These Wuthering Heights Book Covers Are Silly [CC]

[@writerspen010]

Librarian here! I made a comment about the Twilight-esque one, but I think it got deleted because I had included an ISBN number. You were correct in assuming that it was a post-Twilight cover. I couldn't find the ISBN number for that book nor its publication year, but the Scholastic website does specifically list it as being for Twilight fans. HarperTeen also published several classics with Twilight-esque covers in 2009 (Stephanie Meyers had talked about those books being direct influences on her series -- Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet, Jane Eyre, etc.), including Wuthering Heights. The WH edition I was most familiar with at the time was market as "Bella & Edward's favorite book."

[@SpinstersLibrary]

Ah thank you, that's exactly the sort of background I was after! Librarian to the rescue as usual 😘 I actually love the thought that they marketed classics at Twilight readers by referencing those iconic covers. I'm sure it got some people to read them who might not have otherwise picked up a Victorian novel.

[@writerspen010]

@@SpinstersLibrary You're very welcome! And I agree, in hindsight I think the cover stylization was a smart move to introduce more teens to the English canon. Teen me was so snobby about it though! Wuthering Heights has been one of my favorite novel since I was 14, and I was/am deeply into VicLit, especially where the Brontes were concerned, so I thought the Twilight covers and loose basis of these books on the series were an insult back in the day xD Gotta love and laugh at how much teens can be such purists when it comes this sort of thing.

[@LittleMissLion]

Ah, I thought there may be a plot twist in Stephanie Meyer's people stealing the design. 😂

[@Heartonmysleeve-gj1kp]

That 1965 Penguin edition is a portrait of Emily by her brother Branwell and I take it the painting has cracked or weathered over time, life imitating art I suppose.

[@paulhammond6978]

The 1965 penguin "sad woman" cover is a picture of Emily Bronte that was painted by Branwell (he made a picture of himself and all of his sisters, and later painted himself out of the picture one time when he was feeling depressed or angry) - so the cracks in the picture are actually cracks in the original painting that has been reproduced to make the cover.

[@Old_Scot]

I actually read Wuthering Heights as a child. There were lots of children's editions of classic novels around in the 60s and 70s. I think it was either abridged, or most of it just went over my head. However, when I reread it in the 90s, I kept hearing Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights in my head, which made me feel she definitely captured the atmosphere of the book.

[@writerspen010]

19:50 - Those two people are Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Bionche, who starred in the 1992 film adaptation. It's one of the better adapations imo and has excellent music by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto. The one at 10:12 is also a movie cover, this time using the 1939 adaptation, starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon. It's not my favorite, but Olivier gives an excellent performance.

[@hornbeam7131]

That was such a strange choice using a still from a black and white movie from 1939 over a coloured photo in 1996 when a much more recent coloured movie was available.

[@MothGirl007]

I'm loving this book cover series! ❤❤❤

[@writerspen010]

1:00 -- I have that edition!! I also have the corresponding edition of "Jane Eyre." I think they're both gorgeous. 3:03 - If that man isn't meant to be Heathcliff, then he's Edgar Linton =) 4:32 - Love that color on that one! 5:16 - That one definitely gave me Snow White vibes. The Disney adaptation came to mind immediately. 5:26 - That's actually Emily Bronte herself! Iirc that's a portrait of her by her brother Branwell, and the painting itself is cracked. Too many more to comment on, so I'll leave it there XD Thanks for the lols on a gloomy day~ ETA: Except for 6:42, which gives me total "Dark Shadows" vibes. I think whoever made this was a fan of the soap opera.

[@fernandamurari8577]

Hi there! the sad-looking woman is just like that painting by John S. Sargent, Madame X or a knock off thereof! Brilliant!

[@Sherlika_Gregori]

Please look at Crime and Punishment covers.

[@svn6968]

I ❤ the Kate Bush nod.

[@elvennthegrey2678]

Goodreads' covers and date of publication not always match, because many publishers reuse ISBNs for reprints with new covers. So when a new cover is added to Goodreads for an old ISBN, you're supposed to add the date of the new printing or in which you're adding the cover, and move the ISBN to the latest editon, leaving notes. But many add the year inside the book, instead, which many times is the date of the first use of the ISBN (some books even tell you the printing number, saying "4 5 6 7 8 9" on the copyright page, meaning it's the 4th printing). 😅🧐

[@timetoread1795]

LOL, that Kiera Knightley cover was WILD.

[@Old_Scot]

17.33 The Croation edition cover has a photograph of Ken Hutchinson from the BBC 1978 tv adaption.

[@wyldweaverandwyrm]

You’re wearing the Tecumseh sweater by Caitlin Hunter! I recognised it immediately, I’m knitting one of her patterns now.

[@SpinstersLibrary]

I certainly am, it's one of the first jumpers I ever knitted so it's full of beginner mistakes but I still love it.

[@bookmouse2719]

I read the book several times with long bouts in-between forgetting how horrible it was. The main male character was basically a monster. When I was young I was in love with the movie with Sir Laurence Olivier and Meryl Oberon, but the book is quite different from the movie. I put it on a par with Dracula.

[@bookmouse2719]

5:31 I think that was a painting of Emily Bronte, by the way it took place during the 1700s and not Regency at all. 10:12 it's from the old movie I told you about. 13:24 🙈😛 14:20 I think my Mom use to plop me in the library and couldn't have cared less what I read.....yet I think you are right. remember the gruesome ending of him dying with a weird face. not for children. 15:53 you get the woman captured vibes.

[@MothGirl007]

I love the 1939 movie so much.

[@cherylclough4309]

I had to come back…just for the heck of it I went over to eBay and checked on their Wuthering Heights entries to see if I could find the Twilight-esque cover. I quickly browsed through 30 pages of entries and unfortunately, I didn’t see it. Now, I did go quickly and some entries didn’t have pictures, so it could have been there. However, I did find one that was so so weird…it was published by Pulp in 2014, if I remember correctly. It was red and black mostly with an illustrated image of Humphrey Bogart with a cigarette and a tag line of “Here’s looking at you, Cathy.” I’m not kidding…by the way, I’m way beyond the Twilight era, but that cover made me think of Phantom of the Opera. However, after you showed the comparison pictures, I did agree.

[@Jaylia3]

I ran to double check on my shelves and yes, I do actually have the 1943 Random House edition you show, and with it a corresponding edition of Jane Eyre with some spooky sad looking school girls on the cover. My mother was awarded the set in 1944 when she won a Time Magazine Current Affairs Contest at Stephens School in Philadelphia. Which means she must have beat Grace Kelly because she was in the same class. I love your book cover series!

[@SpinstersLibrary]

Thank you! Those editions are gorgeous, I talk about the Jane Eyre one in the corresponding video, too. What an amazing heirloom to have at home, with the added cherry of the Grace Kelly connection 🤣

[@brianchristensen366]

Wow! The first cover you show (the 1943 edition) is one I have! It came as a boxed set with a matching Jane Eyre in the same livery; the poor little girls at Lowood School are on the cover. They both have similar illustrations in the text as well.

[@oc2538]

🩷🩷🩷 1:03 Love this, shocked it's 1943. 5:23 I have this. It's the cover design. 8:58 This is a beautiful cover 8:58 😂😂 love this too 8:58 This one has all the elements I have 4 Editions of Wuthering Heights but only saw 1 of them here

[@cherylclough4309]

I loved this. And I laughed. This may inspire me to reread wuthering heights

[@ClaudiaRichmann]

I giggled out loud several times at Claudia's wry observations, but when Minerva explored the shelves behind her I guffawed!

[@AbiofPellinor]

That 2015 Chinese version is so pretty!

[@MothGirl007]

We see two people who are watching a plane crash - it's really tragic" hahahahahahahahaha!! So good! 🔥🔥🔥

[@PageTurnersWithKatja]

wow! and the P&P thing! 😶😆💛

[@sharoncatwoman]

The one at 2:37 looks like the early 1970's Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows 😅 but with red hair. Still pretty awesome.

[@patricialux6197]

These are great videos, thanks! Very fun. I liked the 1st one & several others; some are crazy bizarre, like P& P!!! 😂 I think ,too, its unsuitable for children. I so strongly dislike WH. Really enjoyed this, some of your comments are so funny!! Someone suggested Crime +Punishment, that could be good. Maybe repetitive, lots of red. Or?

[@Blue_Grass_Girl]

What is it with the tree? Please don't make me read this book again. Never mind, maybe this time round I'll find someone I like. Great story, terrible people.

[@AliceandtheGiantBookshelf]

That first 90s ghostly one is so very 90s. Had I seen that when I was in high school I probably would have picked the book up even sooner and been even more disappointed with the book! Some great covers here but a great reminder that the best version of Wuthering Heights is Kate Bush’s song. 😂 Oh, and now I’m going to have nightmares about that Portuguese cover where they are off to get a divorce. 🫣 Great covers video as always.

[@alea_iactanda_est]

3:26 - The woman is definitely copied form Sargent's painting of Madame X.

[@nedmerrill5705]

I think of a line from the film _Dirty Harry_ when contemplating these covers. You can tell the covers weren't really inspired by Emily Bronte's classic because "They look too damn good." I think an appropriate cover for _Wuthering Heights_ would be a 19th century maximum security prison, encrusted in poison ivy, masquerading as the eponymous estate on a wind-swept and gloomy background.

[@katebowers8107]

As always, a delight to hear your scorn!