Reference News Network January 30** Dao (Wenqing Songzhu) A book came into view, and the first thing we saw was its cover. There is a saying in English called don't judge a book by its cover, which is equivalent to the Chinese word for "people cannot be disguised". This sentence applies not only to people, but also to other things. If the negative form is removed and becomes judge a book by its cover, it can be translated as "judging people by appearance" - of course, it can also be "judging things by appearance".
The book cover should not only attract the reader's attention, but also serve to protect the book block. However, the cover itself is also part of the book, and naturally needs to be protected. So the dust jacket to protect the cover was born. As the name suggests, the cover is dust-proof, and it is a loose cover that can be easily removed like a jacket over a book.
It is said that jackets first appeared in the early 19th century and were used to protect books during transportation. Early envelopes were similar to gift wrappers, wrapping entire books. When a book arrives at its destination, people open the cover and throw it away, just as a person who receives a gift throws away the wrapper. In the thirties of the 19th century, a new type of jacket appeared, with a flap that could be folded into the inside of the cover. This cover can still be attached to the cover when reading.
In the second half of the 19th century, most people did not have the habit of keeping protective covers, although they became more common, and some of them had titles printed on them. This changed in the 20s, as publishers became more aware that it would be a shame that blanks on jackets were not used. As a result, publishers began to add a synopsis and a brief introduction to the cover, and the art design of the cover was no longer simply copied from the cover. As the design of the cover became more and more abundant, the publisher gradually shifted the focus of the design from the cover to the cover.
All of the above is for hardcovers. In fact, the appearance of the cover predates the proliferation of the modern version of the **back (the latter can be traced back to the "paperback revolution" launched by Penguin in 1935). From a practical point of view, most of the European and American book markets only equip hardcover books with protective covers, while in recent years, the Chinese book market has become popular to add protective covers to paperback books, which can play the role of protecting the cover (called "inner cover") without significantly increasing the cost.
Once the cover is enveloped, the original Judge A Book by Its Cover becomes Judge A Book by Its Jacket. From "appearance" to "clothes", it corresponds to the Chinese "clothes make the man".