These covers for Nabokov were first released in 2009, but I recently revisited the series. Commissioned by art director and designer John Gall, these covers use a butterfly specimen box to frame the cover image, a reference to Nabokov’s lifelong passion for butterfly collecting:
Nabokov was a passionate butterfly collector, a theme that has cropped up on some of his past covers. My idea was also a play on this concept. Each cover consists of a photograph of a specimen box, the kind used by collectors like Nabokov to display insects. Each box would be filled with paper, ephemera, and insect pins, selected to somehow evoke the book’s content.
Though each cover was designed by a different designer, there’s a remarkable simplicity to each cover and a wonderful depth and tactility as a result of using physical materials. Some of the designers explain their process behind creating the cover in this article in Print.
Left: Michael Bierut; Right: John Gall
Left: Stephen Doyle; Right: Carin Goldberg
Left: Peter Mendelsund; Right: Rodrigo Corral
Left: Paul Sahre; Right: Martin Venezky
Left: Carol Devine Carson; Right: Dave Eggers
Left: Barbara DeWilde; Right: Chip Kidd
Left: Tamara Shopsin, Jason Fulford; Right: Sam Potts