This story is true and goes back to 2008 when John Hamilton at Penguin commissioned me to design the book jackets for JD Salinger’s entire back catalogue. I took this responsibility extremely seriously.
Mr. Salinger was alive then, in his early 90s and, by many accounts, a belligerent and grumpy recluse. The chain of command was unusual and went like this. Salinger directed all his feedback via his New York lawyer, who then communicated with his London lawyer, who then communicated with Penguin, who then communicated with me in my tiny home studio in North London. This process was somewhat intimidating and went back and forth for weeks. It must have cost him a fucking fortune.
John told me Salinger was a very sensitive and emotional man who had always hated the first book jacket design for ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, a book which to this day still sells over a million copies a year. Salinger had instructed Penguin to redesign the jackets using lettering only. “No pictures!” Salinger had stated. That’s when John thought of me.
I designed three options, and Salinger chose the third — bespoke Inline Roman Capital letterforms with minimal and carefully considered flourishing to add a touch of refined elegance and unify the set. Salinger was shown the designs and signed them off himself, making only one change to the ‘Catcher’ jacket. He wanted the junction on the ‘Y’ in ‘Rye’ raised, which he felt made it more legible. He was right.
A day later, JD Salinger died. John said signing off the jackets was probably Salinger’s last creative decision.
To this day, I sometimes lie in bed at night wondering if the surprise of my stark, graphic and, back then, avant-garde new covers for his life’s work tipped the poor fella over the edge. Fuck me, I hope I didn’t accidentally bump off JD Salinger. I just want to get this off my chest after all these years. Rest in Peace, Mr Salinger. It was an intense privilege to be involved in a project of such literary magnitude.
Note: A few years later, just as I was coming to terms with what happened, I designed a book jacket for Seamus Heaney, and he died immediately afterwards. I no longer take on book commissions.