Simon Garfield :
"The cliché that you can’t judge a book by its
cover is wrong. You clearly can and all you need is a book of cover jackets to
prove the nonsense of that phrase."
I wrote about the following cover dated September 1946 by Dinanath Dalal, on the Facebook page dedicated to him, here.
courtesy: Vangmay Shobha magazine and Bookganga.com
I have neither heard of the book nor its author Mr. Shridhar Deshpande (श्रीधर देशपांडे) but I found the cover stunning.
Now will it be fair if the book does not mention its cover artist?
Indeed, if quizzed, I will struggle to point out a few good books published in Marathi in 1940's (1941-1950) but I find some stunning work done by Maharashtra's illustrators and cover artists like Dalal, Godse, Mulgaonkar during the same period.
I bought C. V. Joshi's (चिं. वि. जोशी) book 'Sanchar' (संचार), first published in 1945, on March 28 2010.
I was surprised by the cover. It did not look like the one that was done in 1945. There is no mention of cover artist any where in the book.
By the way, I have seen dozens of Marathi books, by the established writers and the publication houses where there is NO mention of cover artist.
courtesy: copyright holders of the art work
But I was wrong. It was done in 1945.
By some coincidence, I found the same picture on the cover of a (now defunct) Marathi magazine 'Vangmay Shobha' (वाङ्मय शोभा) dated December 1945, the same year the book was first published.
courtesy: the artist, Vangmay-Shobha and Bookganga
Once again there is NO mention of the artist in the magazine. There is just this note by the editor.
But Rajiv Dole (राजीव डोळे) helped confirm in January 2017 that the artist was Dinanath Dalal (दीनानाथ दलाल).... just look at the center-left of the picture, on the road, just below the feet of human figures....there is that very distinctive signature of Dalal.
Now I will quote substantially from my post on this blog dated September 25 2013.
The late Mr. Vasant Sarwate (वसंत सरवटे) writes in Marathi (मराठी) magazine Lalit (ललित) September 2013:
"...in summation, it can be said that Marathi person enjoys auditory experience more than visual experience An average Marathi person engrosses in music very well. Very little in pictures. Almost none. It's certainly true of ordinary people. But even those writers, poets and critics who are celebrated in Marathi literature, are well known for their talent can't see pictures on the cover and those (if they exist) inside. Let the book be of the other authors' or their own ! Then appreciating them remains a remote thing..."
("...एकूणात, मराठी माणसाला दृश्यापेक्षा श्राव्य अनुभव अधिक भावतात, असं म्हणता येईल. सामान्य मराठी माणूस संगीतामध्ये उत्तम रंगतो. चित्रांच्यामध्ये फारच कमी. जवळजवळ नाहीच. सर्वसामान्यांच्या बाबतीत तर हे खर आहेच. पण मराठीमध्ये साहित्याचे जाणकार म्हणून किर्ती मिळवलेल्या , प्रतिभावंत म्हणून मान्यता प्राप्त झालेल्या लेखक, कवी, टीकाकार यांना मुखपृष्ठावरच आणि (असतील तर) पुस्तकाच्या आतील चित्र दिसतच नाहीत. पुस्तक इतर लेखकांचे असो किंवा त्याचं स्वतःच असो ! मग त्यांचा आस्वाद घेण तर दूरच...")
The late G A Kulkarni (जी ए कुलकर्णी) himself was an accomplished painter and has written about visual arts in his numerous letters that are now published.
The edition of his 'Ramalkhuna' (रमलखुणा), 1975/ 1988, that I have, has this cover:
This edition is published by Mr. Ramdas Bhatkal's (रामदास भटकळ) Popular Prakashan. The book does not mention the cover artist!
Mr. Bhatkal was a friend of the late Mr. Prabhakar Goray (प्रभाकर गोरे) who has done covers of many of GA's books. He has has written an essay on Goray- length 15 pages- in his book: 'Jigsaw: study in friendship', 1997/1998 ('जिगसॉ: स्टडी इन फ्रेंडशिप' , १९९७/१९९८).
Mr. Bhatkal states in his essay: "...पण हे खंर की आज जीएंची पुस्तकं जी वाचकांच्या मनात ठसली आहेत त्यात गोरेची चित्रही सामील आहेत..."