covers types

1. Early Magazine Covers
In the mid-1700s, the earliest magazines did not always have what we think of as covers. Many dedicated the opening page to a title and table of contents, as in this cover of The Town and Country Magazine; or Universal Repository; of Knowledge, Instruction, and Entertainment for April, 1788.



 2. The Poster Cover

From the 1890s to the 1960s, one type of cover could be said to dominate the magazine field. It was not the only kind of cover to be found, but the poster cover produced so many memorable covers on so many issues of so many magazines that it is sometimes looked upon as the standard against which all other kinds of covers must be measured.

 3. Pictures Married to Type

 We have traced the history of the poster cover over the 20th century -- By the late 1800s, cover lines were common, and in the early1900s, magazine cover lines started the ongoing dialogue that they have been carrying on ever since with cover art.

 


 

4. In the Forest of Words

The argument thus far has been in a brief history of the covers of a single magazine, Mademoiselle, with examples starting in 1937 and ending with the final issue of the magazine in 2001.