Eventually, much of this work morphed into the Art Nouveau revivalist stylings of psychedelia.īut, this school of pop typography really doesn't explain these “strange” covers. That particular style was inspired by the typography of David Stone Martin and was popularized in the Southern California hot rod/surfer/rock ’n’ roll culture through Rick Griffin, Ron Cobb, Stanley “Mouse” Miller and (especially) the lettering work of Earl Newman. Powers and hot rod/monster model kits of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Other variations could be seen in hip Southern California clubs and rock bands (The Ventures, The Challengers) and eventually the book covers of Richard M. The most well-known offspring was called Ad-Lib. The closest I’ve found was a family of typefaces called Interlock marketed by Typositor. I’ve collected and studied vintage type for decades, yet I’ve never found any typefaces that look remotely like this. If you look closely, you’ll notice that there seems to have even been an entire font family, a commercially available typeface, that was used on several of these covers. Is there some unwritten graphic standards manual somewhere out there that describes exactly what a “strange” book cover is supposed to look like? Were these all designed by the same designer? Was that possible? Why did they exist for just a short few years? These covers were used to sell a strange subject to a small group of people over a small period of time. There is too much typography, too much color, a vague abstract expressionist/surrealist background and, most importantly, big monster type. But, the only single identifying common denominator of these paperbacks is that they have the word “strange” in the title-that, and the fact they all look the same. Some of them are stories collected by the same author. Some of them are collections of articles reprinted from FATE magazine. These “strange” books were all published between about 19 by several different paperback companies. I’ve collected many strange things, but few of my collections have been stranger than my “strange” book cover collection. Over time, I began to realize he was a real person and he was the designer primarily responsible for the introduction of cheezy monster type into our shared collective design cultural subconscious. I would see his name listed in a staff box somewhere and assume it was a pseudonym, an inside joke among hipsters. Very afraid.įor the last 40 or more years I’ve been trying to think like Harry Chester. I'm afraid I may owe my entire career in graphic design to Harry Chester.
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