Comments on: Nabokov’s look at Lolitas

By: KVN CSY | Vintage Lolita Covers

KVN CSY | Vintage Lolita Covers — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:20:42 +0000

[…] Greater Than: It’s certainly not a book that’s been universally well-served by designers. There are some […]

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:43:07 +0000

I’d never heard Nabokov’s voice before, but it’s exactly as avuncular, lilting, and lightly mocking as I expected.

By: Kristen Harrison

Kristen Harrison — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 12:26:36 +0000

Thanks for the great blog Alan.

I’ve just bought a copy of Lolita purely for the cover design. It’s newly released as part of a series designed by Fallon Design (who I think did that Cadburys drumming gorilla ad) for Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Orion. I don’t actually like the design that much but I like the concept. They’ve used coverboard without any cloth, with a die-cut of two cherries that reveals the endpapers. When you open it up the endpapers are actually a rather creepy montage of kids illustrations of little girls. It’s a bit weird and thus intriguing. A bit like the book. Check it out:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41pTMVfmf1L._SS500_.jpg

By: Alan Trotter

Alan Trotter — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:51:47 +0000

Jonathan: Interesting, thank you – unfortunately it's not one of the issues I own, but I would really like to see that. Even the cheaper copies still circulating would run to about £50, though, so it might have to be added to a wishlist and then forgotten forever in deference to food and shelter. (In fact, that whole issue sounds like a good one.) John: I actually quite like the C20th Classics cover. I'm not a big fan of the Modern Classics image (perhaps just because full photo representations of central characters annoy me), but it is one of the ones that suits the new series style more than it did the old.

By: Jonathan Gibbs

Jonathan Gibbs — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:28:29 +0000

There was a neat little pamphlet entitled ‘Paperback Nabokov’ by Paul Maliszewski that formed part of McSweeney’s 4 in which he discusses the author’s struggles with covers. The pamphlet’s cover features a set of commemorative stamps designed Barbara Bloom, each of which shows a different ‘Lolita’.

By: Venus febriculosa» Blog Archive » greater than equal to

Venus febriculosa» Blog Archive » greater than equal to — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:32:38 +0000

[…] http://greaterthanorequalto.net/blog/2009/08/lolita-covers/ […]

By: John Self

John Self — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:04:01 +0000

If the Random House cover goes to the head of the class, then your old paymasters at Penguin are in the corner, wearing the dunce's cap. Their 20th Century Classic cover showed one of those grotesques, and the Modern Classics cover which has served for the last 9 years is not much better. I do also like the previous Random House US cover, the knock-kneed one.