The echo, Chicago, February 15, 1896 - poster
The pattern
This still is filed under Lettered cover hook.
Define
The cover is the hook, and the hook is lettering: a title treated as an image.
Mechanism
Type as bait. The words are drawn so they stop the hand before the contents are known.
Verdict
A journal, book, or issue must sell itself on a rack or a feed
Why it works
The name is drawn as an object inside the picture: the white letters overlap the gown, so the title occupies real depth and is read as the sound coming out of the horn rather than as a label. The palette is held to two inks plus paper, and every surface is differentiated by pattern and hatching instead of by colour, which is the Beardsley and Japanese-print method for getting richness out of a cheap press. The torn red shapes in the black sky give the poster its one piece of implied motion. The masthead information is kept small and outside the frame, so the picture is never negotiated with.
Steal this when
Use this when the brand name is a concrete noun you can stage as an action. Draw the name into the scene at the depth where the action happens, and keep date, price and issue data small and outside the image frame.