The New Yorker at 100: how bold, illustrated and wordless covers helped define the iconic magazine

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Over the last century of glorious, tragic, turbulent and innovative human endeavour, the cover of the New Yorker magazine has used only the illustrated image to communicate talking points of American – and specifically New York City – life and culture.

Beyond the masthead and issue date, no set typography has ever been allowed, maintaining a unique wordless space in magazine publishing where only an image connotes the idea. The absence of copy is arresting,...