The quest of the golden girl, by Richard le Gallienne - 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 whole sheet is one visual metaphor for the title: the golden girl is literally golden, rendered as the only bright colour on an otherwise black and grey sheet, and the searching man is the reader's proxy, turned away so any buyer can occupy him. Withholding her, veiled and above, converts the book's premise into desire rather than description, and the words A ROMANCE at the corner are the only genre label needed. Availability and two currencies sit in the frame so the reader knows where and for how much without those lines ever competing with the picture.
Steal this when
Reach for this when the product is an experience with no demonstrable feature and the title already contains an image. Draw the title literally, hold the object of desire just out of reach, place a faceless proxy for the buyer in the foreground, and keep price and availability in the border.