What is it with "not judging by the cover"? The phrase is so old (1860?) that we should probably revisit it. Britney Spears sort of put a twist on "judging by the cover" idea when she said: "Just because I look sexy on the cover of Rolling Stone doesn't mean that I'm naughty." But why don't we go all the way (no, not that way!) and actually reverse the whole thing. Perhaps not exactly to judge by the cover, but let's see whether the cover of a magazine corresponds to subjects covered in it. What role does a magazine cover play? I'll provide examples—you be the judge! Or just enjoy the pics. How is that?

Good Hardware published 14 volumes from 1920 to 1933 when it was absorbed by Hardware Age, a major publication that absorbed a few other titles. In the early 1920s Good Hardware, which aspired to be “The national magazine of the hardware trade” distinguished itself with a series of colorful, funny covers which would have most certainly stood out at newsstands. They would have, but was such a specialized magazine sold at newsstands? 

This magazine, which was published out of New York by the famous The Butterick Publishing Co.  (159-167 6th Ave.) did not deal with hardware in today’s meaning of this word. In the October 1921 issue there were articles on sporting goods, electrical goods, sewing machines, auto accessories, window displays, and general pieces on how to sell merchandise. It thus was an overall merchandising magazine. [By the way, did you know that the Business Source Premier database is accessible from home with a library card? It lists 21,577 articles that deal with merchandising, and 13,338 are full text.]

The editorial board led by J.W. Greenberg did not stop with funny covers. The magazine had a knack for funny staff. In October 1921 issue it was explained that Good Hardware is “A Monthly Magazine for the Hardware Merchant who believes that interchange of ideas is good for the soul and the pocketbook.” In this spirit cartoons were also included on the pages of this title. Here is one from May 1922 issue.

If you are interested in covers and cover-related subjects you might want to check out these blogs by my colleagues at the NYPL:

• The Golden Age of Book Covers by Jessica Cline Mid-Manhattan Library, Art and Picture Collections
• Generative eBook Covers by Mauricio Giraldo Arteaga, NYPL Labs
• I Remember It Had a Blue Cover and... Finding Books by Their Plot Lines by Sharon Rickson, Ask NYPL
• Do You Judge a Book by Its Cover? by Kristy Raffensberger, Hudson Park Library
• and a series of blogs Judging a Book by Its Cover by Robert Arrighi, New Dorp Library.