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Oh dear! When I posted this, I was simply illustrating the way in which the stained glass in the Palma Cathedral illuminates the place internally. I did so by referencing the photograph which was used a decade or more ago on the cover of my wife's first poetry book. I had no desire to open up a debate about the quality or otherwise of the image used, or its suitability for a book cover image so I'm slightly taken aback at the comments this has generated. Just for the record, this image was used for the front of the book, with the stained glass circular window alone on the back cover. The image is not photoshopped in any way. The colours were captured in the moment. As far as the fourth year student jibe goes, all I will say is that I make no claims to be a designer, but if this got me a pass I would be quite happy, as it took all of 30 minutes to produce. All it needed was a quick scan of the photo, a bit of contrast sorting, chopping it to size for the cover, and insertion of the text, and saving as a .jpg file, no more than half an hour tops. The choice of the photograph was my wife's and I'm quite happy with her choice. We wouldn't have wanted to bother using a graphic designer, with the expense that entails, since she has no pretentions of becoming the next poet laureate, plus with self-publishing, she just sells small numbers of her books locally. Neither she nor I have any expectations beyond this.

What could possibly be 'disturbing' about this cover??? It's a nice use of pleasant images of a beautiful place. I have friends with stereos, on which they play music at social events and dinner parties and barbecues etc. None of the systems sound amazing, most are passable, a few are bad. This thread has given me an idea: What I'm going to do is to point out everything that I think is wrong with the sound I hear at friend's events, and tell them "Can I just point out I have 45 years experience in professional audio so I can say all this." I wonder how I'd look? Would I be offered a beer and a burger again? I put up with the sound quality - It helps the functions along and oils the wheels- my friends know my background, and know they can ask me for advice if they wish to improve their systems. I don't say a word about it, and all is well, I get drunk and stuff my face. If I were in a position to have 35 years experience in publishing, I would have said something like "Oh- nice one- I didn't know about the poetry book- if you are doing another, I'd love to help with the cover design, since that's rather what I do" etc etc.... Even me, weird crazy Blake, with his Aspergers, has realised that you don't shout: "Ooh look the King's got no clothes on" ...even though that may be correct..... instead, you either let it go, or look around the crowd, to see who _also_ looks shocked, and have a drink with them after the procession has gone past......

Look Out for the Spectacle of the Eight Twice a year, once in February and once in November, the light shines into Palma Cathedral in a way that projects the beautiful roseate window onto the opposite wall, creating a figure 8 with its twin window. The cathedral opens at 8 am on the days this event occurs, with the light causing the alignment at 8.30 am, and it is free to enter and watch.

Rather harsh !

The latest LCA catalogue is now online. https://www.londoncoins.co.uk/?category=9.1&page=Catalogue&searchtype=3&viewrange=0 I noticed that under certified coins, there are six wreath crowns on sale. All have been graded as proof crowns by CGS. Quite surprisingly, LCA does not totally stand by the CGS attributions but merely describe them as just "Proof or Prooflike".

I think Michael is in a minority of one anyway, given the 6 likes and one screwed up face Dave got for the design on his wife's book.

Cover looks OK to me - it's not something I would take a lot of notice of anyway. I don't buy books for the covers, I buy them for the contents. The cover would neither encourage nor put me off buying any book.

A picture I took in Exeter Cathedral, where the sun shone through a stained glass window:

My example of this type - mintmark key, is very thin, if this helps at all.

My vote is thick