I am fairly certain this was the cover to the first paperback edition, in 1980. It was, at least, the cover of the first version I read.
A 1983 paperback edition.
A mid-1980s omnibus edition of the first two books, The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator with art by Jim Burns.
The Science Fiction Book Club omnibus edition, collecting all four books. I have seen this one occasionally in a few used book stores. The binding has always seemed suspect.
A strangely re-titled edition. I don't know where this originated or why the decision was made to change the title.
A Gollancz edition from the United Kingdom. Fairly typical of that line.
An edition from the Easton Press. I'm very curious about whether there are any interior illustrations and if so, which artist created them.
And here are a handful of foreign editions. Some of these are almost shocking. First, I believe this is a Dutch edition from 1989.
A Spanish-language edition from 1984.
A French edition from 1985.
Finally, and by far the most jarring, a Japanese edition. Be aware that this is the cover for the novel, not a manga adaptation.
Special thanks to Samwise in Spain for connecting me to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, a treasure trove of covers, reviews, and much more.
16 comments:
Easily one of my favorite books of all time by a GIGANTIC margin. Up there with Tolkien, rubbing shoulders.
I've never been happy with the covers, but that is because I want the covers to be like, a classic Borgesian piece of lit-fiction or something. I want a one volume Book of the New Sun with a gold embossed solar disc on the cover, minimalist like.
I bring this up at meetings sometimes & people look at me like I'm crazy.
I did a bit of searching, and the illustrator for the Easton Press edition was Michael Mariano. But I couldn't find sample illustrations from the book anywhere. It also looks like they used different illustrators for the other books in the series (Easton Press did publish more than just the first book). I would love to see the entire Book of the New Sun in these editions.
And...that Japanese cover has got to be Takeshi Obata. No question.
Yup, confirmed.
I've expressed my fondness for Obata before, and you've disagreed with it before, but I have to concur that this cover is incredibly jarring. It references his Death Note covers in a wholly inappropriate fashion and evokes Light Yagami far too strongly -- his later work on the series even more so.
Though once I get past the face, I do enjoy several aspects of the Obata. I like the boldly heraldic New Sun on Severian's tunic and the halo that appears to depict a deconstructed, stylized, exploding Earth. Likewise, the later covers mix SF and fantasy tropes very well (I dig Light/Severian's padded throne on Urth). It's just the face that I can't get past. (His stiff, stylized covers always fall down on the face.)
On the other hand, I quite like the oddly retitled one. It gives away too much about the novel's setting while also making it look much too generically SF, but alone of all these covers, it makes Severian look like a youth. I realize that his canonical description (always a suspect one, since it's filtered either through characters who can't properly see him, or through Severian's longing nostalgia for his youthful body) is of an imposing man with little youth left in his appearance, but I still can't shake the impression that really butch, invulnerable-looking images of Severian misportray him.
Of these covers, however, I do like the ones (like the '80s Spanish edition) that take Severian completely out of the human realm and into Tarot-like symbolism. Given the multiple layers of symbolism that Severian's appearance carries in-universe, this is very appropriate.
I've never seen a Wolfe cover I really thought was right. The 1983 paperback comes the closest to the feeling of the books; I don't mind its somewhat standard fantasy art because there is a strong Conan-esque side to Wolfe's work that shouldn't be minimized any more than the passionately religious and literary sides. Similarly, the Science Fiction Book Club edition does a good job of conveying Severian's youth and slight goofiness without losing the sense of danger and threat (the curve of his neck makes him seem gawky and young, and I like the silly look his mask gives to his hair). Points, also, for making him correctly shirtless. The positioning of the sword is super-phallic and weird, but then that's kind of how Severian rolls.
That top cover was also my first (the image, in somewhat smaller form, is on my partner's omnibus edition) and I've always found it incredibly bad, though now that I look at it again now, I can also appreciate the nonsense architecture and the flair of that strange mask. At least it's doing a thing.
Mordicai, I second your endorsement. I've read the series three times...once in high school, once in college, and several years ago as an adult. Like the best of books, I find myself discovering entire new layers of narrative and idea with each reading. Wolfe is staggeringly brilliant.
I briefly (VERY briefly) thought about attempting some kind of BotNS illustration project of my own because, like you, I have never been happy with the covers or the illustrations I've seen.
(Side note: Have you seen the book Realms of Fantasy? One of the chapters is devoted to illustrations of Wolfe's Urth. Disappointing art. Very disappointing.)
Anyway, I gave up the idea of illustrating these books very quickly. I'm still not quite sure what I see, but I know I am not at all up to the task. Yet.
I am all for your idea of a massive one volume omnibus collection with a gold embossed solar disc though. I had no idea you were ever in meetings where such topics could come up. I think now it is upon your shoulders to make this happen.
Rudy, that is odd that Easton Press used different illustrators for each book. You would think a story as connected and tightly plotted as this would demand some kind of visual consistency as well. I know Centipede Press recently released all 4 books as limited edition $200 volumes with illustrations. I saw some of the pieces and they were really disappointing. Very slick, modern, and digital. They seemed to embody the worst of contemporary sci-fi illustration.
RF, there is much I want to address with your comment.
First, very interesting that the Japanese publishers chose Obata. I can only presume that his work, and Death Note, is as rampantly popular in Japan as it has been in the US so the choice of Obata as a cover artist would seem to imply that the publisher wants the books to sell very well, expects them to sell very well, or both. I would not have imagined Wolfe would have that much appeal to Japanese readers, but I can't quite put my finger on why.
The Obata cover is particularly jarring because of the face of who I presume is Severian. I remember part of my disagreement with you about Obata and Death Note was that I found the visuals a bit too slick, antiseptic, and pretty and there seems to be a lot of that going on here as well. Aside from the fact that Severian has black hair, I never imagined him to be this pretty. If anything, I imagined him to look rather plain, bordering on the ugly, but with the kind of face that a very small twist could make rather handsome.
I do agree that the trappings and symbolism on the cover work well though. Wolfe has acknowledged his debt to Jack Vance and his Dying Earth books, and I've always felt that some of that strangeness and decadence is echoed quite well in the New Sun books. The lushness of the design, the strangeness of the technology, and the delicate linework (referencing perhaps Harry Clarke and Aubrey Beardsley among others) carry that sense of decadence across very well.
You make some very good points about the cover of the retitled edition. I have to agree with all of them, but the fact that the image on the cover is strangely tilted really shatters it for me. It is the best Severian though, other than perhaps the masked figure on the first edition paperback. That may be my own nostalgia speaking though. Odd that we disagree so deeply on that one. I've never been especially thrilled with it but I never found it "incredibly bad." Like you, it was always the nonsensical architecture (just how is that platform supported anyway?) and that incredible mask that appealed to me.
I'm really not sure if a work as complex as the New Sun could ever have a "right" cover. The narrative is so complex, so rich and so ambiguous that it simply defies easy visualization. I'm so glad I never attempted this. It could be creative suicide.
I also wanted to add that "The positioning of the sword is super-phallic and weird, but then that's kind of how Severian rolls" was a remarkable comment. So true. So very true.
I can only presume that his work, and Death Note, is as rampantly popular in Japan as it has been in the US so the choice of Obata as a cover artist would seem to imply that the publisher wants the books to sell very well, expects them to sell very well, or both. I would not have imagined Wolfe would have that much appeal to Japanese readers, but I can't quite put my finger on why.
I am pretty sure Obata is even bigger in Japan, since Hikaru no Go was a huge hit there as well. Though his major series have substantial adult fandoms, I don't think he's ever drawn one actually for adults, which is another weird thing about this choice. New Sun is a lot of things, but it's not child-friendly.
His illustrations for the covers suggest a good understanding of the books -- he is one of the few illustrators to really get Terminus Est right. So maybe it's just that he asked. Of the Japanese illustrators who leap to mind, I'd like to see what Yoshitaka Amano did with New Sun. Perhaps I'd regret it, though, since for all the novels' elaborate decadence, they're just not busy in the way that his work is busy. Obata gets away with Busy because he's going for explicit iconic symbolism, but that's not how Amano works, at least as I've ever seen him.
I imagine that at the very least, Wolfe is extremely challenging to translate to Japanese (or any other language).
Aside from the fact that Severian has black hair, I never imagined him to be this pretty. If anything, I imagined him to look rather plain, bordering on the ugly, but with the kind of face that a very small twist could make rather handsome.
It's odd, because I think this face is Obata going as ugly as he can within the perimeters of "pretty." (He is very happy to draw caricatured or monstrous characters, but he has a "pretty" template that he doesn't like to leave for the lead character).
Odd that we disagree so deeply on that one. I've never been especially thrilled with it but I never found it "incredibly bad." Like you, it was always the nonsensical architecture (just how is that platform supported anyway?) and that incredible mask that appealed to me.
I just don't understand why Severian is surrounded by shrunken heads, and why they're so much more stylized than him, and why he has a multicolored ruff.
I'm really not sure if a work as complex as the New Sun could ever have a "right" cover. The narrative is so complex, so rich and so ambiguous that it simply defies easy visualization. I'm so glad I never attempted this. It could be creative suicide.
This is quite true, although I agree with moredicai that it begs for a gorgeous, very simple, one-volume literary edition. With black staining around the pages.
I've come around to really liking Michael Whelan's cover for Shadow, although I wish the rest of his covers for the series showed equal restraint. I like Claw too actually, but his covers for Sword & Citadel are just awful,(particularly the depiction of Baldanders on the Sword cover).
That British paperback is gorgeous, but you need to see the full wraparound cover! http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3152/2970345672_e6f2dd940c_z.jpg
I have never seen that Spanish edition, but I really really like it, it conveys the cruel landscape and Severian's heavily brooding nature very well.
I would agree that Wolfe's vision seems to be elusive to, or at least under-served by artists. A few stray covers are very good, but usually they seem to just resort to generic fantasy tropes. Other attempts to visualize Book of the New Sun have only been interesting failures as well, like the Realms of Fantasy book you mentioned, the Ted Naifeh drawn comics adapation (only of the first third or so of Shadow), and the heavily illustrated GURPS RPG manual.
Thanks for posting these Matt, it was great to see some of the rarer editions of one of my favorite books!
I am envious of Obata if indeed he has enough clout to simply ask to provide art for certain projects and then have the opportunity to work on them. No doubt he has earned that through a proven sales history but man, to be able to pick and choose covers like that...wow, that would be wonderful.
I tend to agree with you regarding Amano. He does bring the right balance of decadence, fantasy and reality but his work does indeed tend toward busy-ness and as much as I am a fan, I do think he over-feminizes nearly every character whether they are male, female, or non-human. I am actually a bit alarmed imagining an Amano version of Baldanders.
In terms of the narrative, I had never even considered the challenges inherent in translating a work as complex as New Sun into Japanese. Especially given Wolfe's conceit that he himself translated the work into English from a language that does not yet exist (or some such delightful nonsense like that).
As I looked again at the cover for that initial paperback, I had to grudgingly agree with you that the little skulls and shrunken heads are a bit out of place and detract from the cover more than I would like. My attention has always been so focused on the silhouette of Severian that over the years I simply stopped noticing some of the set dressing like that. It is unfortunate. For some reason I always liked the multicolored lining. Less so the ruff, but I felt like that was a nice visual cue to the outward simplicity of Severian (the apprentice torturer in fuligin) contrasted with the inner complexity (a mind teeming with other lives, the soon-to-be Autarch).
Joe, is Whelan's cover the second one I posted, or is it the fourth one (the Science Fiction Book Club omnibus edition). I thought that Don Maitz had done the covers for all the first editions.
Regardless of the artist though, you and I are in agreement. The covers simply get worse and worse. Describing the first as restrained is quite apt, and it is certainly the strongest. Claw is not bad although the man-apes are a bit comedic. His Baldanders is dreadful and why in the world is Severian blue-skinned and cross-eyed on Citadel? Awful.
I'm gradually coming around to that British paperback version. I'm still not sure how I feel about all the crows flying around, but the color palette and composition both do a wonderful job of conveying the exhaustion and the slow creeping death of an incredibly ancient world limping toward a quiet death. The wraparound is gorgeous.
At first, I was not fond of that Spanish cover because it reminded me far too much of Brom's cover for Vance's Compleat Dying Earth omnibus but now, given New Sun's direct bloodline to Dying Earth, perhaps this was intentional. In that case, I applaud the decision to echo the imagery.
For an aw-shucks kind of guy who claims to be a humble record store employee, you have an incredible way of articulately describing art. Your "Wolfe's vision seems to be elusive to, or at least under-served by artists" was pitch-perfect and very nicely stated. I suppose it is in some way a tribute to New Sun's lasting hold on readers that the history of its covers has been populated by a series of often drastically different "interesting failures."
I'm not sure why these books seem to almost defy illustration, but I think a big part of that is the gap between Severian's world, and the way in which he conveys it to readers, and our own world. Severian's tone is almost dry, and deceptively simple. To Severian, there is really nothing especially remarkable about Nessus or the Matachin Tower or Typhon or even really Baldanders. They seem to be part of the everyday weirdness of the last days of Urth. To us readers though, these sites would be wondrous beyond belief and yet we can find no real foothold in Wolfe's words to build these visions on. An intriguing kind of friction, worked into the narrative so seamlessly that it is almost invisible. Wolfe is a genius.
Also, for those of you reading, some day when Joe and I are super rich we're going to start a small publishing imprint of our own and make all the books we always wanted to see. Our slate includes a 590 page fully illustrated (one for every page) edition of David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus (art by me), lavishly illustrated editions of Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros and Hodgson's books The Boats of the Glen Carrig and The Night Land, a massive art book collecting all of Sidney Sime's work, a massive collection of Ian Miller's illustrations, beautiful new editions of Ed Emberley's The Wizard of Op and Suppose You Met a Witch and much much more. These books will be amazing! All we need now is a hundred thousand dollars or so...
You're right Matt, it is Don Maitz I was talking about when I said Whelan, I don't know why I didn't take the time to double-check!
Ha, no worries Joe. This was definitely a rare slip from you, and you've rightfully corrected me a few times. Honestly, the style is fairly close to Whelan's anyway, so it's an easy mistake. Thanks for hipping me to the Pennington wraparounds. I really really like those and they are truly growing on me.
I have to admit I'm not crazy about that Brom cover for the Dying Earth, although it's mostly the typography and the transparent border. Brom is cool though, one of the few TSR artists that has his own style.
Another book that our future publishing company would have to compile is a Jack Gaughan collection, and a general Ed Emberley collection, oh yeah and a Finnish troll book, and Peake's Craft of the Lead Pencil and maybe we could come up with some other stuff? Maybe.
That transparent border on the Brom cover is really awful. I have never been fond of that design element, and I have rarely seen it used well.
I used to be really into Brom back when I worked at Barnes & Noble. I remember he released an art book and I was wild about all these crazy paintings he did for some card game (like Magic) about angels warring against one another. I look back at his stuff now and it doesn't do much for me, but compared to most of the garbage that passes for "house style" from TSR he stands head and shoulders above. He definitely has an instantly recognizable vision and that alone is worthy of respect.
Now, the good stuff. There is a Jack Gaughan book out, but I seem to remember flipping through it and being deeply disappointed. Am I remembering correctly? If so, I am all for remedying that when our publishing house gets off the ground. All the titles you mentioned are delightful, and the Finnish troll book would be amazing. I'm hoping for lots of John Bauer, Theodor Kittelsen, Tove Jansson and the d'Aulaires.
But especially...ESPECIALLY...Peake's Craft of the Lead Pencil. Dear lord, what I wouldn't give for a copy of that. That needs to be in print and available. It truly does.
I have lots of other titles in mind, but I was saving those for our second year. These are just the ones we'll launch with, you know?
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