Louise Brooks has appeared on the covers of more than a handful of contemporary books, which is notable in that a good number of them are not necessarily about the actress or only reference her. These cover appearances are sometimes merely decorative — as an iconic figure, Brooks’ image was meant to be alluring, or perhaps evoke something about fashion or popular culture. With some covers, Brooks’ image was merely decorative — a pretty face, as is said, can help sell a book or magazine or whatever.
Besides this, there are a few other pages on the LBS website which showcase contemporary book covers featuring Louise Brooks or a Louise Brooks look-alike, including ones for fiction, poetry and drama, general non-fiction, and works of film history. Those pages are:
FICTION | POETRY & DRAMA | NON-FICTION | FILM HISTORY
A 2012 article by Thomas Gladysz on the subject of contemporary book covers featuring Louise Brooks can be found on the Huffington Post, “Louise Brooks – Cover Girl and Secret Muse of the 20th Century.” Notably, Louise Brooks also appeared on number of books published in the past. The LBS website which features a generously illustrated page of vintage Photoplay Editions (movie tie-in books and booklets) as well as a page of a few unrelated Vintage Book Covers. Know of other cover appearances? Have a better scan or additional information to share? The LBS would love to hear from you via its CONTACT page.
WORKS OF NON-FICTION (excluding film history):
Una giovinezza inventata Lalla Romano Einaudi, 1979 non-fiction | Italy |
People Will Talk John Kobal Aurum, 1991 non-fiction | UK |
Photographic Printing Gene Nocon Virgin Pub, 1995 non-fiction | USA |
The Eyebrow Robyn Cosio William Morrow, 2000 non-fiction | USA |
People And Pearls Ki Hackney & Diana Edkins HarperCollins, 2000 non-fiction | USA |
A Due Voci: Photography of Rita Hammond Ann M. Ryan, Kim Waale & Julie Grossman Syracuse University Press, 2003 non-fiction | USA |
Wicked Wit of Women Dominique Enright Michael O’Mara, 2003 non-fiction | USA |
Selected Sketches and Studies Dave Stevens Bulldog Studios, 2004 non-fiction | USA |
Girls in Pearls Claudia Lanfranconi Merrell Publishers, 2006 non-fiction | USA |
Portrait d’une flapper Roland Jaccard PUF, 2007 non-fiction | France |
100 Years of Fashion Cally Blackman unknown publisher, c 2012 non-fiction | Japan ? |
Rappers 2 Flappers Tom Dalzell Dover Publications, 2012 non-fiction | USA |
Art Deco Hair Daniela Turudich Streamline Press, 2013 non-fiction | USA |
Flappers Judith Mackrell Pan Macmillan, 2014 non-fiction | UK |
Louise Brooks, Frank Zappa, & Other Charmers… Tom Graves DeVault-Graves Agency, 2015 non-fiction | USA |
La Femme est une dandy comme … Alister Fayard/Pauvert, 2018 non-fiction | France |
La sensualità nell’arte Anna Maria Landi Independently published, 2018 non-fiction | Italy |
Hollywood 1920s (back cover) Nagaharu Yodogawa Haga Publishing, 1977 non-fiction | Japan |
Women of the 1920s (back cover) Thomas Bleitner Abbeville Press, 2019 non-fiction | Italy |
Popular Performer: 1920s Jan Sanborn Alfred Music, date unknown piano book | USA |
AN APPEARANCE IN NAME ONLY:
Louise Brooks’ name can be found on the covers of the following books. On Lee Israel’s Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Brooks’ name is XXXXXX XXXXXX out.
People Will Talk John Kobal Alfred A. Knopf, 1986 non-fiction | USA |
People Will Talk John Kobal Arum Press, 1986 non-fiction | UK |
Profiles Kenneth Tynan HarperCollins, 1990 non-fiction | USA |
Can You Ever Forgive Me? Lee Israel Simon & Schuster, 2008 non-fiction | USA |