The Chicago Sun-Times Books imprint was a book publishing arm of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The newspaper itself was created in 1948 when Marshall Field merged the Chicago Sun with the Chicago Daily Times.[1] The imprint published titles such as Metro Chicago Almanac (1991) and The Bulls: A Season to Remember (1991), the latter co-published with Bonus Books.[2][3]
Design and History
Documented visual identity work for the Chicago Sun-Times Books imprint is scarce in public archives. The design firm Essex Two, founded in Chicago in January 1989 by Joseph Michael Essex and Nancy Denney Essex, was active in branding and identification work during the period when the imprint operated.[4][5] However, no primary source has been located that confirms Essex Two created a logo for Chicago Sun-Times Books in 1992, and no image or description of such a mark has been verified.
What is verifiable is that the imprint published books under the Chicago Sun-Times name during the early 1990s, with titles appearing under imprints such as “Chicago Sun-Times” and “Bonus Books: Chicago Sun-Times.”[6][2] These catalog records confirm the imprint’s existence and its naming convention but do not document a distinct logo or visual identity system.
Given the absence of verifiable primary sources describing the imprint’s logo, its designer, or its visual characteristics, the specific claims about a 1992 Essex Two-designed mark for Chicago Sun-Times Books cannot be confirmed. The imprint appears to have been a short-lived extension of the newspaper’s brand rather than a separately branded publishing house with a documented identity program.
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