The phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” sounds nice on paper, but if everyone actually followed it, publishers wouldn’t spend so much time and money creating them. And that’s not something we, the readers, want.
The subreddit ‘Terrible Book Covers’ is dedicated to finding the thoughtless, poorly executed, or otherwise baffling designs that were eventually greenlit and sent to print. Turns out, there’s no shortage of them.
We put together some of our recent favorites from the community that got our attention—albeit for all the wrong reasons—and invite you to take a look as well.
#1 Animal Farm By George Orwell
Image source: elmlp
#2 Little Women By Louisa May Alcott
Image source: Unfair_Umpire_3635
#3 Your Erroneous Zones By Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
Image source: FightinRndTheWorld
#4 Emma By Jane Austen
Image source: nigelghostdog
#5 Basic Self-Defense By Fred Neff 1976
Image source: gravelEater5
#6 Recipes For Romance By I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!
Image source: FightinRndTheWorld
#7 Drácula By Bram Stoker
Image source: Other-Spell-342
#8 Make Way For Dragons By Thorarinn Gunnarsson
Image source: 02K30C1
#9 Skin Of The Soul
Image source: guywhosaysthingsrAI
#10 Im Taumel Des Lebens By Erwin Sittig
Image source: before_it_was_kuehl
#11 Schrödinger’s Cat By Robert Anton Wilson
Image source: NIKO-JRM
#12 The Gaean Enchantment By T. Jackson King
Image source: silveragecollector
#13 The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow By Washington Irving
Image source: Unfair_Umpire_3635
#14 Put Your Hands Up! [An Arrest Warrant From God]
Image source: perpetualmotionmachi
#15 He-Man And The “Lost The Will” Dragon
Image source: rigdomna
#16 Hi There, High School! By Gay Head
Image source: pilgrimboy
#17 Anne Of Avonlea: That Time Green Gables Was Cursed By A Witch
Image source: Book_1love
#18 Tilly Mae And The Toothache By Renita A. Burgess
Image source: Fuzzy-Reaction1201
#19 The Joy Of Pasta
Image source: Puppychow123
#20 His Monkey Wife By John Collier
Image source: Unfair_Umpire_3635
#21 Jurassic Park By Michael Crichton
Image source: digitalcitizenalpha
#22 The Picture Of Dorian Gray By Oscar Wilde
Image source: PsychoticBlobfish
#23 The Old Man And The Sea
Image source: mrnnymern
#24 El Retrato De Dorian Gray By Oscar Wilde
Image source: Flowesque
#25 Crabs: The Human Sacrifice
Image source: blue_boy_robot
#26 We Like Kindergarten
Image source: Book_1love
#27 Self-Defence For Women
Image source: guywhosaysthingsrAI
#28 Satan Was A Lesbian, By Fred Haley
Image source: digitalcitizenalpha
#29 The Metamorphosis, By Franz Kafka
Image source: contextproblem
#30 Hatchet… Amazing Book, Terrible Original Cover. There’s Just Too Much Going On
Image source: AVeryBoredApple
#31 Regalbop By Leonard Wasserman
Image source: teruteru-fan-sam
#32 Dracula By Bram Stoker
Image source: Flowesque
#33 3 Guys And A Squirrel: A Slacker’s Guide To Adventuring
Image source: ActuariesGoneWild
#34 Baby Consealed By Leah Mills
Image source: ZoeKitten84
#35 Candide By Voltaire
Image source: CartoonSeals
#36 Psychic Pets: The Secret World Of Animals By Joseph Wylder
Image source: suspiciouschunks
#37 Margaret L. Miller – “Love In The Time Of Coronavirus”
Image source: iack4
#38 The Monk (…About A Catholic Monk In Spain)
Image source: ReallyLargeHamster
#39 Northanger Abbey By Jane Austen
Image source: VampireMulch
#40 The Legacy Begins By E C Pando
Image source: puje12
#41 The Gay Teacher, By Randy Reid
Image source: themehboat
#42 Dorian Gray: What Would You Do?
Image source: Signal_A
#43 The Plot Against The “King” Don’t Delete Mods, It’s A Real Book
Image source: MrsGrayWolfe
#44 This Old French Edition Of Bilbo The Hobbit
Image source: Rappaccini_6
#45 Lolita By Nabokov
Image source: crabalockerrr
#46 Fred Durst Coloring Book By Yamaguci A. Hyuga
Image source: Dry-Impression-2403
#47 The Picture Of Dorian Grey By Oscar Wilde
Image source: PurpleTheOnlyOne
#48 Mutation
Image source: FlyOptimal1799
#49 I Am Haunted – Living Life Through The Dead By Zak Bagans And Kelly Crigger
Image source: FilmFizz
#50 Poirot’s Early Cases By Agatha Christie (1979 Fontana Books Edition)
Image source: Ghosts_of_Bordeaux
#51 A Little Princess By Frances Hodgson Burnett
Image source: LittleNigiri
#52 “Watchers” By Dean Koontz
Image source: campaxiomatic
#53 Everworld Brave The Betreyal By K.a. Applegate
Image source: Maenelias
#54 The Case Of The Lame Canary
Image source: SpiceRackRhapsody
#55 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
Image source: RanoTraino
#56 A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
Image source: rigdomna
#57 Slim For Him – Patricia B. Kreml
Image source: AlivePassenger3859
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