Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book series
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A 1989 edition reprint of the 1981 book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a set of three horror-themed books aimed at younger readers, which became wildly popular in the 1980s and 90s due to outlandish and creepy illustrations by artist Stephen Gammell. The book series has sold over seven million copies as of 2017. The picture above features the 1989 reprint softcover edition of the first book.
The cover of the 1989 reprint of the first book shown at the top of this post is set in Caslon Antique, with Berling Italic used for the author name and illustrator. A first edition hardcover version of the book can be seen lower in this post, and uses Caslon Antique together with Palatino Italic in a slightly different cover arrangement.
The second and third book, share a similar cover arrangement as the first book, though the use of Berling has been replaced by a combination of Helvetica and Caslon Antique. It should be noted that some softcover printings of the first book (not shown in this post) also use a combination of Helvetica and Caslon Antique for the author and illustrator names.
This is an excellent application of Caslon Antique, in my opinion, as it provides a suitably creepy (but not too creepy!) feel to these children’s ghost story books.
The books have attracted some controversy in the 80s and 90s, with many parents trying to ban the books due to their imagery. The Smithsonian Magazine has an interesting article on this subject.
More recently in 2011, another minor controversy occurred when the book’s publisher printed new editions which replaced Stephen Gammell’s scary illustrations with more toned-down illustrations by artist Brett Helquist. Comparisons can be seen on AIPT Comics. The controversy led the publisher to revert to the original Stephen Gammell illustrations in subsequent reprint editions of the book series.
From left: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1989 reprint of the 1981 book), More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1984 cover), Scary Stories 3 (1991 cover)
Interior book illustration by artist Stephen Gammell. Text is set in Palatino.
A first edition 1981 hardcover printing of the first Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book published by J.B. Lippincott, which has a different cover layout than the softcover edition which came out the same year. The accompanying italic here is from Palatino.
The inside title page of a first edition hardcover printing of the first Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book. Illustration by artist Stephen Gammell
