Dan Wagstaff

I was wondering what the typeface was! :-)

From 1973, Ed Emberley’s Little Drawing Book of Weirdos. www.presentandcorrect.com/blogs/blog/e...

Image: three figures in protective suits watch from behind a screen as a child approaches a door-like mechanical structure in which stands a man. Between them is an amorphous glowing shape. Caption: Scientists at the institute of halloween studies have succeeded in creating "The treak": a quantum state that is simultaneously trick and treat. It is stable for a millionth of a second before decaying into a half-hearted prank and a mediocre candy bar.

A halloween cartoon for @newscientist.com

Updating Albertus for the City of London - We Made This The story of the updated version of the Albertus font, designed by Toshi Omagari, used on the City of London's street nameplates.

New post: Updating Albertus for the City of London wemadethis.co.uk/blog/2025/10...

Here's the last of my monthly cover round-ups for the year...

Opens tomorrow!

Robert Rauschenberg at a work table in his studio. His dog Laika is chilling on the floor to his side

Today is Robert Rauschenberg's centenary; a wildly inventive & influential artist, he was born on this day in 1925. To mark the occasion, a thread celebrating his love of animals. First up, Rauschenberg working in the studio with his dog Laika, in about 1968. Laika looking really chill here

They’re Trying to Publish the Best Books You’ve Never Heard Of

“Books need to have someone loudly clamoring behind the scenes to rise above the general masses"

The NYT talks to founders Naomi Huffman and Julia Ringo about their indie press Hagfish (Gift link) :

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/s...

The cover of Herscht 07769 by László Krasznahorkai designed by O.O.P.S for New Directions 9780811231534 Paperback Book September 2024

The cover of Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai designed by O.O.P.S for New Directions 9780811226646 Hardcover Book September 2019

László Krasznahorkai covers by the Office of Paul Sahre for @ndbooks.bsky.social

László Krasznahorkai New Directions was founded in 1936, when James Laughlin (1914–1997), then a twenty-two-year-old Harvard sophomore, issued the first of the New Directions anthologies.

the absolutely terrific @ndbooks.bsky.social is responsible for every happy english speaking nerd (on this continent) right now

Lászlóóóóóóóóóóóóóó!

Philadelphia Museum of Art Identity for one of the largest museums in the United States.

Pentagram / Paula Scher did a re-brand for them previously, but it must have been a decade ago or more... www.pentagram.com/work/philade...

I love this book...

This is of niche industry interest, but here goes:

The digital catalog platform most independent bookstores use to peruse and order new books for their stores (called Edelweiss) has jacked up their prices on publishers to catalog new titles 200-300%.

Why does this matter?

I swear you guys just sit around asking yourselves "how can we make this even more of a Clash Books book"

RIP Patricia Routledge one of the best ever to do it.

Book Covers of Note, September 2025 Hey. I hope you’re keeping safe and well. I’m posting this late on the last day of the month, but hopefully it was worth waiting for. I will let you get to the covers posthaste, but bef…

Here is my late look at some of September's more interesting book covers:

www.casualoptimist.com/blog/2025/09...

My book covers post is late again. It should be done by the end of the day but it does feel a little redundant after SPINE and LitHub have already posted 30 or so covers for the month between them...

I still really like those 2008 cyanotype covers by Coralie Bickford-Smith.

Vintage Classics Julio Cortázar I like these bright and bold covers by Stephen Smith, AKA Neasden Control Centre, for the new Vintage Classics editions of Julio Cortázar a lot. It feels like an inspired match of illustrator to au…

These new illustrated covers by Neasden Control Centre for the Vintage Classics editions of Julio Cortázar are great! Art direction by Suzanne Dean.

www.casualoptimist.com/blog/2025/09...

Two books sit on comfortable chairs on a stage in front of an audience of books. The interviewer book says to the other "Decades unfinished in your author's drawer. Years untouched in a publisher's slush pile. Months on an indecisive editor's desk. And now, top of the bestseller charts! It's what we all dream of: tell us all about your incredible journey!"

My latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books
p.s. My new book of science cartoons is here: www.tomgauld.com/comic-books-v2

Letters from Latin America with Leo Boix: September 23, 2025 “I REMEMBER the first time Zuri showed me the house. He took my hand as we crossed the street, stopped on the corner, then said suddenly: This is it.” So begins Ave Barrera’s masterful ghost story Res...

RESTORATION is a "masterful - a ghost story where the ghost is capitalism’s oldest accomplice: patriarchy."

morningstaronline.co.uk/article/lett...

Vintage Classics Julio Cortázar I like these bright and bold covers by Stephen Smith, AKA Neasden Control Centre, for the new Vintage Classics editions of Julio Cortázar a lot. It feels like an inspired match of illustrator to author. The art direction is by Suzanne Dean of course. You will have to wait for the hardcover of Divertimento (translated into English for the first time by Harry Morales) because it doesn't go on sale until May 2026, but the paperback reissues came out last month in the UK.

Vintage Classics Julio Cortázar covers by Neasden Control Centre

The 25 Greatest Picture Books of the Century There’s been a revolution in children’s storytelling—and it’s not just that the stories are more diverse.

Delighted to contribute to this article. I got to talk about CROWN, but honestly this is a very good list in and of itself. The readalikes are particularly choice. Well done, Slate! slate.com/culture/2025...

Panel 1. image of a huge nuclear plant. “Reactor Overheating” 2. A worker in a hazmat suit works at a computer. The screen reads: “Press cancel to avoid critical overload” 3 - 9. The worker continues to type at the computer. The screen changes in each panel and reads: “Enter password to confirm” “Incorrect password” “Incorrect password” “Do you want to reset your password?” “Reset link has been sent to your email” “Please choose a new password” “New password can't be the same as old password” The colour gets hotter in each panel. Starting blue in 1 and ending in red in 9. Panel 10. Wide view. The entire earth is blown up.

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com

p.s. this week I am on a USA/Canada tour with my new book. Details and preorder links at tomgauld.com

On the NBA Longlist for Translated Literature--
WE ARE GREEN AND TREMBLING by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Robin Myers
ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME (Book III) by Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell

For the harves and harves-nots.

Rosalyn Drexler, Artistic Whirlwind Who Defied Categories, Dies at 98

“Her essential insight is that people and things are completely insane, and she speaks from inside the whale.”

What a life.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/b...

I don't have lots to say this month, but there are lots of great book covers all the same...

Living the dream!