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Alternative Book Covers

I like designing alternative book covers for classic spy novels. Here's a selection of my favourite alternate designs.
23 Pins
·9y
By
Graeme Shimmin
a book sitting on top of a wooden table
Book Covers
Alternative History
Spy Novels
Yellow Star
Plan Book
Southern Africa
Star Of David
Madagascar
How To Plan
The Madagaskar Plan
My alternative cover for The Madagaskar Plan incorporates the yellow star of David, which Jewish victims of the Nazis were forced to wear, and superimposes a silhouette of southern Africa and Madagascar.
a bottle of whiskey sitting on top of a book
Whiskey
Havana
Our Man In Havana
Graham Greene
Movie Review
Book Review
Vacuum Cleaner
Our Man in Havana: Book and Movie Review and Analysis
Vacuum cleaner parts, bottles of whiskey and photography go to make up an unusual alternative cover.
a book on the floor that has been placed on top of it with an image of a skull
History
Desert Colors
The Skull
A Novel
Book Cover
The Afrika Reich - Book Review
Desert colours seemed right for a novel set in Africa and the skull motif is one of the most striking in the novel.
a book sitting on top of a wooden table
Istanbul
From Russia With Love
Ian Fleming
Sean Connery
James Bond
Love Book
From Russia With Love - Book, Movie and Game Review
Most From Russia with Love book covers have either focussed on Tatiana or been movie tie-ins featuring Sean Connery. Instead I focussed on the code machine that lures Bond to Istanbul. The code machine’s plug-board in the foreground hints of the complex plot that Bond has to escape.
a book sitting on top of a wooden table next to a white and black cover
Orient Express
Train
Stamboul Train (Orient Express) by Graham Greene: Book Review
A simple cover this, just the tracks and a hint of an onrushing train. The starkness suits the downbeat novel though.
an open book sitting on top of a wooden table
Somerset
The Baroness
Somerset Maugham
Boating
Romance
Ashenden by W. Somerset Maugham: Book Review
The cover is based on a brief incident in the novel where Ashenden as a private joke, starts romancing a German agent, the Baroness Von Higgins and they go boating together. It also reflects the rather languid air of the novel.
the eagle has landed by jack hyggins on a wooden floor with a red bookmark
Colour Schemes
The Eagle Has Landed
The Eagle
Black Colour
Colour Scheme
Eagles
The Eagle has Landed - Book and Movie Review and Analysis
The swooping eagle is the emblem of the Fallschirmjäger. It’s shown here in a close up of of their badge. The red, white and black colour scheme is also reminiscent of Nazi Germany without the cliché of including a swastika.
there is a book on the floor that says where babbles dare to be
Alistair Maclean
Where Eagles Dare
Top Of The Mountain
The Mountain
Sense
Where Eagles Dare: Book and Movie Review and Analysis
The heart of Where Eagles Dare is the Schloss Adler. My cover tries to give a sense of its inaccessibility, brooding on top of the mountain.
the book is laying on top of the wooden floor with it's cover pulled down
Inciting Incident
Mickey Spillane
Night Book
I Decided
The Story
Human
One Lonely Night - Book Review
Almost all the commercial covers for One Lonely Night have focussed on the provocative scene of Velda, tied up and naked at the denouement of the story. Instead I decided to emphasise the suicide that provides the inciting incident. The falling woman and the bloodstains emphasise the human cost of the narrative.
a book on the floor with an image of a woman's face in red and black
Six Days of the Condor: Book Review and Analysis
Over-literal images of condors flying have dominated the commercial covers for Six Days of the Condor. Instead I decided to focus on the inciting incident: this is the sight that confronts Malcolm as he returns from his lunch – his colleagues slaughtered.
an open book with the cover painted red, white and blue on wood flooring
Tv Miniseries
Houses Of Parliament
Alternate History
Union Jack
Buckingham Palace
Graphic Image
Bbc
SS-GB: a review of the book by Len Deighton and the BBC TV miniseries
Stormtroopers marching past the Houses of Parliament and swastikas flying over Buckingham Palace are rather overused images. I liked this more graphic image, combining a silhouette of Hitler with a washed out and splintered Union Jack.
Most covers for The Day of the Jackal the have used either jackals or views through sniper scopes. Instead, I took inspiration from the scene where the armourer lovingly describes to the Jackal how he filled the assassin’s bullets with mercury so they would explode inside the president’s head. The Jackal, The Assassin, Scopes, Book Worms, The Day
The Jackal
The Assassin
Scopes
Book Worms
The Day
The Day of the Jackal: Book and Movie Review and Analysis
Most covers for The Day of the Jackal the have used either jackals or views through sniper scopes. Instead, I took inspiration from the scene where the armourer lovingly describes to the Jackal how he filled the assassin’s bullets with mercury so they would explode inside the president’s head.
a book with the title zero x on it sitting on top of a wooden floor
Product Design
Writing
Be Invisible
Military Style
Military Fashion
Design Ideas
Firefox: Book Review
A minimalist interpretation using the Soviet Star and a texture reminiscent of an exotic radar-absorbent material, as the Firefox was supposed to be invisible to radar. The font is military-style but also quite futuristic, which I liked.
a book sitting on top of a wooden table
The Military
The Ice
Submarine
Ice Station Zebra: Book Review
I like the military style-font here, the hunched figures in the centre dwarfed by the submarine, which is itself lost in the ice and facing an oncoming blizzard.
a book on the floor that is open to read rogue male georipy household
Blood Drop
Bold Fonts
Old Fashioned
Rogue Male - Book and Movie Review and Analysis
I thought this came out quite well. It’s a masculine and somewhat old-fashioned thriller cover, which suits the story. The bold font with its hints of targets and blood drops worked for the story of an assassin too.