[.ca] The Look of Love: The Art of the Romance Novel (ISBN 1568983123)

Lust, passion, betrayal and that's just the cover!:
Individually these covers are very dull as graphic designs but put 150 in a book and they become interesting. As the author says in the intro, the paperback romance has come a long way. For years the covers of this literary genre had a dominant painting, predictably of the heroine, mediocre typography for the title, blurb and author's name. By the seventies things had changed for the better and covers took on the full force of the Marketing Division, image space was reduced to make way for expressive typography (some of it very good too) die-cut holes, foil stamping, embossing, fluorescent inks, thermography and varied paper stock. Unfortunately there is only one example of the contemporary look ('Hearts Aflame' by Johanna Lindsey) in the 150 shown. Mostly they are American covers from the forties to the mid-sixties, some from Canada and a few from Mills and Boon the main British romance publisher. Each of the nine chapters has a page of intro text printed on slightly yellowing paper, leading into the covers, a nice touch on these intro pages is the turned over top right-hand corner creating a bookmark, as one does with inexpensive books. Some of the covers also have the back shown and you can read the clichéd copy written to convince the casual book browser that they really do want to know what happened next. This is worthwhile addition to my popular culture book collection and if you want more have a look at the six hundred covers in Richard Lupff's 'The Great American Paperback', a book of coffee-table proportions covering all genres but which I found rather disappointing because of its sloppy production. I don't think I'm giving too much away if I quote the last page of 'The Look of Love'... "That's what it's like, darling," said Mrs. Stokes uneasily, "Being a doctor's wife, I mean." "I know," said Linette softly, her eyes starry. "Isn't it wonderful?"

As much an art book as a literary survey:
As much an art book as a literary survey, Look Of Love considers the covers and stories of the romance market which have captivated millions from 1940-70. From changing themes of romance novels - such as women who come to struggle between careers and love - to changing images of women and passion, this is a colorful and revealing survey.