But this I don't agree with:
I mean, there is a century between Mary Queen of Scots and William of Orange and Mary. Not that I am an expert on dress, but if you have these two books on your shelf it just seems silly to have identical covers.
And below (I could not get the full size image to come up) replaces one of my favorite Plaidy covers.
I wished I were more of a fan of the new covers, but I'm just not. I appreciate that they are still reprinting my beloved Plaidy, but the portrait covers were fabulous... why change them? Marketing I suppose.
It's not just with the new Plaidy covers, but historical fiction in general. I really love Elizabeth Chadwick's covers; they show enough of the cover model to get a good visual and they are all very different. But, in general, I don't much like photographs of models in period dress. I like paintings, portraits and vector art (Victorian, paisley and elegant swirls).
What do you like in a cover?
I was able to get a dusty old Jean Plaidy The Courts of Love with a very old fashioned cover. Nothing of your gleaming, smooth look! but since book choice is so limited in my part of the world I just grabbed it.
ReplyDeleteWow, they used the same image on 2 reprints - that's ridiculous. I have been buying mine from UK Book Depository because I really like those covers - I'm staying away from the new ones like the plague!
ReplyDeleteI really love the portraits on the covers as well. That is the cover I have on all but one of my Plaidy books and I just hate the thought of have different covers on my shelf. Though I've decided when I purchase new ones I'm going to try to get the UK versions as I like those covers better than the new US ones.
ReplyDeleteI had seen the new one for The Captive Queen of Scots but didn't even realize it was the exact same picture used for The Three Crowns - they could have at least used a different pose!
ReplyDeleteI don't like this...I mean, what? generic books too??
ReplyDeleteI personally love it when period costume is used and it makes it all the more special when I get a portrait of characters together in what might appear like a moment or snippet of the book. Of course, this might take too much detail, or research- and not ideal for mass production of books..like you say; marketing and $ have alot to do with it as well.
I have a mixture of Plaidy books from the fawcett paper backs to the newer ones. I have to agree it is really dumb to use the same cover for another book with a different title.I liked the potrait covers my self because it give me a visual image of the person I am reading.
ReplyDeleteGoood reading this post
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