I notice that Karen has recently read One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes 
and she has illustrated her post with a photograph of the 'old' Virago edition - those with the green background on the jackets (By the way, this is the most gorgeous blog - do nip over and look and drool). This has encouraged me to pull up a very early post when I had just started and when I was not getting much traffic and had not met all you lovely people who now drop in.
I think the earlier editions of the Virago books are vastly superior to those that are now being issued, some of which look cheap and nasty. These paintings look really classy and, whenever I am in a second hand book shop or at a sale, I always keep an eye out for those familiar green backs. Quite often I will purchase the book even if I do not know the author, or have any idea of what the book is about, simply for the pleasure of owning such a beautifully illustrated jacket. And, surely, that is the whole idea of a striking cover? I have discovered many interesting Virago authors this way.
I am, therefore, quite shamelessly recycling (and aren't we all encouraged to do that) a blog of much much earlier in the year when I pulled out lots of my Virago editions and took a photo of them all. I had just purchased a new copy of Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther by Elizabeh von Arnim and it is interesting to note that they have retained the same cover as before. So why not do the same with all the rest? 
Don't you agree with me that all of these are simply beautiful?
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