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Vintage tries out 3D book jackets (with free glasses)

14.10.10 | Jo Young

Vintage Classics is to produce a one-off series of classic science fiction titles with illustrated 3D covers, each of which will be sold with an accompanying pair of 3D glasses.

The publisher hopes to ride the wave of interest in 3D art and entertainment that has been generated by recent 3D cinema releases “Avatar”, “Beowulf” and the forthcoming “Gulliver’s Travels”.

The five-book series will comprise Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the 1926 short story collection, The Call of Cthulhu and other Weird Tales by H P Lovecraft, and 20th-century classics The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle and Pierre Boulle’s Planet of the Apes.

The 3D covers, inspired by 1950s science fiction B-movies, have been produced by the in-house design team at Vintage. They were created using specially commissioned illustrations by artists including Vladimir Zimakov, Sara Ogilvie and Jim Tierney.

Suzanne Dean, creative director at Random House, said: “The 3D cover is an idea I had a long while ago and had been holding until the right book came along. The sci-fi project, with all its B-movie connotations, was the perfect match.

“Creating a 3D image relies on the position of the red to the blue tones. Yellow and black stay on the same plane when looking through the glasses. This information was crucial to creating covers that looked attractive in 2D but had the added value of becoming interactive when you put the glasses on.

“It was a team effort to produce the covers and was one of the most excitable cover meetings when we presented the series and everyone took turns to try on the 3D specs.”

The books, which will be priced between £6.99 and £8.99 each, will be released next April.

“These are titles that everyone has heard of but possibly not read so the idea is that we will be able to engage a new audience for these books,” said Lisa Gooding, publicity director for Vintage Books.

• 3D
• Jo Young
• science fiction
• Vintage