No permission is required for two reasons:

1. The cover is unlikely to be eligible for copyright in the first place due to its simple design.
2. Even if the design were eligible for copyright protection, the dust jacket was published without a notice between 1978 and 1989 and was not registered for copyright within five years.

The book's dust jacket can be inspected at Worthpoint. A search of the US Copyright Office's Copyright Catalog (1978 to present) turns up no results for the dust jacket design (which would be considered distinct from the novel itself, since the dust jacket was removable).

According to The Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices: Chapter 2200, § 2207.1(C) at p. 18:

"A notice of copyright on the dust jacket of a book is not an acceptable notice for the book, because the dust jacket is not permanently attached to the book. Likewise, a notice appearing in a book is not an acceptable notice for the dust jacket or any material appearing on that dust jacket, even if the book refers to the jacket or material appearing on the jacket.".

Keep in mind that the pre-1989 requirements for copyright notice were highly formalistic and, other than a few enumerated exceptions, required these three elements:

1. "The symbol © or the word 'Copyright' or the abbreviation 'Copr.' or an acceptable variant such as "(c)";
2. "The year of first publication for the work"; and
3. "The name of the copyright owner, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of the owner."