I always judge my mini books solely by the covers, though I do occasionally add books that I like for their content in real life. As I was making up books, I figured I’d share a few of my favorite covers. Some of these might be hard to see since I am photographing the minis I made. They do lose some legibility from printing so small, but I don’t want to violate any copyright laws by posting book covers that might not be in the public domain. You can always search for the titles online if you’d like a better look.
The House Mouse, by Dorothy Joan Harris and Illustrated by Barbara Cooney. This has a super cute dollhouse with a mouse occupant! I’d like to make the cover illustration as a wall hanging mini house.
I was able to find only the cover, so I made the spine and back in Photoshop. For the back, I used the image again and eliminated the text.
Sweet of the Year by Emily Ridgway. This came from abebooks.com, an excellent source of book covers and sometimes spines. I love the villa in the garden illustration.
This one had the spine in the image, so I duplicated the front image for the back cover, flipping it in the opposite direction.
Amphibian by Carla Gunn. Froggy. Enough said. :D
Return of the Bird Tribes by Ken Carey. Beautiful illustration.
I made up the spine and back cover, this time using solid colors and dropping in a UPC box on the back cover. This is one of grandma’s many modern additions to her library. ;]
Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant. Lovely colors and graphics. This is apparently a funny book, but I’ve not read it.
Taming the Wolf by Greg Stone. This is actually a self help book on resolving conflict, but the cover to me says adventure in the wilderness. I could see this cover being on the sequel to The Return of the Bird Tribes shown above. :D
The White Mary by Kira Salak. Love this cover – the greens, the butterfly, the layout!
I made the back by copying the butterfly graphic, rotating it and removing the text. I made the spine by copying the green background, duplicating it in mirror image and adding text. I also added the UPC box again. I later found the actual spine and back cover, but I liked mine so well I printed it instead.
Utopia by Thomas Moore. This is a book first published in 1516, though I don’t believe this is the original cover. Ever After is one of my favorite movies for its fun take on the Cinderella story, not to mention the costumes, and this book plays a part in that movie. When I first stumbled onto the cover during my online searches, I knew I had to use it.
I created the back by mirroring the front, removing the text and copying some of the border design elements into the middle. The spine is a section of the front cover, with text replaced.
Obviously, I haven’t used any covers I don’t find appealing in one way or another, but these are some of the highlights.
