scary stories to tell in the dark illustrations

Scary stories to tell in the dark illustrations series#

The Smithsonian Magazine has an interesting article on this subject.

The books have attracted some controversy in the 80s and 90s, with many parents trying to ban the books due to their imagery. This is an excellent application of Caslon Antique, in my opinion, as it provides a suitably creepy (but not too creepy!) feel to these children’s ghost story books. It should be noted that some softcover printings of the first book (not shown in this post) also use a combination of Helvetica and Caslon Antique for the author and illustrator names. The second and third book, share a similar cover arrangement as the first book, though the use of Berling has been replaced by a combination of Helvetica and Caslon Antique. A first edition hardcover version of the book can be seen lower in this post, and uses Caslon Antique together with Palatino Italic in a slightly different cover arrangement. The cover of the 1989 reprint of the first book shown at the top of this post is set in Caslon Antique, with Berling Italic used for the author name and illustrator. The picture above features the 1989 reprint softcover edition of the first book.

Scary stories to tell in the dark illustrations series#

The book series has sold over seven million copies as of 2017.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a set of three horror-themed books aimed at younger readers, which became wildly popular in the 1980s and 90s due to outlandish and creepy illustrations by artist Stephen Gammell. These are the most common typefaces in the database, but there are many more.