The Manipulated Paperback Privacy Pestering and Pervs







Women on the subway, particularly prior to the acceptance of ipod plugs, will bury their nose in a book so as to avoid attention from creeps. They often use homemade book covers as well, to mask the title from straphanging men who either claim to have read the book or ask if it is good. (ummm...guilty)

Never, however, have I seen a book which has had a fake cover applied by someone permanently, in particular in such a curious manner. Some goofball,
in the early 1980's, covered this paperback in a design of his own making composed of shopping bag paper, a cutout from a men's magazine, and a handwritten spine. He even wrapped her arm around it. She doesn't even appear to have red hair. Certainly not the book I would choose to read in public, but I would liked to have seen his whole library. Book courtesy of William Smith, Hangfire books. (He has better ones, and his website is great)

"Betrayed by Rita Hayworth by Manuel Puig. Vintage Books edition 1981 with handmade applied cover. Collection Jim Linderman

1 comment:

  1. Hey!! Talking about Manuel Puig!! Maybe the blogg http://www.manuelpuig.blogspot.com will interest you. I posted some interviews he made during 1968 and 1992. All these articles are part of the first multimedia-biography on CD-ROM about Puig: „Manuel Puig: Una aproximación biográfica". Buenos Aires 2008. ISBN 978-987-05-4332-9. Distribution via: http://www.manuelpuig.de

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