Book Blogger Hop No. 6: Book Beauty Wins Over Budgeting

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop,

hosted by Billy @

Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer!

For more information, and 

to find out the topic of next week's question, click HERE.

This Week's Question

Have you ever bought a more 

expensive edition of a book, when

a cheaper edition was

available, just because you 

preferred the cover of the

more expensive one?

(Submitted  by Maria  @ 

A Night's Dream of Books)

My Answer

Since I consider myself a bibliophile just as much as a bookworm, the answer is definitely "YES!!" After all, a book's cover is nearly as important as the content within the book. The cover is a portal into the wonders of the book itself, whether fiction or nonfiction. It's also what entices a potential reader to open an unfamiliar book in the first place. 

Whenever I've gone to "Paradise", which is what I love to call my local Barnes & Noble bookstore, I have seen books with beautiful and ugly covers. I will only glance at those ugly covers once, and then quickly move on. A beautiful cover, on the other hand, will pull me toward the book, just as surely as a magnet is pulled to metal. Such a cover will make me want to take a closer look, to investigate the book's content. Sometimes, I'm disappointed by the fact that a beautiful cover will belong to a book whose content, on closer inspection, I am not at all interested in. Usually, however, the content will be well matched by the gorgeous cover.

When a book has been a bestseller for several years, it will have been published in several editions. This happens frequently with classics. Although of course the content is usually the same in each edition (unless the book has been abridged, and or a foreword or introduction has been added), I will be more willing to buy an edition with a beautiful cover, even if I have to pay more for it. Absolutely! I just don't want to own a book with an ugly cover, if I can help it. Lol.

The fact that I prefer books with beautiful covers does not mean that I will splurge on a VERY expensive edition. I certainly cannot afford to buy books from The Folio Society on a regular basis, or even AT ALL. Nor can I afford books that cost more than $25.00, for example. However, books with beautiful covers need not be THAT expensive. I have found gorgeous ones for less than $20.00. The new B&N hardcover collector's editions are very reasonably priced, and believe me, they are GORGEOUS!

Here's a very obvious example of two different editions of a classic -- one with a gorgeous cover, and the other with an ugly one.

 

Since I totally ADORE this novel, I actually own several editions of it, each with a beautiful cover. The one above is probably my favorite. I think this cover is just EXQUISITE, and it captures Jane's personality so very well, too. The composition, the colors, the model's pose -- everything about this cover is beautiful and harmonious. This edition is currently available new directly from Amazon for $14.32, although third-party sellers have it for less. You can check it out HERE.

I consider this cover to be a MONSTROSITY. I can't believe that B&N actually was responsible for this edition! There are just SO MANY things wrong with this cover! For instance, the hand is much smaller than the face, and is very awkwardly placed. Even non-artists are aware that either of one's hands is almost as long as one's face! It even looks as if a child's hand is grabbing Jane's chin. This hand certainly does NOT look like it belongs to the person pictured here. Another very wrong thing about this cover is that it looks like she has a black eye! What's up with that? And there are more things.... In the novel, Jane is 18 years old when the events between her and Rochester take place. The woman pictured here seems to be in her fifties! Furthermore, she has such a dejected, defeated, depressed expression on her face! Jane, in contrast, is a fiery, passionate woman, although she does present a quiet exterior.

In short, I would NEVER want this edition of this wonderful novel, not even if someone GAVE it to me! It's currently available directly from Amazon for..... only $.99! Hahahaha!! And it's a hardcover, too. Third-party sellers have it for higher prices. But the fact that Amazon itself has it for such a low price indicates that I'm not alone in considering this cover to be HIDEOUS. You can check out this edition HERE.

I wouldn't think twice if a bookstore had both of these editions in stock. Without hesitation, I would reach for the first edition pictured above, and totally ignore the second. In fact, I have done so, because I never bought the second edition when it was for sale at B&N, nor have I taken advantage of the VERY low price on Amazon! Lol. Instead, I bought the Everyman Library edition (the first one pictured above).

I could give many more examples of gorgeous and ugly covers for the same book, but then this post would be much too long. The examples above will, I'm sure, get my point across. 

In my honest opinion, owning a copy of a book that has a beautiful cover gives me such aesthetic pleasure, that I consider it well worth the money spent. What good is it to save some money, and have to stare at an ugly cover every time one picks up a certain book? 

What are your thoughts on

this topic?

If you're participating in this hop,

I'll go comment on your 

own BBH post.

If not, I will then comment on one 

of your blog posts!

Thanks for visiting!!!