Pavilion Books honours groundbreaking women’s magazine Nova with new publication

Pavilion Books has published a book of the reissue of Nova 1965–1975, the groundbreaking women’s magazine that tackled urgent sociopolitical issues including abortion, racism, gay rights and the pill.

Described as “the thinking woman’s magazine”, Nova 1965–1975 is compiled by former art directors David Hillman and Harri Peccinotti and opens with a chronological run of covers that include thought-provoking headlines and experimental design.

Alongside striking front pages, the book features articles from the magazine’s decade-long output. Nova featured writers including Susan Sontag, Harold Pinter, Elizabeth David and Graham Greene, while photography contributors included Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, Terence Donovan, Don McCullin, Bob Richards and Diane Arbus. The magazine’s design is celebrated as much as its content, with bold primary colours and simple typography drawing on the psychedelic subcultures of the late 1960s.

Nova’s art director David Hillman tells It’s Nice That: “I was very fortunate to grow up in an era when magazines were not only numerous but brilliantly designed, such as Twen, Town, Esquire, Show, McCalls and many more. So there were many influences for a young designer like me to draw from. I had come from The Sunday Times Colour magazine where design was highly regarded and where I learnt that images and words had to work together and not fight each other. I wanted to produce a magazine that had the best images and best text and present them in a way that was interesting and original and create a strong overall identity.”

Nova 1965–1975 is available here.