The Nabokov Collection

Lots of folks are talking (blogging) about the John Gall-curated Nabokov redesigns. John is the art director for Vintage and Anchor Books. he was tasked with redesigning the large collection for which he assembled a team of designers and requested that they each fill a butterfly specimen box with materials to suit their allotted title.  It's not often that we see an author's entire body of work redesigned by such an impressive cadre of designers. The results are simply stunning. There should be 21 of them, but so far only 18 are released for viewing. Interesting that Lolita is not included as yet. I'm waiting .....

Ada, or Ardor by Chip Kidd

Bend Sinister by Carol Carson

Despair by Jason Fulford and Tamara Shopsin

Glory by Martin Venezky

Invitation to a Beheading by Helen Yentus and Jason Booher

King, Queen, Knave by Peter Mendelsund

Laughter in the Dark by Dave Eggers

Look at the Harlequins! by Charles Wilkin

Pale Fire by Stephen Doyle

Pnin by Carin Goldberg

Speak, Memory by Michael Bierut

Stories by Barbara de Wilde

The Enchanter by Megan Wilson and Duncan Hannah

The Eye by John Gall

The Gift by Rodrigo Corral

The Luzhin Defense by Paul Sahre

The Real Life of Sebastion Knight by Sam Potts

Transparent Things by Marian Bantjes

Oh Yeah!  Here are some more cover designs for Nabokov's novels from all over the world for your viewing pleasure.

US & EUROPE
Ada | Penguin | 1971
Ada o ardore | Mondolibri, Milano | 1969 (Italian)
Ada ou l'ardeur | 1975 (French)
Spring in Fialta (original title : Dozen) | Popular Giant

Invitation To A Beheading | Crest Book
Lolita | DK Hans Reitzel, Copenhagen | 1957
Lolita #1
Lolita #2

Lolita | Sur, Buenos Aires | 1959 (Spanish)
Lolita | Sur, Buenos Aires | 1961 (Spanish)
Lolita | Artemis & Winkler Verlag | 1995 (German)
Lolita | Armoldo Mondadori Editore | 1955 (Italian)

Lolita | G. P. Putnam's Sons | 1955
Lolita | Éditions Gallimard | 1963 (French) ~ front cover
Lolita | Éditions Gallimard | 1963 (French) ~ back cover
Lolita | Gallimard | 2001 (French)

Lolita | Olympia Press | 1955 (1st Ed)
Lolita | Weidenfeld & Nicolson | 2009 (Special Limited Edition )
Lolita | Corgi | c1973
Laughter In The Dark | Bobbs-Merrill Company | 1939

Look At The Harlequins! | McGraw-Hill Book Co | 1974
Pnin (cover design by Jerzy Faczynski)
Pale Fire | Berkley Medallion | 1969
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight | New Directions | 1941


PENGUIN, UK
Despair | 2000
Glory | 2006
Invitation to a Beheading | 2001
Laughter in the Dark | 2001
Pnin | 2000
The Gift | 2001
The Annotated Lolita | 2000
The Original of Laura | 2009 (Dust Jacket) ~ design by Chip Kidd
The Original of Laura | 2009 (Front & Back covers)
The Original of Laura | 2009 (inside)


OTHER LANGUAGES
RUSSIAN Владимир Набоков
Лоли́та Lolita | Phaedra | 1967
Лоли́та Lolita | RU Azbooka-Klassika, St.Petersburg | 2006
Пнин Pnin 1957

HEBREW ולדימיר נבוקוב
Lolita לוליטה

ARABIC فلاديمير نابوكوف
لوليت loulita | LEB Dar Al-Adab, Beirut | 1988
لوليت loulita 1999
Pnin | Karnameh Publication, Tehran (Design by Hasan Karimzadeh)
The Defense | Karnameh Publication, Tehran (Design by Hasan Karimzadeh)

KOREAN 블라디미르 나보 코프
Lolita 로리타 1995
Lolita 로리타 1999

JAPANESE ウラジーミル ナボコフ
Lolita ロリータ | 新潮文庫 | 2006
Lolita ロリータ | 新潮社 | 2005
Lolita ロリータ | 河出書房新社 | 1974
Lolita ロリータ | 河出書房新社 | 1962
Lolita ロリータ. 2 | 河出書房新社 | 1959
The Defense ディフェンス | 河出書房新社 | 1999
The Defense ディフェンス | 河出書房新社 | 2008
Letters that never reach Russia ロシアに届かなかった手紙 | 集英社 | 1981

CHINESE 弗拉基米尔•纳博科夫
Lolita 洛丽塔 | 外语教学与研究出 | 2005
Pnin 普宁 | 上海译文 | 2007
Speak, Memory 说吧，记忆——自传追述 | 上海译文 | 2009
Despair 绝望 | 上海译文 | 2006
Laughter In The Dark 黑暗中的笑声 | 上海译文 | 2006

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Lastly, this is a dummy design for Lolita by Ian Shimkoviak. Let's wait to see what will the final design look like.

Links :
venusfebriculosa.com/barbara bloom (b.1951)
Ranking: Best Vladimir Nabokov Novel
Covering Lolita
Cover Browser