Roger Dean: The Album Cover Album

A stunningly designed review and celebration of the greatest album cover designs from the 50s to the 70s, Roger Deanas innovative volume was first published in 1977. The original, and still the best, it sold over 250,000 copies in its first year and heralded six further volumes and a host of imitations. This new edition retains the lavish 12a format to show off the covers in all their life-size glory, and maintains the superbly themed pictorial compositions of each double-page spread. Edited and compiled by Roger with Storm Thorgerson (one half of the Hipgnosis design team celebrated for its album cover work with Pink Floyd), the "Album Cover Album" features over 600 sleeves in full colour, and showcases the astonishing diversity and excellence of design that the medium produced in its first three decades.The appeal of the original package lay in its juxtaposition of familiar icons of rock design with fascinating surveys of lesser-known genres of album cover art. If anything, time has served to increase this appeal, as the classics have cemented their place in our visual vocabulary, while the more obscure titles have only increased in curiosity value. The whole package is updated with a revised design treatment, fresh typography, and a new foreword. The result is both a retro collectible that will intrigue music lovers and an essential reference work for a new generation of artists and designers.