Covering the New Yorker: Cutting-Edge Covers from a Literary Institution

Whether whimsical, provocative, or laugh-out-loud funny, The New Yorker’s covers are always the talk of the town.

For seventy-five years The New Yorker has been entertaining and enlightening its loyal readers (two-thirds of whom live outside the city). Its peerless covers—created by a large stable of extraordinarily talented artists and cartoonists—have mirrored the magazine’s feisty spirit from the beginning, becoming even more pungently topical in recent years. No noteworthy subject or scandal has escaped their scrutiny, from Broadway flappers and the eternal Eustace Tilley to dishonest pols and the gigahertz speed of contemporary life. Inexhaustibly varied in mood and style, the covers are united by their visual sophistication, their imaginative wit, and their high pleasure-giving quotient.

This stylish compendium presents not only the best of The New Yorker’s covers—selected by art editor Francoise Mouly and organized into such classic themes as The Big City, Arts and Music, and The Buzz—but also a behind-the-scenes peek at the sketches that lead up to them, as well as a look at the controversy that sometimes follows in their wake. A “Conversation” between Ms. Mouly and Lawrence Weschler—a noted New Yorker writer and are critic—illuminates the history of the magazine’s covers and how they have changed over the past decade. In addition, several “Sketchbooks” highlight the work of especially evocative cover artists, including Semp, Spiegelman, and Steinber, these portfolios are complemented by six detachable full-size covers, suitable for framing, bound into the back of the book.About the Authors:

Francoise Mouly is art editor of The New Yorker. Lawrence Weschler is a frequent contributor to the magazine.