Iconic First Edition Book Covers

The covers famous novels wore on the day they first went on sale, photographed on real copies of the first editions. Most are dust jackets, the paper wrappers that collectors prize and that rarely survive intact; a few books, such as Lolita and Harry Potter, first appeared in paper covers instead. A book earns a place when its original cover became almost as recognizable as the text, or when the story of the jacket is worth telling: a painting finished before the novel was, an author drawing his own design, a price sticker or a misprint that collectors still check for. The gallery runs in order of publication, from 1925 to 1997, and each caption names the publisher, the year and, where it is known, the designer.