Shuffle ← Back

20thC Italian books: Cover design & Collaboration

Art Direction, Print Design, Publishing

Explorations of 20th Century Italian Classics

Book Jacket design, Art Director and Producer of collaborative project

Explorations of 20th Century Italian Classics - Collaborative project
Project concept: Dr Carlo Pirozzi
Art Director and Producer: Lefke Kerr
Editor: Silvia Villa

http://ipse-eca.blogspot.com

This project was conceived to disseminate Italian literature by drawing on the inspiration elicited by 20th Century Italian Classics in people from different cultural backgrounds.

Illustrations and back cover synopses come together to convey the essence of the novels, as the space and folds of a book dust jacket become at once canvas and page, and meaning is pursued through visual and textual exploration.
Book Jacket Design

Each book was set in a standardised template to create consistency and give the impression of the books belonging to a modern publisher's Italian Classics series

The template was designed to provide some constraints, but at the same time give a lot of flexibility for illustrators to be able to really maximise the use of space i.e. giving the illustrator the ability to play with the shape and folds, the spine & flaps and giving the ability to treat the book cover as a tangible object.

Typeface credit: Titillium - Copyright Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino, with special thanks to Luciano Perondi for permission.
The Results
The Books, the Illustrators, the Writers:

1904: Luigi Pirandello, The Late Mattia Pascal
- Illustrator: Karolina Szymkiewicz (MA Illustration, ECA)
- Writer: Giuseppe Episcopo (PhD Italian Studies, UoE)
1923: Italo Svevo, Zeno’s Conscience
- Illustrator: Borja Civantos Urrutia (Artist)
- Writer: Alberto Godioli (Visiting Fellow Italian Studies, UoE, PhD Italian Studies, Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa)
1929: Alberto Moravia, Times of Indifference
- Illustrator: Nai-Yen Chen (MA Illustration, ECA)
- Writer: Christos Hadjiyiannis (PhD English Studies, UoE)
Awarded prize for best overall book jacket by Blackwell Bookshop Edinburgh
1940: Dino Buzzati, The Tartar Steppe
- Illustrator: Emily Hair (MFA Illustration, ECA)
- Writer: Mario Prisco (PhD Italian Studies, St. Andrews University)
1950: Cesare Pavese, The Moon and the Bonfires
- Illustrator: AnChi Chen (MA Illustration, ECA)
- Writer: Corey Gibson (PhD English Studies, UoE)
1957: Carlo Emilio Gadda, That Awful Mess on Via Merulana
- Illustrator: Astrid E Jaekel (MFA1 Illustration, ECA)
- Writer: Christopher Ferguson (PhD Italian Studies, UoE)
1958: Primo Levi, If This is a Man
- Illustrator: Lefke Kerr (Artist)
- Writer: Siobhan Magee (PhD Social Anthropology, UoE)
1958: Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard
- Illustrator: Patrizio Belcampo (Painter and Printmaker)
- Writer: Carmela Pierini (PhD Italian Studies, St Andrews University)
1959: Pier Paolo Pasolini, A Violent Life
- Illustrator: Turine Viet-Tu TRAN (MA Illustration, ECA)
- Writer: Corey Gibson (PhD English Studies, UoE)
1963: Natalia Ginzburg, Family Sayings
- Illustrator: Xiaomeng (Maggie) Yu (MA Illustration, ECA)
- Writer: Silvia Villa (PhD English Literature, UoE)
1966: Leonardo Sciascia, To Each His Own
- Illustrator: Liam Golden (MFA1 Illustration, ECA)
- Writer: Mario Prisco (PhD Italian Studies, St. Andrews University)
1969: Oriana Fallaci, Nothing and Amen
- Illustrator: Ching-Yu (MPhil Illustration, ECA)
- Writer: Silvia Villa (PhD English Literature, UoE)
1972: Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
- Illustrator: Gary MacKean (MFA1 Illustration, ECA)
- Writer: Christos Hadjiyiannis (PhD English Studies, UoE)
1985: Gianni Celati, Voices from the plains
- Illustrator: Joe Caslin (MFA1 Illustration, ECA)
- Writer: Myrto Petsota (PhD Italian Studies, UoE)
1993: Antonio Tabucchi, Pereira Maintains
- Illustrator: Sara Oskarsson (BA (Hons) Painting)
- Writer: Armando Rotondi (PhD Italian Studies, Strathclyde University)