157 Animated Minimalist Mid-Century Book Covers

Graphic and motion designer Henning M. Lederer can’t get enough of those minimalist midcentury book covers.

Apparently, the over-the-top pulp scenarios that inspire fellow period cover enthusiast Todd Alcott leave Lederer cold.

He’s drawn to the stark, the geometric, the abstract. No heaving bosoms, no forbidden love, though there’s no denying that sex was a topic of great clinical interest to several of the authors featured above, including psychiatrists Charles Rycroft, H. R. Beech, and R.D. Laing.

Visually, the psycho-analytic titles appear interchangeable with the more straightforward texts in this, Lederer’s third in a series of lightly animated period book covers:

The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Atomic Radiation

Medical Complications During Pregnancy

Generalized Thermodynamics

Pinwheels, ripples, and scrolling harlequin patterns abound. Stare at them long enough if you want to cure your insomnia or become one with the universe.

Tilman Grundig’s soundtrack ensures that the playing field will stay level. No title is singled out for extra sonic attention.

That said, Noise by Rupert Taylor, an expert consultant in acoustics and noise control, stands apart for the humor and narrative sensibility of its visual representation.

Perhaps that’s why Lederer saved it for last.

To date, he’s animated 157 covers. Enjoy them all above.

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Ayun Halliday is an author, illustrator, theater maker and Chief Primatologist of the East Village Inky zine.  Join her in NYC on Monday, November 12 for another monthly installment of her book-based variety show, Necromancers of the Public Domain. Follow her @AyunHalliday.