Penguin Inked

Cover designed by Russ Abbott

Paul Buckley over at Penguin publishing must have one of the best jobs in design, not only has he some of the greatest books ever written at his to design jackets for, but also an almost unlimited ability to commission new illustrations! Personally I think we are living through a golden age for book jacket design at the moment, almost everytime I walk into a bookshop there are at least 6 titles which scream "BUY ME!" just on their book cover alone, Paul Buckley and his team at Penguin have played no small part in this consumer compulsion! Penguin covers are innovating and always engaging with the reader to pick their books off the shelf and to take them home. Well they have done it again, this time commissioning Tattoo artists to give their take on classics such as Angela Carters The Bloody Chamber to Helen Fieldings The Diary of Bridget Jones. This new series is collected under the title of Penguin Inked and has been running in America since 2010 but only just came to my attention when I was in a bookshop during my summer break in Ireland.

Cover designed by Gonzallo

Most of these are based in the new wave of old style sailor tattoos, I wonder if any literary fans out there will get inked with their favourite authors sleeve?

Cover by Tara McPherson

Cover by Duke Reily

Cover by Bert Krak

Cover by Jen Munford

Cover designed by Duncan X

Cover designed by Valerie Vargas

Cover designed by Han van der Sluys

Cover designed by Lynn Akura