Setting the Tone for Taste: Visual Art on the Covers of Oxford University Press’s World’s Classics Series (c.1978–1989)

Readers today are accustomed to encountering literary ‘classics’ in affordable paperback format. Publishers like Wordsworth, Penguin, and Oxford University Press (OUP) curate entire classics series that present a selection of literary works in uniform designs. For decades, this has involved the practice of featuring highbrow artworks on the covers, often alluding to the book’s historical context, theme, or mood. This chapter explores the ideological assumptions embedded in this design approach through the use of a Bourdieusian critical framework. After tracing the historical origins of the classics series, I examine one particular publishing endeavour: OUP’s World’s Classics series. Drawing on material from the publisher’s archive, I illustrate how OUP relied on the taste-making and consecrating power of classics and visual artworks, respectively, to position its product in the market. I suggest that the inclusion of art on covers reflects naturalised assumptions about the symbolic value of both art forms and reinforces this naturalisation. My analysis concentrates on the 1980 launch of the World’s Classics paperbacks, when artworks were first featured on the covers, and on the 1990 relaunch of the series. A more contemporary perspective is supplied through an interview with Judith Luna, former commissioning editor at OUP.