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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1951

  • Work on this object began.

2011

2025

  • You found it!

Book Cover, Siddhartha, 1951

This is a Book cover. It was published by New Directions Books. It is dated 1951. Its medium is offset lithograph on thin glossed paper.

Functioning like a small poster, a book cover must quickly capture a viewer’s attention and provoke curiosity about the content within, contributing an enduring element to the reader’s experience. The covers designed by Alvin Lustig in the 1940s and 1950s employ abstracted iconography and simple typography and lettering to create emotionally compelling representations of a book’s themes. Lustig, who died at 40, is remembered as one of America’s greatest modern designers.

It is credited Gift of Susan Lustig Peck.

Its dimensions are

18.4 x 17.5 cm (7 1/4 x 6 7/8 in. )

It is signed

Signature printed, lower right: lustig.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/102312161/ |title=Book Cover, Siddhartha, 1951 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=13 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>