Real Covers For Fake Books
Ever watched a movie and wished you had the book the characters were talking about? UK designer Daniel Gray has, and he decided to do something about it.
He started by creating his own fictional imprint, Vulture Books, with a logo that puts a slightly macabre twist on the iconic Penguin logo, then began designing covers for nonfiction books mentioned in films. Gray's blog describes the Vulture Books as: "classic non-fiction texts illuminating the darker corners of human thinking, published as paperbacks for the first time. Ideal for sharing, pocketing and inducing metaphysical despair."
The resulting art has a cool vintage aesthetic. Now if only someone would write the texts to go with them.
Can you name the movies that each fake book came from? Leave your answers in the comments, smartypants.
News by Kimberly Turner
Kimberly Turner is an internet entrepreneur, DJ, editor, beekeeper, linguist, traveler, and writer. This either makes her exceptionally well-rounded or slightly crazy; it’s hard to say which. She spent a decade as a journalist and magazine editor in Australia and the U.S. and is now working (very, very slowly) on her first novel. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing and an M.A. in Applied Linguistics and lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, two cats, ten fish, and roughly 60,000 bees.
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Betelgeuse for "Handbook of the Recently Deceased"!
The Philosphy of Time Travel - Donnie Darko
The Handbook for the Recently Deceased - Beetlejuice
The Woodsburo Murders - Scream
I don't know the others. I'm guessing but is the Grail Diaries a Monty Python and The Holy Grail referenced book? I don't remember it from the film, but I thought it a worthy guess. Looking forward to learning the others! Great post.
Grail Diaries has got to be Indiana Jones 3. (Dr Jones Sr)
All of them Witches is familiar but I can't place it.
All of them Witches / Rosemary's baby
Tobin Spirit Guide / Ghostobusters
You guys are super-smart winners (not that I didn't know that). Your prize is our eternal respect of your movie trivia knowledge.
"Handbook for the Recently Deceased" - Beetlejuice (props to @Limbless K9)
"The Grail Diary" - Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade (@J. Y. Hopkins)
"The Philosophy of Time Travel" - Donnie Darko (@alisia)
"The Woodsburo Murders" - Scream 2 & 3 (@alisia)
"All of Them Witches" - Rosemary's Baby (@Ivan Amaro)
"Tobin's Spirit Guide" - Ghostbusters (@Ivan Amaro)
They'd totally make for the best meta props in films.
Thank you, Kimber! Totally made my day.
I would love to write/read The Philosophy of Time Travel, and The Handbook for the Recently Deceased,Beetlejuice is iconically awesome!
Glad you like them! There's actually a sly reference to a seventh film in there somewhere - you may have to take a closer look …
Have you guys seen Moonrise Kingdom? Susie, one of the two protagonists, lugs around an entire suitcase of girls' adventure stories, and the credits mention all of the book covers and their artists. I gather these were fictional books. There were 6 or 8 of them.