This is my first time participating in Shelf Candy Saturday, a weekly meme hosted by the amazingly awesome Maria at her blog A Night's Dream of Books. The purpose of this meme is to spotlight beautiful book covers, illustrations, etc and generally judge a book by its cover. I knew immediately what book I wanted to feature as my first ever Shelf Candy pick. *drumroll*....
This is the latest (2011) omnibus edition of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy-- a wonderful and classic children's fantasy series and some of my all-time favorite books, for those of you who haven't already guessed from their constant appearances in my Top Ten Tuesday lists. It was published by the Everyman's Library-- which tends to release gorgeous editions of popular books-- and the illustrator/artist is Kate Baylay.
I first laid eyes on this eye candy of an edition while wandering the narrow aisles of the university bookstore a block from my dorm. I think I gasped aloud and cradled it in my hands for a long moment, being careful not to smudge the soft black cover with my fingerprints. Since then I have revisited it many times, subtly gaping and marveling at how wonderfully **shiny** it is. The price is a bit much for me-- broke college student, remember?-- and I do already own other editions of these books. But I have made a promise to myself that if I do really well on all my exams in December, I will spend whatever funds I have left to buy this.
While checking out Kate Baylay's website, I was also delighted to discover this:
"Mrs. Coulter, loosening the cramped way some roses had been bunched into a vase, saw that Lyra wasn't moving and glanced pointedly at the door." --(from The Golden Compass)
What an eerily intriguing illustration of Mrs. Marisa Coulter-- who is something of the villainess of the His Dark Materials series. I love how her golden monkey dæmon looks here, as I always imagined in the books when I was younger, eerily omniscient yet somehow slightly cute and, well, hug-able. Kate Baylay's artwork is so beautiful and unique; I really enjoyed looking through it and would recommend anyone else to drop by her site, as it is definitely worth visiting.
Well, I guess that's enough gushing about this cover! I would love to see what shelf candy you're featuring this Saturday.
