33 First Edition Books Are Re-Covered For Auction

The auction house Sotheby’s will be auctioning off some very special lots on December 11th 2017.

33 first edition books have had their covers re-interpreted by famous contemporary artists and illustrators. In partnership with Winsor & Newton, and in benefit of House of Illustration, the covers will be auctioned for an average of £2000. The covers range from Shaun Tan’s re-covering of Orwell’s Animal Farm, to Neil Gaiman’s cover for Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. 

Check out some of the covers below, and visit Sotheby’s website for more details.

Quentin Blake, of Roald Dahl and David Walliams fame, has reimagined this Hunchback of Notre Dame first edition by Victor Hugo. In wonderful Blake style the hunchback on his re-cover looks suitably dark and exciting.

Actor Peter Capaldi may be better known to some of you as the 12th Doctor in the BBC’s Doctor Who series. He put his creative talents towards this re-design of Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Capaldi chose this story for its themes of humanity, the stark imagery, and considers it one of the greatest stories of the 20th century.

Lauren Child’s sweet and colourful illustrations are usually found in the children’s book (and animation) series Charlie and Lola. Child is currently Children’s Laureate from 2017 to 2019, and has previously illustrated a Pippi Longstocking book, the image used for this cover re-imagining is taken from her previous Pippi designs.

Award-winning illustrator, Chris Riddell, is a political cartoonist for The Observer newspaper, and was UK Children’s Laureate from 2015 to 2017. He says of this particular first edition: “Peake writes with a painterly eye and a wonderful feeling for the grotesque but also a poetic compassion that is beguiling. It was wonderful experience producing a cover for this unique novel”.