That “something” became two small, nervously drawn figures
printed in red, running on the vacant expanse upward toward the title.
Although the cover calls to mind Saul Bass’s 1955 expressionistic film poster
for The Man With The Golden Arm,it was more likely influenced by the jazz
albums Bacon had designed starting in the late 1940 s. Whatever the
influences, the book became a huge bestseller and the jacket, displayed
everywhere, caught the publishing industry’s attention.
Other publishers lost no time contacting Bacon to request similar
jackets for their potential bestsellers. But few of them really understood
what made Compulsionso successful. Bacon remembers, “I’d get calls that
started like this: ‘We have a book we’d like you to do, and it’s called
Darkness on the Highway at High Noon,and it’s set in Tulsa, Oklahoma,’ or
something like that, and I’d say, ‘Wait a minute; what you like about
Compulsionis that big, powerful one-word title.’ But it’s hard to dissuade
people from their titles. Nonetheless, I took the jobs, and I started to work
for literally everybody.”
Bacon estimates he designed about 6,500jackets from the late
1940 s through early 2000 for all the major houses—but most consistently
for Simon & Schuster for over forty years. The Baconesque approach
became pervasive throughout the trade book world, yet his signature style
was not always instantly recognizable because Bacon characteristically
subordinated ego to function. He explains: “I’d always tell myself, ‘You’re
not the star of the show. The author took three and a half years to write the
goddamn thing and the publisher is spending a fortune on it, so just back
off.’” Robert Gottlieb, an editor at Simon & Schuster during the 1950 s and
later editorial director at Knopf for twenty-one years who often worked
with Bacon, comments, “He had a bestseller look but he came up with
other looks as well, some of which helped books become bestsellers.”
In fact, when you look at Bacon’s jackets en masse, you realize that
you’re looking at a history of late twentieth-century commercial book cover
design, a virtual legacy of eclectic lettering, illustration, and typography
prior to the digital revolution. Bacon was, after all, a product of an era of
hand-drawn lettering, handmade illustration, and type that was cut and
pasted in order to achieve precise spacing. While this sounds archaic in a
time when layered Photoshop imagery is the order of the day, Bacon’s work
was appealing precisely for its handcrafted precision (as well as minor
imperfections) and spot-on conceptual acuity that evoked the story rather
than an isolated passage.
Born in Ossining, New York, in 1923 , Bacon grew up in Union
Beach, New Jersey, attended Arts High School in Newark, and started his
jacket career by accident in New York after he was discharged from the
tuis.
(Tuis.)
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