Published 2024-01-15
Keywords
- Cover,
- Paratext,
- Reader
Copyright (c) 2024 Lorenza Baglieri
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Abstract
«You don’t judge a book by its cover» is certainly a recurring phrase in everyone’s daily life, both readers’ and non-readers’. And it is from this expression that I would like to move the research presented here. However, the aim is not to corroborate the thesis of the common saying, but to disprove it, because, after all, «you should also please the eye». Initially born as a pure protection of the book, nowadays the cover plays a significant role in the editorial production chain, that is the reason why I would like to proceed here with a theoretical study on the paratext, mainly focused – precisely – on the functions of the cover. Moreover, I would like to take into consideration a direct witness given by the readers, through the results of a survey proposed to a small portion of the Italian population in the first semester of 2023, in order to conclude by stating the great potential that the cover has of influencing the purchase choice.