This is the minority view, but I subscribe to it if only to encourage more adventurous
binding materials and design for children’s books. A solution which meets all needs,
widely adopted for picture books, is to repeat the design of the printed paper cover as a
dust wrapper. There are many less explored ways of redirecting design attention towards
the permanent covering of the book, and alleviating the current situation where lavish
full-colour jackets are used to conceal abysmally perfunctory binding styles of dispiriting
drabness. As with other areas of product design, there are signs that a materials
revolution will soon involve the designer in specifying the precise finishes and properties
of papers and coverings for children’s books, that are to be durable and aesthetically
pleasing. With luck we’ll then see less of materials which imitate others, and of the
glossy finishes to papers and non-woven coverings, paints and inks, varnishes and
laminates which were the hallmarks of the first plastics age.
Now that the book is able to share some of its educational and cultural burden with
younger sectors of information technology, all the signs are that its status as a cultural
object will rise alongside other quality media. Design holds many of the keys to such a
transformation, and a massive new approach towards turning competing series of the
classics of world literature into desirable possessions was to be observed in the
bookshops by 1993. New trends in the total re-design of adult lists, both cased and
paper covered, began rather earlier than that, and children’s reference and resource
books have gone from strength to strength. At the time of writing the mainstream of
children’s book design is moribund and ripe for new initiatives. There are a number of
exceptionally talented younger designers and illustrators on the scene and I am sure
that children, as always, are ready to be shown that books, the oldest branch of
information technology, are still the most efficient and vital and the most fun.
ReferencesAlexander, J.J. G. (1992) Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work, New Haven and
London: Yale University Press.
Burt, C. (1959) A Psychological Study of Typography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cornenius, J.A. (1659) Orbis Pictus, facsimile of first English edition introduced by Sadler, J.E.
(1968), London: Oxford University Press.
Escarpit, R. (1966) The Book Revolution, London: Harrap.
Hindley, C. (1878) The Life and Times of James Catnach (Late of Seven Dials), Ballad Monger,
London: Reeves and Turner.
McLean, R. (1976) Joseph Cundall: A Victorian Publisher, Pinner: Private Libraries Association.
Mertens, S., Purpus, E. and Schneider, C. (eds) (1991) Blockbücher des Mittelalters. Bilderfolgen
als Lektüre, Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.
Rogers, B. (1943/1979) Paragraphs on Printing: Elicited from Bruce Rogers in talks with James
Hendrickson on the Functions of a Book Designer, New York: Dover.
Sassoon, R. (1993) ‘Through the eyes of a child: perception and type design’, in Sassoon, R. (ed.)
Computers and Typography, Oxford: Intellect Books.
Tschichold, J. (1991) The Form of the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good Design, London: Lund
Humphries.
CHILDREN’S BOOK DESIGN 463