This meme was started by Books by Proxy, whose fabulous idea was to compare UK and US book covers and decide which is we prefer. This week the theme is a cover featuring hands, so I’ve selected The Moving Finger – Book 4 of the Miss Marple Mysteries by Agatha Christie.
This edition was produced by HarperCollins in 1995. I rather like it – the gloved hand moving over the ancient typewriter evokes a strong period feel, which is well sustained by the author and title font. I would personally have preferred not to have that unappealing black block in the lower third of the cover, which rather spoils it for me.
Published in March 2007 by Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, I also like this cover. The country postbox set in a dry stone wall gives a strong rural feel, with the bright green cloud below gives a strong indication that something is very wrong… Again, the fonts are right for the period. I would have preferred the postbox to have been picked out in bright red, which would have added another splash of colour, thus giving it extra eye appeal.
This edition, published by Harper Collins in 2012, is probably my favourite. The black background with the classic Christie signature in red really pops, while the lettering for the title font is simple – but that doesn’t prevent it from being effective.
This Bengali edition, produced by সেবা প্রকাশনী in December 2016, certainly catches the eye. There is something very disturbing about that outstretched arm – it looks so horribly vulnerable… And the rose nearby also tells a story. I don’t feel qualified to comment on the font, but this is a cover that stood out in the looong list of options I could have chosen.
This Turkish cover, published in June 2014, is the weakest one this week. The idea is okay – but the execution is very clumsy. Why would there be a spatter of blood across a poison pen letter? What compounds this mistake is the fact it looks so false, as no attempt has been to blend it so that it looks as though it belongs on the paper in the typewriter. So which is your favourite?
Brainfluff 