Terrible covers for great works.

Here are a few to start us off:

Pride and Prejudice.◊ Just what the hell are they wearing? And the tagline is awful too.

Nineteen Eighty-Four.◊ This cover's supposed to be pretty notorious amongst the readers, and no wonder why—it looks like some sort of erotic dystopian B-movie.

Brave New World.◊ Remember this scene from the book? It's pretty clear that the tagline was all the artist was given to work with.

The Hobbit◊. Word has it that Tolkien hated this cover himself.

The Lord of the Rings.◊ Floating head syndrome to the extreme.

Animal Farm.◊ A clothed pig is a decent idea for a cover, but this is just ugly. The floating montage in the background does not help.

edited 1st Sep '11 9:59:26 AM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

This is my edition for Childhood's End: [1]. I'm not quite sure what they were thinking.

I draws things. And I seem to be some sort of marine entity.

Wow... I thought I'd seen some Contemptible Covers, but yours blow them all out of the water. The Lord Of The Rings one doesn't even look professional, it looks like it was put together by someone's kid in Photoshop. The 1984 one is so trashy, it's hilarious. Big Brother is Stalin with orc ears.

I'm not sure which one is the worst . . .

The Hobbit cover is just so pathetically wrong . . . is the guy in the suit meant to be Bilbo? Seriously? (And that shade of orange isn't any help either.)

But I think that The Lord of the Rings cover is the worst. The other covers are bad, but someone at least put some effort into making them bad. They were painted and drawn with loving care. (Or maybe just seething hatred . . . ) But at least someone put some amount of time into them. But with The Lord of the Rings cover, that's a ten minute photoshop job — if even that.

edited 1st Sep '11 12:22:19 PM by Anathema

Actually, on closer inspection, the Lord of the Rings cover probably isn't professional. Found here. I think it's supposed to be packaged as part of an unofficial e-book or something. Still incredibly shitty though.

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

I love that 1984 one. It pushes my retro erotic dystopia B-movie buttons so good.

i. hear. a. sound.

There's this hilariously bad Polish one called Sex Mission. It's about these guys who get cryogenically frozen and are dethawed in a future where there are only women.

Cover for the entire Lord of the Rings.◊ It actually doesn't look that bad, at least by comparison.

The fellowship one I already linked.◊
Two Towers.◊
Return of the King.◊

edited 1st Sep '11 12:33:59 PM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

I want the 1984 and Brave New World ones. They're awesome.

If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied -Rudyard Kipling

Wow. The covers I have of The Hobbit, Brave New World (its just a picture of an egg) and 1984(black cover just the title and an eye) belong in the louvre by comparison.

For contemptible covers, check out any old science fiction book. ANY cover prior to the 90's of Naked Sun, Caves of Steel and Robots of Dawn are likely to have some random naked dude on it.

Also, am I the only one that refuses to buy an old book if it has a scene from a bad movie remake on it? Made getting a new copy of H 2 G 2 or I, Robot very difficult.

I actually like a lot of those old sci-fi covers, even if most of them are So Bad, It's Good.

Here's The Space Trilogy:

• Out of the Silent Planet◊: A picture of a scene from the story, as imagined by someone who wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention.
  • Alternate 1: This artist actually did pay attention and oh buck it's hideous.
  • Alternate 2: I don't recall the story being this paranoid.
• Perelandra◊: This one is actually a pretty good representation of the themes in the story.
  • Alternate 1◊: NO
  • Alternate 2: I actually bought a second copy solely because it had this magnificent cover.
  • Alternate 3: Groooooovy.
• That Hideous Strength◊ Did they just give up here? It's not a literal representation, and the symbolism is kind of a stretch.
  • Alternate 1◊: what
  • Alternate 2: what
  • Alternate cover to the audiobook version◊: what
  • Alternate cover to the abridged version: what
  • Alternate 3◊: oh bloody hell this one actually is accurate that makes it worse
  • Alternate 4: This one's actually alright.

@ Out of the Silent Planet alt 2: It's 1984 with spaceships!

edited 1st Sep '11 9:39:25 PM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

Incidentally, are those CS Lewis space books any good? I love the old-school sci-fi, but if it is going to be three books of religious propaganda i'm a lot less interested.

The original cover for the Dresden File.◊

I am a nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore, I am perfect.

I quite like that first cover of Out Of The Silent Planet.

With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.

You know, I'm glad the copies of the Space trilogy I read didn't have those covers.

Shiney: I rather enjoyed them; the first is the least propagandistic, and could easily be read as nonreligious if you were trying. Perelandra is quite good IMO but explicitly parallels the fall of man from Genesis and That Hideous Strength is... interesting, fairly explicit about religion, and is the weakest of the three.

I read the Space Trilogy in the edition with the first covers. I don't exactly like those covers but...they're okay. As for the books themselves, what Hatshepsut said.

In other news I don't get it◊

no one will notice that I changed this

This beowulf cover.◊

Tell me what's wrong with this picture.

Fine, I'll say it—the bow was not considered by the Anglo-Saxons to be an honorable weapon, and in fact would not be a respectable weapon in Germanic society until the Viking Age. Beowulf did not use a bow in the fight but at least two swords (the first broke so somebody handed him another one)

That is also a pretty bleh-looking dragon, and an awful costume design. Where the hell are his sleeves?

The knotwork design looks nice, though it is not characteristically Anglo-Saxon or sixth century Germanic, more of Viking Age Gotland. This is not a complaint, however.

Beowulf cover with mediocre planning.◊

News flash: Heorot was actually a Gothic Cathedral!

edited 2nd Sep '11 12:33:47 PM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

I think the squatting position Beowulf's in is worse than what weapon he's using. Why would you make your cover a picture of the hero taking a dump?

Thanks for the all fish!

Ahaha, that made me laugh! I see it. It's awful.

Yeah, the best thing about that picture is the knotwork border even though it isn't quite period.

EDIT: This isn't a cover, but this◊ is the absolute worst illustration of Beowulf ever.

edited 2nd Sep '11 1:25:23 PM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

Thank god I've never seen these covers in the book store.

1984◊

Brave New World◊

I much prefer these covers...the less detailed and more vague the cover, the better I say. Except for maybe the cover of "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". I've recently picked it up and fell in love with the series, but for a long time I never even thought about reading it cuz....I'll admit....the cover combined with the name made me think it was another mindless teen novel.

edited 2nd Sep '11 2:19:10 PM by ViralLamb

Power corrupts. Knowledge is Power. Study hard. Be evil.

I kind of like this cover◊ for the girl with the dragon tattoo.

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

Wow, the first edition cover for Brave New World is pretty cool.

"It's about the future, right? Stick something future-y on there, no one will know the difference!"◊

I have that version of Brave New World.

Did you know that A Clockwork Orange is about bikers?◊

edit: could we use this thread for general cover discussion?

edited 2nd Sep '11 2:36:42 PM by honorius

If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied -Rudyard Kipling

1984◊. Looks more like 1974.

The first time I read BNW on my own, it was a different cover than that. By the time I had to buy it for college, that was the most common one, so that's the one I own.

I've seen a lot of people with that 1984, too. But mine is one that hasn't been seen in this thread as far as I know.

Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.