UNCOVERED: Revolutionary Magazine Covers - The Inside Stories Told By The People Who Made Them by former Editorial Director of Hearst, Ian Birch, has been acquired by Cassell (part of the Octopus Publishing Group). The book is being published at Octopus by Joe Cottington, Commissioning Editor, with world rights acquired in all languages from Juliet Pickering. The book will be released in hardback on 4 October 2018.
UNCOVERED is an oral history of the stories behind the most ground-breaking and controversial magazine covers ever published, as told by the people who created them. Compiled by industry veteran Ian Birch, UNCOVERED gathers together the insights of the magazine world's most important figures, including high-profile editors, creative directors, photographers, artists and cover stars.
Featuring compelling and shocking covers from Vogue, Life, Esquire, The New Yorker, i-D, The Face, Private Eye, Time, Rolling Stone and many more, covering issues as varied as the civil rights movement and Vietnam war to the Trump presidency and Brexit debate, this is a unique social document celebrating and chronicling the art of magazine design.
Joe Cottington said of the acquisition, ‘UNCOVERED is more than just a book of magazine covers. Ian has used his incredible industry contacts to speak to the key people behind each cover – to get the real, fascinating stories of what happened behind the scenes, directly from people who were there. It makes the book both a beautiful visual record and a compelling social history. We’re delighted to be publishing it with Ian.’
Ian Birch comments, ‘It’s been a pleasure to work with Joe and everyone at Octopus, and a privilege to talk to the magazine industry’s most ground-breaking creatives. They produced covers that took risks, challenged conventions and, most importantly, triggered debate.’
Ian Birch is former Editorial Director of Hearst and Emap. He began his magazine career in the mid ‘70s as a writer/reporter on Time Out before focusing on music first at Melody Maker and then Smash Hits, where he was assistant editor for three years from 1984. His first launch and editorship came in the late ‘80s with Sky magazine; he then edited Us magazine for Jann Wenner in New York. He became Editorial Director at Emap in the early ‘90s, where, over the next 10 years, he helped to launch Red, Closer, Grazia and re-launch Heat. Birch then moved back to New York to become Chief Content Officer at TV Guide before joining Hearst as an Editorial Director working in both America and Britain on brands like Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, Men's Health and Good Housekeeping.
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Pre-order your copy of UNCOVERED here.