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 meme is being nurtured by Lynn’s Book Blog and this week we are featuring covers with NOSES. I’ve selected The Fifth Elephant – Book 24 of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.
This edition was produced by Corgi in 2000, and I love it. It has the zany chaos that features within the Discworld stories, and the joyful expression on the elephant’s face as it blazes across the sky is a delight. Though I could do without that ugly textbox plopped across that glorious artwork…
Published in April 2001 by HarperCollins, this offering isn’t my favourite – but I don’t hate it either. Which is a plus, as I generally loathe most of the Discworld covers that don’t feature the artwork of Josh Kirby and Paul Kidby. But the image of the elephant balancing on a flaming ball is quite quirky – and I really like the uneven font in acidic green. It packs a visual punch and signals that the book is humorous.
This edition is my favourite. First published in November 1999 by Doubleday, this is the full image of the first offering and variants of it tend to be the default cover for the book. Quite right, too. It’s fabulous. The roiling red cloud pluming behind the elephant against the blue sky is just gorgeous – and there’s no textbox disfiguring this cover, either😊.
This Russian edition, produced by Эксмо in 2007 is interesting. It shows the elephant plummeting through space towards the Discworld. At first, I didn’t think much of it, as it lacks the fun and impact of the original cover. But it has grown on me – that pop of life and colour within a largely black cover is effective. My main grumble is that the title and author fonts are far too underwhelming and simply disappear in thumbnail mode.
This French edition, published by Pocket in September 2011, is another strong offering. While I don’t like it as much as the original, nonetheless it depicts the action with plenty of chaos and colour – and that gives a solid visual clue as to what lies between the cover. And the lack of textbox is always a major plus for me. Which is your favourite?
Brainfluff 