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Judging books by their covers,
Gettysburg Hallowed Ground: Gettysburg: A Novel With the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg comes three major new books. I only meant to review two of them, since they seem to be waging their own battle against each other, but since the third featured Newt Gingrich as a coauthor, I just couldn’t pass it up. All three book covers attempt to display a sense of history, as befits their subject matter. The major conflict between Gettysburg and Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg, at least in terms of the design, seems to be which one has the better handwriting. Gettysburg takes a decisive victory here. Gettysburg’s handwriting seems to be actually hand-done, and may even be a scan of the word as written by someone from that time period. Hallowed Ground’s script, on the other hand, is a readily available typeface, P22’s Cezanne Regular. Though it’s an undeniably beautiful font, and though its source and namesake, Paul Cezanne, lived through the same time period, Cezanne had, so far as I know, no connection to the Civil War. I do like handwriting fonts, especially with the kind of nineteenth-century flavor that Cezanne has. P22 is particularly adept at such fonts: their Dearest is a thing of beauty. But I think a designer, especially if using such a font to set only two words as is the case here, has a responsibility to make it look like actual handwriting. The o’s aren’t too much of a problem, since how different can two little o’s look? The problem becomes more apparent in the l’s, particularly since they’re right next to each other. The d’s are most problematic because of such a distinctive swash. It really wouldn’t be that difficult to change little bits here and there in order to make each letter look unique. One could, I suppose, make an argument for using the handwriting font instead of actual handwriting, as Hallowed Ground focuses on the battlefield as a contemporary setting. I wouldn’t buy that argument, though. I think it’s just kind of sloppy work, an opinion which is bolstered by looking at the rest of the cover of Hallowed Ground.
It appears that the handwriting was more a side note than the centerpiece. The Hallowed Ground designer is hampered by having to sort of fit in with other titles in the Crown Journeys series, as shown by Chuck Palahniuk’s Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon, another Crown Journeys title. The series’ art direction is unevenly applied and leads to a jumble of images (and typefaces). I can identify six different elements on the Hallowed Ground cover, and if the designer could remove two or three of them, I think it would probably be a vast improvement. Gettysburg, on the other hand, is just a class act. Though it runs the risk, perhaps, of being maybe too old-fashioned, I think the gorgeous handwriting, an evocative painting, and restrained but assertive typography all add up to a simple, elegant cover. And then there’s Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, a fine opportunity for comparison. This shows how two covers can have similar approaches, and yet one can end up looking classic while the other is just bland. Here the headline and subtitle are set in two different typefaces that are both based on nineteenth-century letterforms, and there’s a different painting of the battle. The problem is that there’s nothing understated on the cover: the title is set in a very period-looking nameplate, which is nice but too showy. The painting ought to be the focus, since the book posits what might have happened had Robert E. Lee, the character at the heart of this historical fiction, won the battle. Unfortunately, the painting, which may have been commissioned expressly for this cover, has to compete not only against the title but against the authors as well, whose names look horribly out of place. Not surprising, though; had Forstchen been the sole author, his name probably would have taken a backseat to the other elements on the cover. But no, since the publisher is obviously hoping that Gingrich’s name will be a selling point, there it all is, far too large and in a clumsily squeezed Centaur to boot. Judgment: Gettysburg wins this particular War Between the Covers. The casualties on the other sides are, as always, good taste and restraint.
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