September 21, 2020, 3:16pm
Shirley Jackson’s beloved short novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which also happens to have one of the best opening paragraphs of all time, was published on this day in 1962. In addition to being one of the books that shaped me (like so many others) as a writer, it also happens to boast a few of my favorite covers of all time (castles and cats, baby)—as well as a few pretty weird ones. So to celebrate the book’s 58th birthday, I poked around to see how this delicious, murderous tale has been depicted over the years. Feast your eyes (but be mindful of poison):
Viking Press, North American first edition (1962)
Viking Books (1962)
Fawcett Popular Library (1962)
Michael Joseph, UK first edition (1963)
Popular Library (1963)
A. W. Bruna & Zoon, Dutch edition (1963)
Penguin Books (1984)
Penguin Books (1984)
10/18, French mass market paperback edition (1990)
Diogenes, German edition (1991)
Slovo, Russian edition (2004)
Penguin Classics Deluxe edition (2006)
Penguin Modern Classics edition (2009)
Adelphi, Italian edition (2009)
Cavalo de Ferro, Portugese edition (2010)
Rivages / Noir, French edition (2012)
Minúscula, Spanish edition (2012)
Penguin Classics UK paperback (2015)
McClelland & Stewart, Canadian edition (2016)
Penguin Classics Orange edition (2016)
Μεταίχμιο, Greek edition (2016)
L’Altra Editorial, Catalan edition (2016)
Siren Yayınları, Turkish edition (2017)
Suma de Letras, Portuguese edition (2017)
Merry Go Round Publishing, Thai edition (2017)