Judging A Book By Its Cover: His Dark Materials

This is my weekly post where I choose to appreciate a book for its cover art or overall design – to me, a well-designed book is like a piece of art. We all judge book covers to some extent. Personally, it’s usually a title/cover combination that pulls me in when I’m browsing in a bookstore. I can’t say that I’ve ever decided against a book with terrible cover art if I liked the sound of the plot, but I have purchased special editions of books, or multiple editions of books based on their cover art. If book covers didn’t matter, publishers (looking at you, Penguin!) wouldn’t put out so many beautiful editions!

I read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy when I was in middle school and loved it. This is the 2002 edition, I believe, and so far it’s the best looking box set I’ve seen. Sadly, The Amber Spyglass has separated from the binding/spine, so that book is a little wonky. I’m thinking that if I’m going to have a set I can actually read, I’ll need to buy new ones! And keep these, of course! ISBN is 9780375823367.