Chip Kidd occupies a unique niche in the literary world. For the past two decades he has produced book jackets at Alfred A. Knopf, winning wide acclaim for his eye-catching artwork and ingenious designs. His uncanny ability to capture the essence of a book in a single image is showcased in Chip Kidd Book One Work: 1986-2006 , a glossy new volume that offers a wonderful overview of his career. Kidd has provided the finishing touches for all kinds of volumes, and many of his jacket images the pristine white boxer shorts on the front of David Sedaris’ Naked, for instance, or the silvery mane that makes the cover of Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses so memorable will be familiar to book buyers. Suggestive and impressionistic, each jacket conjures up immediate associations for the reader, symbolizing and summarizing the book, complementing its contents.
How does Kidd do it? In Book One, he reveals all, discussing his work habits, influences and inspirations. A host of notable contributors Elmore Leonard, Haruki Murakami and David Sedaris, to name a few share their thoughts on Kidd and his significance in the publishing world. The volume also spotlights Kidd’s work in the field of graphic novels, focusing on his projects for DC Comics, including Batman Collected and Batman Animated. With an introduction by John Updike and photographs by Geoff Spear, Book One is a treasure from cover to cover for art lovers and bibliophiles alike. Julie Hale keeps her old copies of The New Yorker in Austin, Texas.
