"Prima Facie": a study on artist books’ covers

Abstract

The article is based on the functions of language, according to Roman Jakobson, applied to establish a typology of book covers, their uses and functions - informative, poetic, expressive or metalinguistic covers. The reflections about the book cover are based on Gerard Genette's text on editorial paratexts. Some historical aspects of the book are covered, as well as the most recent trends in contemporary art, such as non-creative writing. It also presents the complementary relationship between the information on the title page and the cover, the books whose narrative begins on the cover, those with more than one cover and the works that are constituted only by the dust jacket. The article presents case studies of old and recent books, established artists and young artists, Brazilian and foreign.