75 Covers of Toni Morrison’s Beloved From Around the World
This weekend marked the 30th anniversary of the publication of Toni Morrison’s masterpiece Beloved, a novel about a woman who kills her own child rather than let her be swallowed by slavery, and who is haunted by that decision in more ways than one. Beloved is widely recognized as one of the greatest American novels ever written—it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1988 (it was nominated for, but did not win, the National Book Award, a slight that forty-eight writers and critics protested with a letter in The New York Times), as well as the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award, the Melcher Book Award, the Lyndhurst Foundation Award, and the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award. In 2006, The New York Times found it to be the best novel written in the previous 25 years.
Prizes or no, this novel should be read by everyone, and luckily, it has been published in many incarnations and translations, here and all over the world. In celebration of the novel’s birthday, here are 75 of its covers—some harrowing, some gorgeous, a few wildly inappropriate (I’m looking at you, Swedish blonde baby-doll cover). Which one is your favorite?
First edition; Alfred A. Knopf, 1987
Alfred A. Knopf, bound by Bayntun-Riviere, 1987
Plume Contemporary Fiction, 1988
Ediciones B ([aompain), 1988
Plume, 1988
Picador, 1988
Bra Bocker (Sweden), 1988
Cheshmeh Publication (Iran), 1988
Tammi (Finland), 1988
Frassinelli (Italy), 1988
Christian Bourgois (France), 1989
Círculo de Lectores (Spain), 1989
Nefeli (Greece), 1989
مركز الأهرام للترجمة والنشر – القاهرة (Egypt), 1989
France loisirs, 1990
Signet International Edition, 1991
Rowohlt (Germany), 1992
10/18 (France), 1993
Lindhardt & Ringhof (Denmark), 1993
Ediciones B (Spain), 1993
Народна култура (Bulgaria), 1993
Bokförlaget Trevi (Sweden), 1993
Cankarjeva založba (Slovenia), 1993
Reinbek bei Hamburg: rororo – Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag (Germany), 1994
הספרייה החדשה (Israel), 1994
De Norske Bokklubbene A/S (Norway), 1994
De Norske Bokklubbene (Norway), 1994
De Norske Bokklubbene (Norway), 1994
Vintage, 1997
Vintage (UK), 1997
Circulo do Livro (Brazil), 1997
Editora: Best Seller (Brazil), date unknown
Varrak (Estonia), 1997
Pocket (France), 1998
Rowohlt, Reinbek (Germany), 1998
Knopf (Gift Edition), 1998
10/18 (France), 1999
Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century, 2000
Aschehoug (Norway), 2003
De Norske Bokklubbene A/S (Norway), 2003
들녘 (Korea), 2003
Vintage, 2004; design by Dorothy Schmiderer Baker
10/18 (France), 2004
Nobelprijsbibliotheek (Netherlands), 2004
Debolsillo (Spain), 2005
Иностранка, 2005
Everyman’s Library Classics, 2006
Mediasat Group / Eesti Päevaleht (Estonia), 2006
Zvaigzne ABC (Latvia), 2006
Vintage Classics (UK), 2007
ZNAK (Poland), 2007
Świat Książki (Poland), date unknown
Vidarshana (Sri Lanka), 2007
Lider (Romania), 2007
Rowohlt Taschenbuch (Germany), 2007
Companhia das Letras (Portugal), 2007
The Family Library Project (Egypt), 2007
10/18 (France), 2008
Alpha Books và NXB Phụ Nữ (Vietnam), 2008
Frassinelli (Italy), 2009
Tammi (Finland), 2009
Publicações Dom Quixote (Portugal), 2009
Cofina Media/ Publicações Dom Quixote (Portugal), 2011
Laguna (Serbia), 2013
Bonnier Pocket (Sweden), 2014
Art (Romania), 2014
Świat Książki (Poland), 2014
Munhakdongne (Korea), 2014
DEBOLS!LLO (Spain), 2014
Illustrated edition; The Folio Society, 2015. Cover and illustrations by Joe Morse
Sel Yayıncılık (Turkey), 2016
Must (Norway), 2016
Aschehoug (Norway), 2016
Фабула (Ukraine), 2017
Unknown, and possibly a fan cover, but too good not to include
