Van de zoon en de zee - Pieter Boskma - De Best Verzorgde Boeken

The most accomplished of a three-part poetry series published by De Bezige Bij. The shiny mother of pearl cover puts us in mind of shells, drawing us into the subject matter before we even open the book. The enlargement of two words from the title – ‘zoon’ (‘son’) and ‘zee’ (‘sea’) allow the cover design to really speak. In the main matter too, contrasting typography – the sober sans serif Suisse Int’l combined with the stylish SangBleu Versailles – is used, and designer Michaël Snitker also brings these contrasting fonts together to great effect in the contents list. The translucency of the paper is used to good effect where appropriate – for example on the title page, which is visible though the half title page. In other places, an almost imperceptibly light backdrop is printed over pages marking a separation between sections; so light it is almost as if the ink has been blown across the page. A touch of class – glamour even – in this simply yet effectively designed poetry anthology.