A Mystery That Should Not Exist
September 1, 2023 8:28 PM Subscribe
Sarah Elizabeth, author of the upcoming book The Art of Fantasy, posted in May that she'd been searching for years for the name of the artist who painted the cover for the 1976 Dell Laurel Leaf edition of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. Four months of dead ends from various internet sleuths later, the folks at WBUR's Endless Thread podcast have announced the mystery is solved and described how they did it. (Full transcript available at the link.)
Wow, they really went through the whole rolodex. What a fun read.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:35 PM on September 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:35 PM on September 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm apparently of the yellow-cover generation, although if the mystery-artist cover came along in 1976 I must have been pretty close to the cusp. I'd have liked the book either way, but prefer the cover I encountered first.
posted by Nerd of the North at 9:57 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Nerd of the North at 9:57 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
I first read Wrinkle In Time well before 1976.
I'm guessing I was ten at the time so 1969-70. I have no memory of the cover. What I do remember is that it was the first book I'd ever read that challenged me to the core. Until then, it had never occurred to me that a book could be more than just a bunch of stuff happening (good guys vs bad guys etc) with some kind of happy ending an obvious endpoint.
Wrinkle in Time cut deep into me with its questions and paradoxes, awakened a curiosity which has roamed free ever since. Time, space, tesseracts, courage, intelligence, conformity, family -- the very idea of being young and strange and moving through fabulously significant changes.
Sorry, what were we talking about?
posted by philip-random at 10:05 PM on September 1, 2023 [12 favorites]
I'm guessing I was ten at the time so 1969-70. I have no memory of the cover. What I do remember is that it was the first book I'd ever read that challenged me to the core. Until then, it had never occurred to me that a book could be more than just a bunch of stuff happening (good guys vs bad guys etc) with some kind of happy ending an obvious endpoint.
Wrinkle in Time cut deep into me with its questions and paradoxes, awakened a curiosity which has roamed free ever since. Time, space, tesseracts, courage, intelligence, conformity, family -- the very idea of being young and strange and moving through fabulously significant changes.
Sorry, what were we talking about?
posted by philip-random at 10:05 PM on September 1, 2023 [12 favorites]
This is the true, original book-cover of A Wrinkle in Time. There's no winged centaur in this novel.
posted by Rash at 10:31 PM on September 1, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by Rash at 10:31 PM on September 1, 2023 [13 favorites]
Honestly, I can't even remember what cover my copy of A Wrinkle in Time had. They all look pretty generic to me.
A Wind in the Door, though? That is a cover I fucking remember. Be not afraid, my ass; it took me a month to work up the courage to read it after I found it on the bookshelf.
posted by phooky at 10:33 PM on September 1, 2023 [16 favorites]
A Wind in the Door, though? That is a cover I fucking remember. Be not afraid, my ass; it took me a month to work up the courage to read it after I found it on the bookshelf.
posted by phooky at 10:33 PM on September 1, 2023 [16 favorites]
One of my prouder moments as a MeFite was when I asked who did the cover art for Sid Meier’s Civilization, information that was nowhere to be found online, and mmoncur tracked her down. I’m really glad people track down uncredited illustrators.
posted by Kattullus at 12:56 AM on September 2, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 12:56 AM on September 2, 2023 [8 favorites]
Thanks for this!
Enjoying the reminiscence on a personal level since my username is rooted in A Wrinkle In Time. It’s been my primary internet moniker for over 20 years now. I’ve started moving away from it in the past couple years, but it (and the book) will always be an indelible part of my identity.
posted by itesser at 1:00 AM on September 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
Enjoying the reminiscence on a personal level since my username is rooted in A Wrinkle In Time. It’s been my primary internet moniker for over 20 years now. I’ve started moving away from it in the past couple years, but it (and the book) will always be an indelible part of my identity.
posted by itesser at 1:00 AM on September 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
This is great and 100% unexpected. Flagged as Best of the Dang Web!
posted by cupcakeninja at 3:04 AM on September 2, 2023
posted by cupcakeninja at 3:04 AM on September 2, 2023
There's no winged centaur in this novel.
I also know A Wrinkle in Time by the cover you linked to, but Mrs Whatsit could change herself into something like a winged centaur. I think at least some of the children rode on her when travelling.
posted by Zumbador at 4:14 AM on September 2, 2023 [7 favorites]
I also know A Wrinkle in Time by the cover you linked to, but Mrs Whatsit could change herself into something like a winged centaur. I think at least some of the children rode on her when travelling.
posted by Zumbador at 4:14 AM on September 2, 2023 [7 favorites]
Well that was a way more fun read than I expected. That's a level of tenacity that I've never even dreamed of possessing.
I also want to say that I am truly delighted with the artwork of Richard Bober's nephew, Matthew Bober, which was linked in the transcript of the podcast.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:46 AM on September 2, 2023 [6 favorites]
I also want to say that I am truly delighted with the artwork of Richard Bober's nephew, Matthew Bober, which was linked in the transcript of the podcast.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:46 AM on September 2, 2023 [6 favorites]
Wow, that was a really fun read.
posted by joannemerriam at 5:47 AM on September 2, 2023
posted by joannemerriam at 5:47 AM on September 2, 2023
Honestly, I can't even remember what cover my copy of A Wrinkle in Time had. They all look pretty generic to me.
Same. I had a copy that I basically read to pieces. It's possibly it was read to me before I was 100% reading on my own, but I know it was one of the very early books I read myself. And then reread, many times, but for the life of me I have no idea about the cover.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:59 AM on September 2, 2023
Same. I had a copy that I basically read to pieces. It's possibly it was read to me before I was 100% reading on my own, but I know it was one of the very early books I read myself. And then reread, many times, but for the life of me I have no idea about the cover.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:59 AM on September 2, 2023
I was unfamiliar with the the earlier edition covers. My cover will always be the 1983 edition.
posted by ob1quixote at 12:16 PM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ob1quixote at 12:16 PM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
This is the true, original book-cover of A Wrinkle in Time.
That is a cool cover.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:15 PM on September 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
That is a cool cover.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:15 PM on September 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
I was unfamiliar with the the earlier edition covers. My cover will always be the 1983 edition.
Looking at all of those, I'm pretty sure the one I had was the Dell Yearling 1976 version, with the rainbow.
posted by Dip Flash at 2:31 PM on September 2, 2023
Looking at all of those, I'm pretty sure the one I had was the Dell Yearling 1976 version, with the rainbow.
posted by Dip Flash at 2:31 PM on September 2, 2023
The 70s Sc-iFi Art newsletter has a piece on the search (the author is interviewed in the WBUR podcast).
posted by gentlyepigrams at 8:18 AM on September 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by gentlyepigrams at 8:18 AM on September 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:08 PM on September 1, 2023 [6 favorites]