Wacky (Okay, Classic) Book Ads

Chris Higgins
facebooktwitterreddit

The New York Times has posted a nineteen-part slideshow featuring book advertisements from the Sixties and early Seventies. The ads typify a lost art in which photos of the author (or foxy reviewer) are mingled with bold proclamations and scandalous pronouncements.

The slideshow includes books by Cormac McCarthy, Hunter S. Thompson, Joan Didion, Toni Morrison, and many more. Below are a few of my favorites in miniature -- including "The Bat-Poet" by Randall Jarrell, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak; "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72" by Hunter S. Thompson; "Do You Sleep In the Nude?" by Rex Reed; and "August Is a Wicked Month" by Edna O'Brien.

Check out the full slideshow with amusing textual commentary.

(Via Kottke.org.)

facebooktwitterreddit