This concise overview of the work of designer Alvin Lustig (1915-55) focuses on his book covers, vehicles for his bold graphic experimentation. Here is a colorful and well-researched representation of Alvin Lustig's book cover designs that were created primarily for New Directions Books and Noonday Press, among others. Lustig used the book cover as a vehicle of his bold graphic experimentation that was enhanced by a lifelong collaboration with James Laughlin, founder and publisher of New Directions Books. Ned Drew and Paul Sternberger cite many passages from these letters of correspondence betweenLustig and Laughlin which include a range of topics from the early 1940s up to Lustig's untimely death in 1955. As a modern designer, Lustig's interests spanned many fields: architectural, industrial and interior design which served as an expression of his deeply held convictions. For him, the designer was not a single-minded specialist, but an integrator of many art forms-and simultaneously, as he saw it, a spokesman for social change. NED DREW teaches at Rutgers University-Newark and is also the director of The Design Consortium, a student/teacher run design studio that focuses on non-profit, community-based projects. Paul Sternberger is an Associate Professor of Art History at Rutgers University-Newark. He is co-author with colleague Ned Drew of By It's Cover: Modern American Book Cover Design.

A short introduction to the life and work of Italian-born designer, George Giusti, examining his eclectic aesthetic of refined Modernism. George Giusti, an Italian-born and educated designer, first established a professional practice in Switzerland and later, in the United States. Giusti's unique designs became widely praised covers for publications such as Fortune,Holiday, Modern Packaging, Graphis and Time. With multidisciplinary talents, Giusti also created sculptures, metalwork and designed several architectural projects reflecting his eclectic aesthetic of refined Modernism. This is the sixth title in the Graphic Design Archives Chapbook Series. This series celebrates the achievements of key design pioneers whose work is held in the Cary Graphic Arts Collection at RIT Libraries. From the inaugural acquisition in 1986, RIT's holdings have grown to include the work of 36 significant American graphic designers, active from the 1920s to the 1950s. NED DREW heads the Graphic Design area at Rutgers University-Newark andis also a founding partner of the multidisciplinary design firm BRED, which is based in New York City. BRENDA McMANUS is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Pace University and founding partner and creative director of BRED.PAUL STERNBERGER, Associate Professor of Art History at Rutgers University-Newark, specializes in American Art and the History of Photography.