W.A. Dwiggins had passion for spine design. He knew that most bookstores sold their wares spine out on the shelves, and that as beautiful as his covers might be, the first sight a buyer would see was the narrow edge of a book standing at attention, so he wasted no space. He wasn’t paid an extra fee for spines, even though he rendered each one (like those below) by hand.
For those who have never seen a paste-up created with original artwork, feast your eyes on Dwig’s singular perfection—every mark is his handiwork. And when he made the occasional mistake, he replaced it with hand-drawn type or ornament.
