A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beauvoir (Warner, 1973)
Contributed by Florian Hardwig on May 18th, 2024. Artwork published in
August 1973
.
First published by Gallimard in Paris in 1964 under the title Une mort très douce, this autobiographical book covers the time Simone de Beauvoir spent visiting her aging mother, who was dying of cancer. Patrick O’Brian provided the English translation. Shown here is the paperback edition published in the Warner Paperback Library in August 1973.
The display typeface is Benguiat Caslon, set stacked and interlocked with a lowered B, and used with swash caps. Around the same time, Bantam employed a similar typographic setup for their Philip Roth paperbacks.
1 Comment on “A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beauvoir (Warner, 1973)”
Maybe it was the realization that Philip Roth already “owned” such type-only covers with Benguiat Caslon. Or maybe the swashiness was deemed inappropriate, or no longer cool. In any case, Warner introduced a new cover design for this book in 1977, now with Motter Ombra: