Magazines Part II

Early Magazine Cover- The earliest magazine did not have what we think as covers. Most of them dedicated the opening page to the title and table of contents. When early magazines used cover they tended to model them after the covers of books providing only titles and publication data. their we're no descriptive words indicating what would be found inside the magazine. in 1838 cover lines began to appear within such generic covers in the later 1800s. 1872 uses a completely generic cover richly decorated with leafy symmetry of Victorian embellishments.

The Poster Cover- Since the 1890's to the 1960s one type of cover could be said to dominate the magazine field. It was not only kind of cover to be found but the poster cover produced so many memorable covers on so many issues of so many magazines. by the early 1900s, several illustrators including Charles Dana Gibson and also Maxfield Parrish had become nationally famous. the covers of many of those oversized magazines looked as i they were printed to be framed and hung on the walls. August 1898 seems typical, it presents a painting of troops on hourseback riding to battle in cuba, in fine romantic realism. from the 1920s till the 1960s poster covers appeared prominently on many prominent magazines.

Pictures Married to Type- The poster covers in the 20th century-- magazines whose stunning cover left the aesthetic sensibilities of an era. by this 1916 cover the designer has utilized many of the methods that would be re-invented throughtout the 20th century for integrating cover lines with cover art. july 1932 illustrates the high degree of technical skill illustrators could bring to bear in integrated covers. in the 1940s and 1950s leading national magazines were daring in many ways but rarely daring in the use of cover lines.

In the Forest of Words- Magazines at the turn of the 21 st century cover lines were as important as cover art in some cases cover lines and cover art improvised a new, vigorous, almost shocking dance with one other. august 1992 cover lines attain a prominence that competes with the nameplace of the magazine itself. though poster cover and with no cover lines or just a few quiet ones can still be found. they have become rare on newsstands. december 2001, the author surveyed the magazines in large borders bookstore. the early 2000s are so immersed in commercial typography. channel-hopping and web surfing. consumer culture competing values and objects clamoring for attention that the picture of a cover model cheerfully or seductively immersed in a forest of words may seem to us a mere depiction of daily normality.