Searching Tips
Although searching this site should be a fairly simple process, the software does have a few quirks. Here are some guidelines for those who may need them:
- Contents for all search categories are listed in alphanumeric order; for example, ‘Ansel Adams’ precedes ‘Robert Adams’. Within this order, however, a persons name will be listed ‘last-name-first’, i.e., ‘Adams, Ansel’, NOT ‘Ansel Adams’ .
- If more than one name is involved [as in a pair or collaborative team of photographers, authors, etc], the names can usually be found alphabetically, under the last name of the first person listed. For example, ‘David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson’ would be found under ‘H’.
- Publication date is by year, going from most recent to oldest.
- The categories Publisher and Publication date refer to the specific edition of the title listed, which is not necessarily the first edition. For example, Joseph Conrad’s 'Heart of Darkness' was originally published in 1902; the copy we refer to, with a cover photo by Carl Chiarenza, was published in 1989.
- For instances where a designer is named in the colophon, but not specifically identified as the cover designer, I have indicated that by adding '[book design]' after the person's name.
A Note on Image Titles:
Due to their relative unimportance in the larger scheme of a book's purpose; i.e., informational content, storyline and style, the 'original' titles for cover photographs are often omitted by the publisher. Initially, I had planned to list titles only if they appeared in the book (usually on the back cover, back end flap or in the colophon), and then exactly as they appeared. I've since scrapped that plan in favor of providing original titles for as many of the photographs as possible, whether or not they appear in their respective books. It is worth noting, however, that titles, and even dates, of images can vary, according to where one finds them. When I have to choose between different titles/dates for a single image, I go with what I consider to be the most authoritative source.