The Spook House
Book jacket for 'The Spook House' by Ambrose Bierce – part of a new 'Modern Gothic' series to be published by Penguin Books.
The book is set in 19th Century America and I wanted the cover to allude to the period / context as a whole, opposed to a literal element within the story. I therefore decided to hand-draw the type in a traditional style seen on signs of the period.
These hand-drawn letters were then mirrored exactly on the back cover, with the front blind debossed and the back blind embossed to give the impression of the text having been 'pushed' through the book. This ties in with an element of the story in which a man becomes locked in a room and bangs for help on the door, leaving a hand print that would be 'pushed' through.
'Ambros Bierce' was created using found hot-metal letters, inking them up and pressing them to keep the typography consistent with the period.
Student project, no commercial purposes.
Embossing photos by David McGillivray.
The book is set in 19th Century America and I wanted the cover to allude to the period / context as a whole, opposed to a literal element within the story. I therefore decided to hand-draw the type in a traditional style seen on signs of the period.
These hand-drawn letters were then mirrored exactly on the back cover, with the front blind debossed and the back blind embossed to give the impression of the text having been 'pushed' through the book. This ties in with an element of the story in which a man becomes locked in a room and bangs for help on the door, leaving a hand print that would be 'pushed' through.
'Ambros Bierce' was created using found hot-metal letters, inking them up and pressing them to keep the typography consistent with the period.
Student project, no commercial purposes.
Embossing photos by David McGillivray.