Last year marked the 50th anniversary of Mikhail Bulgakov’s dark and beloved satire of Stalinist Moscow, The Master and Margarita, in which the Devil comes to town accompanied by a big, black talking cat (among others). As shadows lengthen now in the corridors of American power, many are looking to the past, to the hard lessons of 20th-century totalitarianism, to better understand this dire present. Wth recent news of its impending adaptation to the screen, The Master and Margarita is one such lesson that seems as relevant as it ever has. On an entirely less serious note, here then—on the 77th anniversary of the author’s death—are 75 of the book’s covers, from around the world, ranked (with comment).

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75.2000 Russian_Интерпресс_2000

Russia (2000): Russia at the turn of the millennium was full of neo-liberal promise, new money and lots and lots of disembodied hands in white gloves. So this cover was just an ugly product of its time.

74.1987 Irena Lewandowska _ Witold Dąbrowski_Polish_Czytelnik_1987

Poland (1987): No account/allegory of the time of Stalin’s purges and its attendant performative atheism is complete without a lot of serious blue eyeshadow.

73.2002 Magda Takáčová _Slovak_Slovart_2002

Slovakia (2002): Here is maybe Jesus with boobs and a lot of blood. (Tied for worst with the first two, to be honest.)

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72.1986 Russian_Рига ЛИЕСМА_1986

Russia (1986): Is this a famous painting? Because if it is it looks like the weekend cleaning lady doused it in Windex. Also, more Jesus with boobs?

71.2005 Unknown Translator_Spanish_Alianza_2005

Spain (2005): When you’re really behind on your cover design and all you have is an old guidebook and some markers.

70.1989 Russian_Художественная литература_1989

Russia (1989): Sometimes that quick sketch of Kate Jackson your niece made on the back of a placemat at the GUM cafeteria is the way to go.

69.1991 Νότα Κυριακοπούλου_Greek_Γράμματα_1991

Greece (1991): Actual photo of Karl Lagerfeld.

68.2007 Antonio Pescada_Italian_Relógio D'Água_2007

Portugal (2007): So… Is this a famous painting? A really, really shitty famous painting?

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67.2007 Heino_Finnish_WSOY_2007

Finland (2007): This image embodies all of our very worst fears about audience participation.

66.2015 ClaudeLigny_French_RobertLaffont_2015

France (2015): This was almost much higher, because it is a puzzled cat in a tiny crown. But it’s a puzzled cat in a tiny crown, so it’s not.

65.2000 Ojārs Vācietis_Latvian_Jumava_2000

Latvia (2000): Creepy but not in a good way is a thing that’s happening with a lot of these covers.

64.1992 Salvatore Arcella_Italian_Newton Compton_1992

Italy (1992): This looks like a jar of hipster spaghetti sauce.

63.
2014 Russian_Glagoslav Epublications_2014

Russia (2014): “Hey guys, do we still have the rights to that Madame Bovary cover image? Let’s just use that.”

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62.1995 Irena Lewandowska _ Witold Dąbrowski_Polish_Czytelnik_1995

Poland (1995): Seriously, how have we gotten this far down in the list without any images of black cats?

61.

Mexico (2015): Thank you, finally, a black cat. A really big poorly rendered black cat atop some hastily clustered Orthodox onion domes, sure, but we’ll take it.

60.2008 Milly De Monticelli_Italian_Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli_2008

Italy (2008): This is pretty ok because yes, sometimes Metro North can feel like it’s full of the Devil’s own shock troops.

59.1988 Michael Glenny_English_Collins Harvill_1988

England (1988): They say the eyes in creepy Russian street art follow you wherever you walk.

58.1994 Claude Ligny_French_Pocket_1994

France (1994): This cover—a good painting! decent type treatment!—would be much higher if it weren’t for the blaring logo and pull quote.

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57.2010 Vera Drisdo_Italian_Newton Compton_2010

Italy (2010): Black cat number two! (Don’t worry, they’ll start to show up soon in large numbers, like an infestation.) This one’s named Gianni and was photographed on Take Your Black Cat to Work Day.

56.2007 Emanuela Guercetti_Italian_Garzanti_2007

Italy (2007): Wow, ok. This cover is… fine? It’s a nice enough cover! Doesn’t convey much of the dread and menace of the book, but… Yeah, it’s fine.

55.2005 UnknownTranslator_Bulgarian_ФАМА(Fama)_2005

Bulgaria (2005): Shortly after this photograph was taken Bulgakov took out a very tiny phonograph and played the theme to Mighty Mouse.

54.2005 ClaudeLigny_French_Laffont_2005

France (2005): Who’s this guy? Looks mad and sort of Swedish. Fine.

53.1992 Irena Lewandowska _ Witold Dąbrowski_Polish_Czytelnik_1992

Poland (1992): It must have been really satisfying to read The Master and Margarita as the Soviet Union and its grim bloc fell apart. Also, there should be more black cat stencil street art.

52.2014 Salvatore Arcella_Italian_Newton Compton_2014

Italy (2014): Bertie Wooster really is kind of a devil. And this cover would work on a bookstore shelf.

51.wordsworth-classics-2011

England (2003): If Donald Trump and Ted Nugent had a cat baby it would be this purple cat baby, by the fire, shooting a bullet into the heart of American democracy.

50.2010 Zoia Prestes_Portuguese (Brazil)_Alfaguara Brasil_2010

Brazil (2010): Suitably terrifying and unpleasant, this cover needs to be on some kind of registry.

49.2007 Stan Książk_Polish_Muza_2007

Poland (2007): Who knew a random flyer for an anarchist furry cosplay rave would work so well for this cover?

48.2014 Russian_ Азбука_2014

Russia (2014): This painting, though maybe a little on the nose, has an always appropriate arresting/upsetting Ralph Steadman vibe to it.

47.1991 Diane Burgin _ Katherine Tiernan O'Connor_English_Ardis Publishers_1991

England (1991): This is probably what it would look like if everyone suddenly stopped dancing upon realizing the Devil had just come to town with a crazy weirdo entourage.

46.2014 Michael Glenny_English_Vintage Classics_2014

England (2014): Here we go: Black, white, and red, manic typeface, menacing hammer and sickle as visual subtext… Formulaic but effective.

45.2003 Natalia Radovici_Romanian_Humanitas_2003

Romania (2003): You can actually go wrong by using a Marc Chagall painting as a book cover, but it’s hard to do—lime-green bars is one way to start. Even still, this is pretty good!

44.1984 Michael Glenny_English_Flamingo, Fontana_1984

England (2004): Do you guys remember that awesome episode of Miami Vice where the Devil comes to South Beach and brings a big demonic bipedal cat with him? Major points for ripping off the look of the controversial, love em-or-hate em Vintage Contemporary covers from the 1980s.

43.2000 Ayako Hoki_Japanese_Gunzosha_2000

Japan (2000): This is cool because it doesn’t even look like a book cover but rather like a recruitment poster for a cool teen army in suburban Osaka.

42.2015 Natalia Radovici_Romanian_Editura Litera_2015

Romania (2015): It’s hard to argue with a sinister man in black in a fancy hat with his back to the camera cavorting with a black cat.

41.2013 Russian_Амфора, Петроглиф_2013

Russia (2013): It’s hard to argue with a sinister man in black in a fancy hat with his back to the camera cavorting with a black cat.

40.2006 Karpelson_English_LuluPress_2006

England (2006): Big Moon / Lil Devil / pretty good cover.

39.1974 Michael Glenny_English_Plume_1974

England (1974): When in doubt you should put a nice old painting or woodcut on you book. That, plus decent typography and an ok palette is sure to land you right in the middle of lists like this!

38.2014 Unknown Translator_Italian_Baldini _ Castoldi_2014

Italy (2014): This would be the perfect cover if you could see the cat’s face. Why can’t we see the cat’s face!?

37.

2010 Aydın Emeç_Turkish_Can Yayinlari_2010

Turkey (2010): If we saw this cover while scrolling through Netflix we’d definitely stop to at least read the synopsis, and that synopsis would read: “Kevin the cat thought he was really a minotaur, and no one could convince him otherwise.” And then we’d keep scrolling.

36.

1969 Russian_Possev-Verlag_1969

Russia (1969): One of the more dynamic jazz trios of the late 1960s, the lighthearted energy of Two Men and a Cat’s breezy post-bop is captured perfectly by this 1969 album cover.

35.

2012 Татяна Балова_Bulgarian_Дамян Яков_2012

Bulgaria (2012): Fully approve of this Ralph Steadman/Bloom County mash-up (would have cracked the top 25 with a better type treatment).

34.

2006 Ojārs Vācietis_Latvian_Mediasat Group_2006

Latvia (2006): Sometimes a stock photo of a black cat is all you really need for a middling cover of The Master and Margarita.

33.

1990 Лиляна Минкова_Bulgarian_Интерпринт_1990

Bulgaria (1990): Not sure of the artist, here, but despite the notes of pastel, there is some serious dread in this cover, and that’s a good thing.

32.

1996 Vera Dridso_Italian_Einaudi_1996

Italy (1996): Pretty sure they printed the wrong cover and this is really an early Ferrante novel. But major points, anyway, for the break from malevolent cats/dudes.

31.

1996 Ulla-Liisa Heino_Finnish_WSOY_1996

Finland (1996): Sure, the illustration may have been ripped right off the binder of a Helsinki high schooler, but we’d marry that typeface if it asked.

30.
2006 Ulla-Liisa Heino_Finnish_WSOY_2006

Finland (2006): A decade later and that same Helsinki high schooler became a graphic designer with a taste for high-end American furniture catalogs. Classy.

29.

2015 Russian_Издательство Проспект_2015

Russia (2015): Because isn’t it really just an adorable love story in the end?

28.
2005 Dridso_Italian_ETEinaudi_2005

Italy (2005): No jokes, here. Just a pretty cool black cat hanging on a red block. Pretty cool.

27.

2006 Đoàn Tử Huyến_Vietnamese_Nxb Lao động_2006

Vietnam (2006): To be fair, it’s really very hard to get Ghostcat to sit still. That’s why he always makes for interesting covers.

26.

2015 Unknown Translator_Italian_LeggereGiovane_2015

Italy (2015): We’d consider going into debt for an MFA just so we could hang this on the wall of our dorm room.

25.2001 Pevear_Volokhonsky_English_PenguinClassics_2001

UK (2001): Oh hello there Penguin Classics… you put the classy in… classics. With art. (A little staid, though, no?)

24.
2004 Algimantas Mikuta_Lithuanian_Trigama_2004

Lithuania (2004): We want to assume this is a limited-edition woodblock bundle of lovely art bookiness, as nice to hold in your hands as it is to read. And so we shall.

23.2010 Jüri Ojamaa _ Maiga Varik_Estonian_Raamat_2010

Estonia (2010): Frankly, though nice, the last three covers have been a little too elegant for such a loud, garish, twitchy novel. More outsidery art like this, please.

22.2004 Michael Glenny_English_Panther and the Harvill Press_2004

UK (2004): Scary. This cover is scary. We are scared.

21.1968 Jüri Ojamaa _ Maiga Varik_Estonian_Eeesti Raamat_1968

Estonia (1968): Ok, so faded beige and a certain red are very close to this website’s heart (which is also faded beige). But what’s with those old roadhouse Ms?

20.2013 Aydın Emeç_Turkish_Can Yayinlari_2013

Turkey (2013): BULGAKOV. SIMPLE, BRUTAL, JUMBLE. (One hardly notices the red cat just hanging out behind the big, bold type treatment. Which is fine.)

19.2010 Diane Burgin _ Katherine Tiernan O'Connor_English_Picador_2010

UK (2010): Simple and crisp, it’s nice to have a little breathing room on one of these covers, which are, by and large, claustrophobic and crazy.

18.2010 Jørgen Harrit _Danish_Rosinante_2010

Denmark (2010): Our first cover to crack the top 20, almost entirely because of that pretty, pretty typography.

17.2007 Pevear_Volokhonsky_English_PenguinClassics_2007

US (2007): There is no fate worse than having your red-eyed cat pull off your head and beat you with it. None.

16. 2006 Lars Erik Blomqvist_Swedish_En bok för alla_2006

Sweden (2006): Anarchist signboard or book cover? Would work well as both.

15.2014 Marta Rebon_Spanish_Nevsky Prospects_2014

Spain (2014): Hipster diner menu or book cover? Would work well as both.

14.2004 Glenny_English_Vintage_2004

UK (2004): So much to love here: “I’m a crazy big cat gonna scratch up yr puny moon!” That yellow. No serifs. That red.

13.2016 Hugh Aplin_English_Rosetta Books_2016

US (2016): By now you can probably tell there are colors and typefaces that work for us. If not, they’re all on this cover.

12.2009 Milly De Monticelli _Italian_Rizzoli_2009

Italy (2009): This is a beautiful drawing of a cat; and that green is just sickly enough to convey the deep queasy brilliance of the book. Bravo.

11.2006 Pevear_Volokhonsky_English_Penguin_2006

US (2013): One time we were at a party with three different people wearing this same mask and one of them was drinking margaritas and it was probably the ghost of Bulgakov or at least Trotsky.

10.2014 Margherita Crepax_Italian_Feltrinelli_2014

Italy (2004): This cat looks like how we have felt through the creation of most of this list. Points for relatability.

9.2012 Sabri Gürses_Turkish_Everest Yayinlari_2012

Turkey (2012): Sketchy-looking pervert cat in the creepy green trench coat, aka 2017’s brand. Perfect.

8.
1967 Michael Glenny_English_Signet Classics_1967

US (1967): That is exactly what a cat looks like when he’s about to shoot you. Trust us. Major points for verisimilitude.

7.2015 Andrzej Drawicz_Polish_Rebis_2015

Poland (2015): No matter where you walk in the entire bookstore, the eyes of this cat are upon you, judging you, probing the darkest recesses of your soul. And that, friends, is what makes a good book cover.

6.2012 Algimantas Mikuta_Lithuanian_Jotema_2012

Lithuania (2012): So much lovely empty space, so clean, the barest rumor of a foreground… And those golden domes! This is great.

5.1996 O'Connor_Burgin_English_Vintage_1996

US (1996): So much menace and elegance here, like a Patricia Highsmith novel except with talking animals.

4.
2001 Lars Erik Blomqvist_Swedish_Norstedts Förlag_2001

Sweden (2001): What is going on off camera in that terrifying pink room that is the color of a cat’s tongue?! The expression on the cat and the bold typeface are great.

3.2016 Richard Pevear _ Larissa Volokhonsky_English_PenguinClassics_2016

US (2016): Has there been a graphic novelization of The Master and Margarita? If so, this would be a great cover.

2.1994 Ginsburg_English_GrovePress_1994

US (1994): That green, the forked tongue, the cursive… This cover is almost perfect.

 

And…

1.
2008 Hugh Aplin_English_Oneworld Classics_2008

UK (2008): Oh dear god. (This selfie-as-cover was literally conceived of, shot, designed, and laid out by the actual Devil, and is, at risk of our immortal soul, the best. )

Jonny Diamond

Jonny Diamond

Jonny Diamond is the Editor in Chief of Literary Hub. He lives in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains with his wife and two sons, and is currently writing a cultural history of the axe for W.W. Norton. @JonnyDiamondJonnyDiamond.me