This famous design, by
Roger Kastel, of a shark with a mouth filled with jagged teeth, rising towards an unsuspecting female swimmer, was completed in 1974. Its first appearance was as a book cover (
illustrated as the image accompanying Today's Featured Article) with publication of the paperback edition of
the novel by
Peter Benchley, on January 1, 1975. Later that year, it formed the basis for one of the most iconic film posters in history (
shown here) with the release of
the movie on June 20, 1975. In 2014, the Review Board of the
United States Copyright Office upheld the denial of a copyright for the artwork as there was no proper notice of copyright, since the only copyright notice in the paperback was that of Benchley's 1974 copyright of the text.
Illustration credit: Roger Kastel; courtesy of the Everett Collection; retouched by Crisco 1492
