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JAWS by Peter Benchley, Doubleday edition

Contributed by Florian Hardwig on May 4th, 2017. Artwork published in .
JAWS by Peter Benchley, Doubleday edition 1
Source: www.abebooks.com 1st Editions and Antiquarian Books. License: All Rights Reserved.

First edition, first printing, published by Doubleday & Company, Inc., New York, 1974.

The bold sans serif caps used for the title are very likely lettering, featuring a W made of an overlapping double V which may evoke shark teeth (albeit blunt ones). The rest of the jacket is set in tight-not-touching ITC Souvenir Light, a staple in 1970s typography. The typeface used on the spine of the cover as well as on the title page is Greco negro, the bold weight of a family originally issued by the Spanish Gans foundry in the mid 1920s. For digital options, see Bristol by FontHaus (caps only) or Bitstream’s Melina (less authentic). The interior is in W.A. Dwiggins’ Caledonia.

See also Quentin’s contribution about the first UK edition by Andre Deutsch.

JAWS by Peter Benchley, Doubleday edition 2
Source: www.abebooks.com Henry Gardiner, Bookseller. License: All Rights Reserved.
JAWS by Peter Benchley, Doubleday edition 3
Source: www.abebooks.com Ernestoic Books and Bindery (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.
JAWS by Peter Benchley, Doubleday edition 4
Source: www.abebooks.com Medium Rare Books (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Typefaces

  • ITC Souvenir
  • Greco (Gans)
  • Caledonia

Formats

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Designers/Agencies

Artwork location

5 Comments on “JAWS by Peter Benchley, Doubleday edition”

  1. Though the relationship isn’t as direct, it seems also worth mentioning a vague similarity between the title lettering for the book (and subsequent film) and Gill Kayo.

  2. Cool to see another edition of that book!

  3. Zachary Petit wrote an article about the making of Jaws’ iconic book covers for Print, and credits Paul Bacon for the jacket design of the first edition.

    See also the cover of Bantam’s paperback edition.

  4. Ray Cruz is credited as the designer of this JAWS lettering, at least according to this feature in Typographic i, Vol. 14, No. 1, Jan 1982:

  5. Great find, thanks!

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