Shelf Candy #12: The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern

This wonderful book meme/blog hop

is hosted by

Stephanie @

Five Alarm Book Reviews!!

The purpose of this feature is to display

a beautiful book cover,

with information, if available,

about the cover illustrator,

photographer, and/or designer.

For all the participation rules,

just click

HERE.

This week, I'm contrasting

two different covers --

one for the hardcover edition,

the other for the

paperback edition:

The Night Circus

Erin Morgenstern

Hardcover, 387 pges

Doubleday

September 13, 2011

Genres: Paranormal Romance,

Urban Fantasy

This cover is unquestionably unusual, and brilliantly designed, as well.  In fact, I find it absolutely stunning, not to mention dramatic!  I adore cover illustrations that stop me in my tracks, and this one is a prime example.  That stylized, gloved hand, holding out a miniature circus, immediately captures the eye.  The circus itself, with its bold, geometric design, is totally mesmerizing.  The color scheme is stark, and one immediately starts wondering about the strange clock sitting on top of the tallest tent. 

Interestingly, it's only on closer inspection that one can see that the object in the gloved hand is actually a miniature circus.  From a certain distance, it really looks like a doll.  This illusion is succesful because the circular orange-red shapes framing the central tent look like legs when viewed from a distnce.  The clock looks like a face, and the orange-red circle behind it looks like a bonnet.  So the whole image resembles a doll sitting in the hand, with her legs splayed out beneath her voluminous skirts.  I believe this was intentionally done by the artist, and is part of the effectiveness of this great cover.

The combination doll/circus image refers directly to the main character, Celia, who is a talented illusionist.  The cover illustration also creates an illusion through its central image.

The font used for the title is absolutely perfect!  I especially love the delicate scrollwork framing it, which is echoed by the curling designs on the white glove.  I also love the twinkling stars sprinkled all over the background.

The artist carried the design over onto the spine of the dust jacket, as you can see in my photograph below. 

The black-and-white striped design is also present on the end papers of the book, as well as on the title page.  Going even further, the book itself bears the scrollwork from the dust jacket on its front cover.

The beautiful dust jacket illustration
was created by 

Helen Musselwhite.

She has not only done book illustrations,

but has also created fine art pieces.

From the Artist's Website

By the use of bold colour, strong graphic line and familiar images I create highly individual and visually appealing pieces of art that make an instant impact. My work has a distinctive hand crafted quality that pays respect to all forms of mid century design, folk and ethnic art, as well as current and future trends.

The jacket design was done by

John Fontana.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find

any information about him.

I'm not sure whether he designed

the cover of the book itself,

pictured above.

The Night Circus

Erin Morgenstern

Trade Paperback, 387 pages

Random House Export

September 15, 2011

Genres: Paranormal Romance,

Urban Fantasy

This is indeed a very nice cover.  The silhouttes are beautifully done, and very graceful.  I like the fact that the circus tent is right in the middle, between the two figures.  A ribbon from the circus ties the mn and the woman together.  Their connection to the circus is thus very clear.  I also like the circles at the bottom of the dust jacket, as well as the font with the stars dotting two of the letters in the title.  The bird on the woman's dress, echoed by the one flying next to the man, must refer to some plot element.  They, too, are a nice touch, especially since they're opposites -- one is black, the other, white. 

Although I do like this second cover, for me it doesn't have the strong aesthetic impact of the one for the hardcover edition, which completely blows me away!  This one is very charming, even cute.  However, I prefer book covers to be so stunning they'll make me want to comtemplate them.  This one pales, I think, in comparison to the one shown above. 

Since I don't own this edition, I was unable to get any information on the artist/book designer.

What do you all think?

Do you prefer one over the other,

or do you like them both?

What wonderful covers

are you featuring this week?