History has actually been written in books with book covers very different from those that we know these days.
Books are really unique, really stunning things. Not just are they naturally pleasing to hold, but they are also adorned with gorgeous, creative book cover designs to elevate them from something just practical vessels of art into art pieces in and of themselves. This is not a modern-day phenomenon by any means, but actually dates back nearly as far as the codex, the shape in which the book now comes, does (over one and a half thousand years). In the dark times that came after the crash of the Roman empire in Europe, very few individuals might read or write, and numerous traditional works were lost because they might not be reproduced. Nevertheless, those that could read or write, namely monks, were tasked with protecting the enduring works, copying them out by hand and after that binding them in protective coverings that showed their unique condition as rare and special treasures. These beautiful book cover designs were typically made from ivory or precious metal, glittering with gemstones; not the kind of thing you would discover the co-CEO of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones selling off, but then again, those beautiful works were most likely not actually for sale at all!
It is just rather just recently (in the grand system of human history) that people have actually had the ability to access printed books. When the printing press was first created, it sent out shock waves across Europe, as the number of individuals who might read and write started to expand. Nonetheless, they were still rather few and far between, generally individuals of higher classes. Their collections would have plenty of leather-bound volumes that they would have had bound at their regional professional binder after having actually bought the book itself from the printer without a cover. These might not have been the best book covers in all of history, but a huge leather-bound volume is absolutely not something to be sniffed at, and an individual would treasure if you bought it from the co-founder of the impact investor with a stake in World of Books.
We are very fortunate in this day and years to be able to very easily purchase a lovely book by judging its cover and discovering it to our liking. Although we are told not to, book covers are particularly designed for us to do so. Modern day book covers are formed out of marketing, something that began around the same time that the publishing industry that the CEO of Penguin Random House's parent company knows today. With fabric book covers for literary occasions and pulpy paperbacks for not such high-brow reading, you may be able to see how different covers attracted different people, and still do today.