Noun. dust jacket - a paper jacket for a book; a jacket on which promotional information is usually printed. Also called book jacket, dust cover, dust wrapper
Most books printed since the late nineteenth and early twentieth century have them. Unfortunately, there are many books that once had them that now don't. For the collector of these modern books the dust jacket represents the Holy Grail of value.
One of the most noted examples is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1925 by Charles Scribner's and Sons, the book is considered by many to be one of the great American novels. The book's dust jacket, created by the then little-known artist Francis Cugat, is also considered a high-spot of dust jacket art and design. To find a copy of the book in today's marketplace that still has the dust jacket is a rare event. The book itself is somewhat common and when it turns up usually sells in the $3,000 - $4000 range. But the book with a dust jacket in good condition - now you're talking $125,000 and up!
Those interested in this important part of book history will enjoy G. Thomas Tanselle's new book Book-Jackets: Their History, Forms, and Use. The book provides:
A concise history both of publishers' detachable book coverings (primarily British and American) and of the attention they have received from scholars, dealers, collectors, and librarians. It also surveys their use by publishers (as protective devices and advertising media) and their usefulness to scholars of literature, art, and book history (as sources for biography, bibliography, cultural analysis, and the development of graphic design).Though it leans scholarly the book provides a thorough history of a books most valuable friend and can easily prove useful for the bookseller, book collector or any lover of books. The book also includes a 100+ page listing of surviving pre-1901 examples.
Book available here
Re-Covered Books: a cool gallery of user-created book designs for The Great Gatsby