaw for his help researching this series.

Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth

Bulfinch’s Mythology

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire

Dubliners by James Joyce
Saint Joan, Major Barbara, Androcles and the Lion by Bernard Shaw
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

The Origin of Species & The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Thirty Famous One-Act Plays

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

Great Classical Myths

Great Ages & Ideas of the Jewish People

Great Tales of Terror & the Supernatural

The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire

Book series with quick introductions into the works of Nietzsche, Mozart, Dostoyefski, Kafka. Doğan Kitap, 2013–14

Another book jacket by Peter Mendelsund, similar to my earlier post, also using an in-and-out relationship between type and design elements. The vertical bars are done in bronze foil. (The “dead house” was a prison.) The five main lines of type are in something stronger than white burnout — a matte foil, probably, or maybe even screenprint?

The book was designed by Soonyoung Kwon and set in Janson Text.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Bantam Books RC4424, 1970. Cover Artist: unknown

Three cover designs from the American publishing house Bantam Books — two books by Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881), and one anti-Communist spy novel — united by the typeface. Bantam must have believed that Rubens had a Cyrillic or Russian “feel”. Apparently, the Fonderie Typographique Française did so, too: Their version of Rubens was named Moscovites.

Three Short Novels (Poor Folk, The Double, The Eternal Husband) by [Fyodor] Dostoevsky, Bantam Books QC5728, 1970. Cover Artist: unknown

Judgment on Deltchev by Eric Ambler, Bantam Books F2781, 1964. Cover artist: Mitchell Hooks

“Starting in September 2013, Roads Publishing will present a beautifully realised series of classics, launching with ten titles and continuing to release more books in the series at regular intervals. Roads Publishing is part of the broader Roads Group — a lifestyle and homewares brand that aspires to create practical products of art. Having devised an iconic framework for the classics covers, we populated it with our original illustration, collage, painting and photography.” — Conor & David