"The sleeves were integral to The Smiths," says Rough Trade head Geoff Travis. "And Morrissey was the best man to create them. We never had any better suggestions to make."

It was policy to never put the group on the cover: instead singer Morrissey created a series of covers -— in Travis' words, "the iconography of a certain world" — that provided a watertight visual identity, each one with its own enigma. Grainy and troubled, but also colourful and witty, these shots of actors and celebrities from the '50s and '60s are more art than record sleeves: they suggest much but admit nothing at all.

Morrissey, by all accounts, spent his formative years planning his fame. Though he had no formal art training, his thoroughness was extraordinary —- allegedly, he would go to the British Film Institute national library in search of frames from certain movies.

"The rest of the band had no involvement with the sleeves," says guitarist Johnny Marr. "I was more than happy for it to be that way. Because whenever I saw any sleeve art I was always delighted, impressed, and surprised. What Morrissey did was to take all these influences that meant something to him, from vastly different areas, and give them a continuity. Smiths fans could identify with them immediately."

Morrissey would discuss ideas with art co-ordinator Jo Slee at Rough Trade's north London offices. "It would be very exciting," says Slee, whose 1994 book Peepholism: Into The Art Of Morrissey expounds on this subject superbly. "We'd get rough artwork in, scribbled all over and pasted up with colours and typeface specified. He had a very instinctive eye for simple, single images."

As they worked (each sleeve took an average of two months) cycle couriers went from Slee and designer Caryn Gough to Morrissey's London flat. Proofing was exhaustive —- there were six colour-schemes for 'The Queen Is Dead' alone —- all in pursuit of an unquantifiable correctness. For 'The World Won't Listen', images were taken from Jurgen Vollmer's 1981 collection of images taken in Hamburg and Paris between 1961 and 1964, Rock 'N' Roll Times: The Style And Spirit Of The Early Beatles And Their First Fans. Encompassing the equivocal love of fairgrounds The Smiths explored on 'Rusholme Ruffians', it's from a time when pop was young and passions repressed.

"It represents the band to me," says Marr. "On the front you've got four guys who look like, if not the band, then Smiths fans. On the back you've got the female side of it - individually they really look like the Smiths: Morrissey on the far right, me on the second right, Andy [Rourke, bass] on the second left and Mike [Joyce, drums] on the far left. To find a picture like that is really clever. We didn't discuss it, but I understood."

Jo Slee acknowledges the sleeves' autobiographical content: "Morrissey was never literal, but usually the sleeves projected a part of him that's quite subtle. 'Hatful Of Hollow' and 'The Smiths' are classic homo-eroticism - quite strong and quite powerful. The sleeves with Shelagh Delaney ['Louder Than Bombs', 'Girlfriend In A Coma'], for example, are very evocative of a place he identified with - up north, in about 1962."

The Smiths may have split 14 years ago but, like their timeless music, the sleeves retain their fascination. They also provided the famously maudlin Morrissey with real satisfaction. "He was so enthusiastic about the progress of the sleeves," says Jo Slee, "and he was always completely bowled over when he saw the finished result."