Home

Dennis Piper

(On Topic: | Audrey Dallas-Simpson | Dennis Piper | W Edwin Law | Index )

A graphic designer who we believe was active in the UK from the late 1950s to mid 1980s. His work for Penguin Books is typical of the period in its bold use of black and white, but the covers he did for some of the books of Edmund Ward were the first to catch our eye.

His work on the "Uniform" set of George Orwell's books is much admired by collectors.

click to enlarge card

Acording to seller David Cornell on abebooks the bulk of Secker & Warburg's Uniform Edition was issued in the publisher's generic green and white wrappers, however, between 1959 and 1967 Secker periodically issued those same volumes in variant dustwrappers designed by Denis Piper. Whilst some copies with the Piper-designed wrappers went to the trade, the majority were issued to schools and public libraries. Whilst the list of books issued in the Uniform Edition often includes Orwell's Shooting an Elephant he claims there was no issue of that title in a Denis Piper dustwrapper, and while the back covers of the dust jackets in this set list England Your England as part of the series Daza has found no Piper cover for this.

Dogged research by Daza has found several paintings attributed to a Dennis Piper (1928-1987), many of which display charateristics of the book designer's style which make us think these could be by the same artist.