The first hardback edition of Bagley’s novel was published in 1971 by Doubleday & Company Inc. The cover design was by the prominent American graphic designer Lawrence Ratzkin, known for his design solutions honed down to their graphic essence.
Ratzkin’s career in design started in 1960 and continued into the current century, he passed away on 18th May 2011. In addition to this design for Doubleday he produced thousands of book jackets for other major American publishing houses, including Simon & Schuster, Random House, E.P. Dutton, Harper & Row, David McKay, Putnam, Farrar Strauss and Giroux, Knopf and William Morrow.
The rear flap shows a publicity photograph of Bagley taken by the American photographer Jerry Bauer at Cleopatra’s Needle on the Thames embankment, London (circa 1969-70). A cropped version of this publicity image was used on the first American paperback edition of Running Blind.
The cloth boards of the first American edition are blind stamped with the book’s title.
Bagley’s novel was first published in paperback in the USA by Fawcett Publications Inc. The Fawcett Crest edition (ISBN: 449-01684-095; Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 71-135711) was issued in April 1972, reprinted by arrangement with Doubleday & Company Inc.
Similar artwork, which is uncredited, on the cover of this edition was used on the slightly earlier first Japanese paperback edition, published in January 1972. The rear cover uses the image of Bagley pictured at Cleopatra’s Needle on the Thames embankment, London. This publicity image was also used on the rear of the Fawcett Crest paperback edition of The Freedom Trap.
A later edition (ISBN: 0-06-080693-1) was published by Harper & Row, Perennial Library in 1984 also by arrangement with Doubleday & Company Inc. This edition featured an illustrated map of Iceland showing the locations mentioned in the novel, drawn by illustrator David Yeadon. The cover was designed by One Plus One Studio with an illustration by Steven Stroud. Steven’s illustrations and paintings have appeared on the covers of books by authors including Isaac Asimov, Clive Cussler, and Stephen King. An extract of his biography, which may be read in full here, is shown below:
Steven Stroud was born and raised in the Chicago area. He holds degrees in painting from Drake University and The Art Center College of Design. He served four years in the U.S. Navy as a photographer and graphic artist.
Steve was an illustrator for 25 years. His paintings have appeared on the covers of books by Isaac Asimov, Clive Cussler, and Stephen King. He has done special editions of works by Pearl Buck, John Cheever, William Faulkner, Joseph Heller, Joyce Carol Oates, and William Styron.
His work is in the collections of The Department of Defense, Hyatt Hotels, Omega Engineering, UPS and the Florence Griswold Museum. Mr. Stroud has been a guest lecturer and critic at all levels of education. He is a past president of the Society of Illustrators and his work is featured in The Illustrator in America by Walter Reed.
Several years ago, Steve turned his attention full-time to his first love, landscape painting. He is currently represented by galleries in Massachusetts and Vermont and has had a number of highly successful group and one-man shows. [1]
US Eyes Only
The location map, drawn by the illustrator and author David Yeadon details the locations mentioned in Bagley’s novel and appears to have only been included in the American Perennial Library edition.
David Yeadon, is an adventure travel author, illustrator, photojournalist, columnist and regular travel correspondent for National Geographic, National Geographic Traveller, The Washington Post, New York Times and many other major American, European and Asian travel magazines. David has had over 200 features published since 1990 and in 1993 received the Society of American Travel Writers Lowell Thomas Gold and Silver medals for best travel book and best foreign travel feature [2]. His website may be viewed here.
Next: cover art gallery
Notes
Images courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd / © Doubleday & Company Inc. /© Fawcett Publications Inc. / © One Plus One Studio / © Steven Stroud / © David Yeadon
1. Stroud, S.H. (2015). Steven H. Stroud – Biography [online]. URL [Accessed Jun. 10th 2015]
2. Yeadon, D. (2015). David Yeadon – Earth Gypsy Supreme ‘Bio’ [online]. URL [Accessed Jun. 10th 2015]
The Bagley Brief 