weird question, but what books have associated symbols/"logos" derived from its book cover?

[u/DryAd1820]

I don't know how to word this, so bear with me. Recently my pinterest feed has figured out that I've read The Catcher in the Rye before and is now giving me stuff related it to it. But I realize how beloved that red-orange carousel horse is from the cover -- d'y'know what I'm referring to? -- and can serve as symbol for the book. As in, you can paste a sticker of that horse on your laptop or get a tattoo of it and someone who knows the book can identify its association with The Catcher in the Rye.

I guess I'm just wondering what other books have an image associated to it from its cover because, in my opinion, it's a nice thing. I wish every book cover was so intentional and unique and thoughtful about the story that it blankets that you could get a tattoo of some element from it and fellow readers would understand the book you're referring to. Now that I've thought about this, I wonder why I don't see it often, if at all.

The only other example I can think of from the top of my head is that little figurine from Catch-22.

This might be an incredibly stupid post and also just a me-thing that no one else relates to. But I'm just curious. I wonder what you guys have to say about this.

[u/rentiertrashpanda]

I feel like The Great Gatsby has always had that cover with the eyes

[u/AnsonKent]

The T-Rex skeleton from the original Jurassic Park book cover became the logo for the whole Jurassic Park franchise. I think at this point, people no longer primarily associate it with the book, though.

[u/ExamOk4189]

The "Green Guy" for hitchhikers guide. The author specifically disliked it and it's basically stamped on everything as an identifier for the series.

[u/RickRickson → u/ExamOk4189]

Wow, I've seen the character on covers over the years but never thought much about it. Funny to find out it's almost entirely unrelated to the books. In a messed up way that's kind of fitting.

[u/joseph4th → u/ExamOk4189]

Luckily, the icon-ish hitchhiking thumb from the movie has replaced it.

[u/Portarossa]

Can't get away from that lower-case T that's on seemingly every copy of the Bible.

[u/RichCorinthian → u/Portarossa]

“that’s a cross.”

“Across from where?”

[u/BarryBillericay → u/RichCorinthian]

Marry me!

[u/MukdenMan → u/Portarossa]

tanach

[u/Cr4zyC47L4dy]

The mockingly pin from Hunger Games and the deathly hallows symbol from Harry Potter are 2 obvious ones.

[u/Djinn42]

Elvish script from The Lord of the Rings.

[u/BookQueen13 → u/Djinn42]

Or Tolkien's monogram

[u/Lil_Brown_Bat]

The Auryn from the Neverending Story

[u/llamalibrarian → u/Lil_Brown_Bat]

Though sadly not on the copy of the book itself, just the movie book (at least not my copy)

[u/Daeval → u/Lil_Brown_Bat]

This was the first thing that came to mind for me, but I wondered if what I was picturing was more closely associated with the book depicted in the movie than the actual book?

[u/Apophthegmata → u/Daeval]

Auryn in the book is a large medallion, depicting a dark and light snake eating each other's tails Ourobouros-style, in the shape of a oval. It also has the message "Do what you wish," on its reverse side.

In the movie, the amulet (and the insignia on the book) has the snakes also intertwined with each other, in a way that vaguely resembles a pair of intertwined infinities, as well as closing a loop. It's message read "Do what you dream," which upset Michael Ende deeply.

The basic oval version is actually pretty common on the cover of actual copies of the book - aside from literal prop replicas in don't think I've seen the movie version used on the cover of an actual book.

[u/RuhWalde]

The Little Prince might be cheating since it's an illustrated book, but the image of the boa constrictor that swallowed an elephant is so iconic for such a simple shape. 

[u/TheZoneHereros]

The Crying of Lot 49 has a very distinctive symbol, it’s not on every cover but some of them + part of the book itself. Lots of tattoos out there.

[u/rentiertrashpanda → u/TheZoneHereros]

Don't Ever Antagonize The Horn

[u/CeramicLicker]

I feel like the apple on the cover became a real symbol for Twilight. That was on t shirts, posters, backpacks…

[u/-StrawberrySlut-]

The eyes from The Great Gatsby cover 

[u/massive_hat]

Chip Kidd’s great T. rex skeleton design for the Jurassic Park book cover was good enough to evolve into the truly iconic movie logo

[u/SchrodingersMinou]

The cat casually holding a gun on the cover of The Master and Margarita.

Vonnegut’s drawing of an anus from Breakfast of Champions.

[u/TheDickDuchess]

Fahrenheit 451 for me is always the paper man on fire

[u/yourfriendstag]

For better or worse, I'd put Atlas Shrugged on the list.

[u/cpencis]

There’s several classic book covers that are very memorable like Catcher…. Francis Cugat’s cover of The Great Gatsby comes quickly to mind.

https://americanwritersmuseum.org/stories-behind-classic-book-covers-the-great-gatsby/

Edit - same site has analysis of the Catcher cover cited by OP

https://americanwritersmuseum.org/stories-behind-classic-book-covers-the-catcher-in-the-rye/

[u/DryAd1820 → u/cpencis]

It's such a beautiful cover

[u/brighteyed112]

Twilight and the Apple in the hands! Which is funny because it’s a small moment that has almost nothing to do with the story haha.

Also Animal Farm and the pig

[u/dubturkey]

The muted post horn from the Crying of Lot 49.

Oh hey I have a tattoo of the little guy from the cover of catch 22

[u/NicPizzaLatte]

The Celestial Eyes and The Great Gatsby.

[u/SolarisPrime]

The illustration of Ignatius J. Riley on the Grove Press edition of A Confederacy of Dunces is pretty iconic.

[u/StormBlessed145]

Looking at another world through a Keyhole from Stephen King's Dark Tower series.

Steel Alphabet from Sanderson's Mistborn. I don't think it's actually on the covers of the average copies, but the leatherbound ones have them.

Knights Radiant branch glyphs from Sanderson's Stormlight Archive (and Bridge 4 too, but I don't think that's easily visible on any covers.)

There's a particular cover for Stephen King's novel The Stand that's really popular as a tatoo.

Possibly the cat on Pet Sematary.

The One Ring and elvish script for LOTR.

I've seen the VFD tatoo from A Series of Unfortunate Events a few times.

That's all I can think of.

[u/LowKeyRatchet → u/StormBlessed145]

The asterisk from Slaughterhouse Five.

* so it goes.

[u/sm0gs]

How funny - the copy of Catcher I owned and read was the all white with the rainbow stripes in the corner so I never really clocked the carousel horse on that other cover. My brain just sees it as red orange shapes lol 

[u/scruffigan]

Jaws (the novel) by Peter Benchley has that iconic cover image of a shark rising from the dark below (head only, mouth slightly agape) with a small, unsuspecting woman blithely swimming above.

It was so good that the movie posters and merchandise reused it heavily, and it’s probably more familiar as a movie ad. But the book did it first!

[u/malsomnus]

Brandon Sanderson's books have a whole bunch of symbols like that, the Stormlight subreddit has quite a lot of pictures of tattoos on it, although they don't appear on the covers as far as I know.

[u/StormBlessed145 → u/malsomnus]

Every Stormlight hardcover has a symbol related to one order of the Radients pressed into the front cover.

[u/_PadfootAndProngs_]

Witcher medallion from...the Witcher series

[u/a_singular_perhap]

Does the Necronomicon sigil count?

[u/emilytaege]

Idk if this fits what you're looking for but it made me think of the Auryn medallion on the front cover of The Neverending story book (from the movie).

[u/deltalitprof]

The figure in the red and white handmaids' costume.

[u/SlimShady116]

The seven pointed star from the Frith Chronicles. Though it isn't on the normal covers, but on the leatherbound editions.

Heart boxers from Dungeon Crawler Carl. I don't really associate them with anything other than DCC now personally.

[u/ManiacalShen → u/SlimShady116]

I feel like "cat with glasses and a crown" is the definitive, DCC-specific thing. Heart boxers have been too ubiquitous for too long to be owned by one franchise, though it is an iconic part of DCC at this point.

[u/tykeryerson]

The Never ending Story