ATD cover
The final cover of Against the Day is pretty minimalist, depicting an aged, slightly yellowing book or manuscript in reference to the novel's setting, 1893 through World War I, and the book's mock-recreation of prose from that era. Although almost all of Pynchon's earlier novels featured more graphical elements on the original United States edition covers, Against the Day's cover may be simpler for a number of reasons: 1) how to you do justice to a 1,100 novel through a single image? 2) the artist didn't have time to read the book, 3) it looks cool, and/or 4) Pynchon wanted it that way.
We don't know. What we do know is that the book cover is designed by Michael Ian Kaye, who has designed the covers of previous Pynchon novels. WHICH ONES? This could indicate that Pynchon likes Kaye's previous work.
We also know that an earlier version of the cover was circulated in promotional material before the novel's release. Note that in the earlier cover, the mysterious red seal looks slightly different, with the (Tibetan?) writing wrapped within a second border. What the heck this seal means is no doubt revealed in the book, but what this indicates is that Pynchon probably asked for the change, and is thus fair game in any textual analysis.
The generally white color of the cover ties in with the light/dark metaphor that Pynchon weaves into the novel. Perhaps the cover is also largely bare so that the "reader can decide," as Pynchon writes in the book's description, with minimal outside interference from anything but the text itself.
