50 Raymond Carver Covers from Around the World

Raymond Carver, master of the short story, patron saint of many a creative writing program, regular of many a bar, was born on May 25, 1938. Since then, thousands of aspiring writers all over the world have carried his collections under their arms, displayed them on their bedside tables, and probably even read them. I’ve often been particularly charmed by the Carver covers I have come across, which seem as enigmatic and withdrawn as the writing itself. So just because I love you, and because it’s (almost) Carver’s birthday, here are some of the best Carver covers—for Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and Cathedral—from around the world. Some of them are beautiful. Some are irreverent. Some are so 80s it hurts. All make me want to go back and reread.

First Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1976

First McGraw-Hill Paperback Edition, 1978

First Edition, Knopf, 1981

First Edition, Knopf, 1983

Vintage, 1984

Tammi, 1986 (Finnish)

Mazarine, 1986 (French)

Teorema, 1987 (Portuguese)

Club degli Editori su licenza Serra e Riva, 1987 (Italian)

Garzanti, 1987 (Italian)

Vintage Contemporaries, 1989

Vintage Contemporaries, 1989

Anagrama, 1989 (Spanish)

Bratstvo Jedinstvo, 1990 (Serbian)

LGF, 1991 (French)

Anagrama, 1992 (Spanish)

Elkar, 1993 (Basque)

Odeon, 1994 (Czech)

Zlatko Crnković vam predstavlja, 1997 (Croatian)

Livre de Poche, 2000 (French)

Minimum Fax, 2001 (Italian)

Berliner Taschenbuchverlag, 2001 (German)

Anagrama, 2003 (Spanish)

Teorema, 2004 (Portuguese)

Polirom, 2005 (Romanian)

Polirom, 2006 (Romanian)

Vintage Classics, 2009 (Australia)

Vintage Classics, 2009 (Australia)

Vintage Classics, 2009 (Australia)

Vintage, 2009; design by Peter Buchanan-Smith, photo by Todd Hido

Vintage, 2009; design by Peter Buchanan-Smith, photo by Todd Hido

Vintage, 2009; design by Peter Buchanan-Smith, photo by Todd Hido

Fischer Klassik, 2012 (German)

Fischer Klassik, 2012 (German)

Fischer Klassik, 2012 (German)

Nhã Nam & NXB Văn học, 2012 (Vietnamese)

Nhã Nam, NXB Văn Học, 2013 (Vietnamese)

Anagrama, 2013 (Spanish)

Points, 2013 (French)

Points, 2013 (French)

Can Yayınları, 2013 (Turkish)

Can Yayınları, 2014 (Turkish)

Einaudi, 2014 (Italian)

Einaudi, 2015 (Italian)

Polirom, 2015 (Romanian)

Einaudi, 2017 (Italian)

Polirom, 2018 (Romanian)

Μεταίχμιο, 2018 (Greek)

Penerbit BACA, 2018 (Indonesian)

Anagrama, 2019 (Spanish)

Emily Temple

Emily Temple is the managing editor at Lit Hub. Her first novel, The Lightness, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in June 2020. You can buy it here.

https://www.emilytemple.net/