What's your favourite book cover?

What are your favourite book covers?

In general, I have to say that I prefer the covers done by Josh Kirsby. He's the artist that drew the covers of the first 26 Discworld novels (including The Thief of Time). Sadly he died in 2001 so he was replaced by a different artist, Paul Kidby. I think Josh Kirsby's drawings reflect the wackiness of Pratchett's universe better. The ones made by Paul Kidby's are a lot cleaner looking, and altough his drawings look very nice, they feel more like a 'general' fantasy world that doesn't do 100% justice to the Discworld characters. You can compare for yourself.

Josh Kirsby (Equal Rites):

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Paul Kidby (The Science of Discworld):

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Now, on to my favourite cover. I think that honour has to go to Reaper Man.

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The image of Death himself dressed in a peasant outfit while patting the little girl on her head is funny yet unsettling because his enormous reaper provides an constant reminder of his never-ending task (yes, even she will die in due time). Yet he himself looks so peaceful, happy to be able to think of other things.

So, what's yours? Post away!

**Note: covers may vary per region. I uploaded all the UK covers in the album section.**

I actually don't know the different illustrators names. It's not hard to tell them apart but I just haven't bothered to check their names.

Anyway, I find these covers to my likings:

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I was never too fond of Monstrous Regiment though. A decent story but somehow the characters didn't stick well with me.

Fun fact: the cover of Night Watch refers to the famous painting of Rembrandt, also called The Night watch:

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So you prefer the new covers done by Kidby? Or is it a draw between Kidby and Kirsby?

Well actually, I mostly find Kirsby's covers more imaginative and fun to look at than Kidby's. But the style of Kidby's art fits better with the way I'm visualizing the Discworld and the characters. Judging purely as cover art then it would be a draw, otherwise I'd have to go with Kidby.

And regarding the Rembrandt piece, new trivia is always fun to learn.

I always liked the monstrous regiment cover the most. It certainly adds to the feel of the novel. Most of the covers I barely glance at because its difficult to understand who and what they are portraying. (Or at least, its not interesting at first to note what they are portrating)

For me it's either Night Watch...

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Which I loved even before I realised it was a parody of a famous painting, or Small Gods...

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Which depicts one of my favourite moments in any Discworld book. Vorbis gets it right between the eyes.

I'm afraid I do generally prefer Kidby's covers over Kirsby's; to me, they seem to capture the look of things better. The Small Gods cover perhaps illustrates that point better than many others: Vorbis has the massive hooked nose typical of Kirsby's covers, which doesn't really fit with my idea of the way he should look, while Brutha, who is described as a fairly bulky fellow throughout the book, despite his time in the desert, looks far too scrawny to my eyes.I must admit, the craziness of Kirsby's covers is one thing that made me put off reading a Pratchett book until so late on, too.