Idiosyncratic publisher Continuum has a big catalog and good design sense. Their “Classic Criticism” series is small (so far comprised of three titles, from what I can gather) but interesting. What absolutely strikes me about these books - which have “been around” in some form or another for years - is their design aesthetic.
Trade paperback book covers usually have images or, if “that kind” of non-fiction book, sparsely-populated presentations that say a book’s title, author, and little else. This tactic is not totally new, but Continuum has managed to combine biography, reviews, and introductory text all on the cover.
Here are some other examples:
Stuart Hall’s Different uses this arresting tactic to outline to begin outlining the parameters of his study of Black and Asian identity in photography. Perhaps most famously of all, John Berger’s groundbreaking book The Ways of Seeing reproduces a condensed version of the first and second pages of the text proper on the cover. Berger’s book is a brilliant, yet accessible primer on “visual culture” and art historical method. Though these five books are all rather different, it could be fair to say that this design strategy (manifesto-like proclamations looking back at whoever removes the book from the shelf) is best applied to critical works.