Wrapper Design
The general series
A: The Two Towers Logo
The first wrappers were in yellow and black. The front cover was split diagonally using two opposing colours. The spine was similarly split. The Two Towers logo was on the spine and the back.
The title on the spine was in upper case and displayed horizontally changing colour as it crossed the diagonal line.
Dates seen : 1938-1939
With an evergrowing number of titles various colours were used to group similar subject areas together.
Examples include : yellow & green for farming, brown & yellow for sciences, red & yellow for building, yellow & blue for languages.
Dates seen : 1940 to 1946
The central spine was cut to include the title so the title would stand out more and be in a single colour.
During 1949 and afterwards a trade reference number (TRN - see below) was added to the back cover of the wrapper.
Dates seen : Feb 1948 to 1950
B: The Two Towers in Circle Logo
The whole wrapper was simplified and streamlined.
Lines at the top left and bottom left are a distinctive feature. (see left figure)
The logo of the building towers was placed in a circle and the title and author made thicker in style. (see right figure)
The trade reference number (TRN) was also shown on the back cover of the wrapper.
Sometimes the price was added to the front and spine (dates seen 1955, 1958, 1959)
Dates seen : 1950 to 1962
C: The Tower in Square Logo
The logo of the two pointed towers was replaced by a square tower design (right figure) for many of the series but some had individual logos to reflect the theme of the book. Heraldry and Genealogy for example shows a coat of arms inside a circle (far right figure).
On the spine the tower symbol also has a small EUP written underneath it (far right figure).
The trade reference number is also shown on the back cover of the wrapper.
Dates seen : 1962 to 1964
This next series is very similar to the preceding one but the EUP on the spine has been removed.
Dates seen : 1964 to 1965
In this next series the font size has been reduced considerably. The distinctive double lines at the top and bottom left have been removed making it rather minimalist.
The trade reference number is eventually removed during this period, replaced in 1967 by a short book number of 5 digits. This is in turn replaced about 1968 by the 9 digit SBN (the Standard Book Number which was created in 1965) and finally the 10 digit ISBN International Standard Book Number).
Dates seen : 1965 to 1970
Early wrappers of this period have a thin line above and below the central title panel (see left).
Dates seen 1965
In 1966 a slightly thicker line is used
Finally a thick line is used (see right).
Dates seen : 1967-1970
D: The Jigsaw Logo
The last wrappers for hardback books before the series went paperback were stripped back to the bare essentials.
The logo was replaced with an interlocking pair of jigsaw pieces. (right figure)
The series title is now in mixed case and not capitals as before.
The wrapper reverse was similar with the logo, Teach Yourself Books, the language title and at the bottom the ISBN.
Dates seen : 1970 to 1971
Sometime in 1949 a list of all the current book titles was made into an alphabetical list. Each title was given a trade reference number (TRN) starting at one and going up to 149. This TRN was added to the back of the wrapper or inside the front or back flap. These were later replaced by the SBN (Standard Book Numbers). It appears that various sequences of TRNs were used. eg. The ABC Gardening series started at 500, History library starting at 509, Junior series from 547, Geography series from 601, more ABC Gardening from 708 but there appears to be no strict adherence to the order. The highest TRN found so far is 715. As this number only appears on the back of the dustjacket matching the TRN to the title can only be done with a view of both sides of the wrapper. There are gaps in the sequence as you will see. If you have examples of the "missing" numbers and titles I would very much like to know. Please feel free to email me using the Contact page from the menu at the top.
Provenance : Wrappers displayed on this site which are NOT from my personal collection are shown with an asterisk ( * ) next to the date details.
Some titles forming a subject grouping were given a different style of dustjacket. Click on the Special series heading to the left or in the top menu to see examples of these.