Masses of stuff online about Herbert George. I cannot believe how many books he has written – over 20 novels, several works of non-fiction and about 50 short stories. In addition I discover he was married twice, had numerous affairs, was a socialist, a diabetic and believed in eugenics. His second wife apparently agreed he could have affairs. I have heard that one before. In his biography he says: “I was never a great amorist, though I have loved several people very deeply”.
Our George was a bit of a mix really. Not sure I would have liked him.
In terms of primary research there is a lot to be done – reading all those books, or at least a sample would be appropriate. I would skim through the texts of a few books. I have never read any of his books – I don’t like sci-f i in general. So I think I would prefer to work on the non-fiction.
Also looking at the ways in which others have designed book covers – looking on Amazon and in the bookshops to see what has already been done. (I think this research would be primary. Some may see it as secondary as it would be looking at the collections others had made – but if I am looking at the design of the books I think this is primary research.)
there’s a lot of book cover images on Google already, eg:
Google Images: HG Wells book covers
I prefer the simple ones I think. Like these. And I see these won an award:
Other primary research would be:
- Interviews with George – not possible as he is currently unavailable;
- Interviews with relatives – this may be secondary or primary, not sure;
- Investigation of socio-cultural context
- Looking at whether there are unpublished manuscripts
A great deal of secondary research could be done and you would have to do a trawl to see what is out there and then decide what kind of thing to focus on. I think I would watch a few films to see the general themes and get the mood of the books. So seeing films would give me a flavour.
Other secondary stuff would include:
- Biographies
- recordings of interviews
- Critiques and reviews of his life and works
Finally I think tertiary work would include going to museums and exhibitions and looking at websites, especially wikipedia.
Wikipedia has so much info it would kill me to trawl through all that; a scan for highlights maybe and then I reckon the next thing to do s to find out a bit about the era in which a few books have been written. I would focus on some written in the 1920s and go for a style that I could associate with the time. I think that would be a bit more interesting research wise. He had a good long life really and it spanned across centuries s you can pick a good moment I guess.
The loveliness of the roaring 1920s can be seen here. It might be nice to have this STYLE:
The 1920s. (Google image search)
Maybe I would cheat and go for the decorum of art deco as well though. This is probably more 1930s.
Ok so we know that:
He was a teacher, a draper, a politician, a misogynist, a suffragette sympathiser (really?) and a socialist pacifist. He spent a LOT of time writing and had two children.
I think I will pick three books all linked together to design book covers for; these are described by wikipedia here:
Wells also wrote nonfiction. His bestselling three-volume work, The Outline of History (1920), began a new era of popularised world history. It received a mixed critical response from professional historians.[22] Many other authors followed with “Outlines” of their own in other subjects. Wells reprised his Outline in 1922 with a much shorter popular work, A Short History of the World,[23] and two long efforts, The Science of Life (1930) and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1931). The “Outlines” became sufficiently common for James Thurber to parody the trend in his humorous essay, “An Outline of Scientists”—indeed, Wells’s Outline of History remains in print with a new 2005 edition, while A Short History of the World has been recently reedited (2006).
Mediascape 