Amazon.com Widgets A ‘The War of the Worlds’ Welcome to Dr. Zeus

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A ‘The War of the Worlds’ Welcome to Dr. Zeus

January 21st, 2010 · 4 Comments · Books

Welcome to This Old Paper’s Links page, Dr. Zeus!

Not even among the first am I, nor the last will I be, to feature The War of the Worlds Book Cover Collection.  367 to date! Brought to you by Dr. Zeus, the covers are categorized by date, artist, design, publisher, language and contributor. This collection provides a fantastic array of international cover art images spanning over 100 years.  Don’t miss this artistic view of the covers arranged by Dr. Zeus according to average color, ‘rainbow fashion’, as the kids used to say.

Thanks to Wikipedia, I learned that The War of the Worlds was originally published as a magazine serial by H. G. Wells in 1897.  It was first published in book form in 1898 and has been in print ever since.  How cool would it be to be able to contribute a book cover to the site? Finding a family copy of The War of the Worlds on the shelf, I made a beeline for the computer to cross-check this 1980 Watermill Classic cover.

War of the Worlds 1980 Watermill Press cover

(Click on image for larger view)

Clicking on ‘By Date’, scrolling down to the ‘1980′ section, there it is - already pictured!

But!  Dr. Zeus offers more than just The War of the Worlds book covers.  His expansive collection actually serves as a virtual WOTW museum including: comic book covers, magazine covers, models, drawings (even an animated drawing of the tripod gait!), other book covers and more. Good thing, too, because on my very next thrift shop outing my eye went right to this copy of War of the Worlds: the Shooting Script.

War of the Worlds Shooting Script 2005 Newmarket Press cover

(Click on image for larger view)

A quick scan of the cover after bringing it home, quickly emailed to Dr. Zeus, resulted in a simple pleasure – the opportunity to be part of his contributor-fueled project.  He posted this shooting script book cover image on his Other Images page, find it listed under the heading of Other Books.

So, help Dr. Zeus out, if you can.  His is an ongoing project, more covers and other images are welcomed – submit yours today!

Dr. Zeus: the Interview here via Ephemera’s Marty Weil.

Other bloggers have been talking, as well – check out these great write-ups: Little Somethings, ECTOPLASMOSIS!, The Monkey Buddha, Super Punch, Dark Forces Book Group, eicolab, io9 and io9 again, Used Books Blog, and Quezi to name a few!

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4 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Eva Marie // Jan 22, 2010 at 5:01 pm

    Such an intriguing project and how exciting that you got to contribute to it! Have you ever read this classic?

  • 2 Susan E // Jan 23, 2010 at 4:14 am

    Eva Marie – I’m starting with page 1, and going full-immersion to include the radio broadcast and the movies! How about you? Perhaps you will come across an as-yet-undiscovered ‘international’ cover!

  • 3 Eva Marie // Jan 23, 2010 at 7:58 am

    Rad! I haven’t read it myself, but will definitely be on the lookout for one en français!

  • 4 Susan E // Jan 24, 2010 at 5:59 am

    Belatedly found this interview with Dr. Zeus and have added it to the post: http://ephemera.typepad.com/ephemera/2007/08/questions.html Enjoy!

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