I finally have a copy of the Art of McSweeney's book in hand (pub 6/23). The new monograph from Chronicle Books brings together the art and design across the McSweeney’s brands in a coffee-table book format. As a retrospective of the independent publisher's 11th or 12th anniversary, there is a focus on the cover designs for their books and Quarterly Concern journals through 2009, but there are also sections highlighting the illustrations for the Wolphin DVDs, and The Believer magazine. Aside from imagery ranging from sketches to finished product, commentary and interviews are intermixed throughout.

There is an emphasis on the production of McSweeney’s books which I appreciated reading more about. I remember hearing Dave Eggers talk about his choice of printing in Iceland, but this book now gives further insight into why. The text tries to make the case that high production quality is not always out of reach for small publishers with a limited budget. There is support for this idea in a printing specs chart that compares prices of a book with or without “bells & whistles.”

 

The book is by the Editors of McSweeney's. Brian McMullen and Michelle Quint are credited for much of the design and editing of the book.

excerpt from Acknowledgments section: “This book’s fold-out jacket—composed of numerous stories and drawings by Dave Eggers—was adapted from a design for McSweeney’s 23. The inside of the jacket, which was adapted from a poster designed by Alvaro Villanueva, is populated by dozens of Charles Burn’s portraits for The Believer. The symbols on the spine, which appeared in McSweeney’s 15, are Icelandic runes.”