This dissertation offers a historical look at the book cover as a material object of particular significance. As a part of the bibliographical tradition, the cover binds the book not only to its reader, but also to the culture that gives it meaning. Consequently, by chronologically reviewing the book cover through a mix of historical and fictional accounts, this study had as its goal to affirm the difficulty of judging the book cover without knowing its social history. The first project of this study takes the elaborately decorated bindings of Medieval manuscripts as the origin point for the modern book cover and retraces the attitudes and approaches to the book cover through the accounts of printers, binders, readers and collectors. The definition of the book cover then emerges as the result of the discursive dialogue between the material and aesthetic concerns of the book paratext. The second project expands the scope of the study from book covers made for Bibles and religious texts to the mechanical production of commercially defined gift books and aesthetic volumes. Looking at the book cover both as an object and a cultural agent, the discussion focuses on challenges readers go through in attempting to bring the meaning of the cover under their subjective control. Finally, the third project focuses on the twentieth century and the development of mass and artistic forms of designing and reading the book cover. Here, special attention is given to the similarities and differences between two main forms of books, hardbacks and paperbacks, as they continue to collaborate and compete in producing the most effective cover paradigm. The final section presents a brief summary of the dissertation and concludes with a brief projection about the future role and functions of the book cover.
Author Keywords: book cover, cultural history, design history, dust jacket, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf