disc world covers

[amy why?]

hi im amy why? just wondering if anyone knows why they changed the covers on the discworld books? the new additions of the early book nolonger have the wrap around art work covers. instead they have mostly matt black. seems a shame.

[Winters_Sorrow]

Originally Posted by amy why?

the new additions of the early book nolonger have the wrap around art work covers. instead they have mostly matt black.

Hello amy why?
You've answered your own question. Because they're new additions or re-releases of already published books.
The wraparound style ones are all out of print so they've re-issued them with new covers. It's a pretty much standard thing to do when re-releasing a book.

You'll have noticed the newer novels (Monstrous Regiment & onwards) have a front panel which is markedly different in style to the earlier novels.
Possibly because TP is marketing more towards an adult market as his readers have got older or maybe because he just feels his writing is more "adult" now and less suited to the YA section of libraries. I've certainly noticed he's more willing to include death (that's people dying not DEATH the character ) in his books whereas I don't remember that happening as much with his earlier works. People would be defeated/outsmarted but they wouldn't be killed!

[purple_kathryn]

I agree with Winters Sorrow it's because they're rereleases but also the new books coming out will have different covers because the artist Josh Kirby, who did them died in 2001. They're now done by Paul Kidby.

[Thadlerian]

I think the purpose is not to scare potential customers away
Some of the Kirby covers were just embarassing, like Pyramids, Sourcery and Moving Pictures. They really confirm fellow bookshop customers' worst ideas about what Fantasy essentially is.

I think the black covers are really cool. Serious covers might even prompt new readers to take the serious parts of the books more seriously.

[CarlottaVonUberwald]

i like both artworks i have to admit

[Nesacat]

I'll second Carlotta. Josh Kirby's artwork had a quirky, almost lunatic appeal of their own. All those curved lines and curls filled with details. The new black covers are elegant and sombre and have an attraction all their own.

[Elisheba]

I agree the plain black draw much less attention at the till and look better on the shelf than the more colourful works, but don't you miss seeing the all the peculiar little things on the cover? Not to mention things like luggage and greebo and death of rats?

[Joel007]

Keeping both types of covers might provoke interest from a greater variety of readers. Who says all copies of a book should have a uniform cover anyway

[Sibeling]

They just have black covers because it makes the book look serious. Nobody will give you funny looks if you are reading a book with a black cover as opposed to colourful cover with funny pictures. The Harry Potter books are also available with black covers.

[Green]

I think it's pathetic that some people won't buy/read a book in public because it has a cover that looks childish or fantasy-esque. Literally judging a book by its cover. If people are embarassed by the book they're reading, then maybe they should ask themselves why they're reading it in the first place. If they can't deal with the answer, then maybe they should read something more fashionable.

It's such a shame that Josh Kirby died - his artwork was pretty much perfect for the Discworld novels. The new guy they chose (don't know his name offhand) was a good decision, though. Distinct from Kirby's style, but still within the feel of the books.

[fifteenjugglers]

I think the new black covers are fantastic. Very slick. It seems that they've only done them up to "The Fifth Elephant". After that, the covers still have the original illustrations. I'm a bit anal when it comes to consistency, so I hope they eventually reprint them with the black covers as well.

That being said, the Josh Kirby covers will always be special to me as they were what I'd look for when scanning the paperback racks at my local library for Discworld novels when I first started reading them about 12 years ago. Apart from those 3 tacky ones mentioned earlier and the literally 4-eyed Twoflower on "The Colour of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic", those original covers are terrific.