As another data point, I prefer the one on the left no matter how you're displaying it. I think putting splitting the text makes the whole cover more balanced — it looks like a coherent whole, whereas the one on the right looks like a picture with a bunch of text at the bottom.

If you don't want the title text overlapping the smokestack detail at the top, could you (if there's room in the original art) shift the picture down a bit, so that the "Edited by" text is up on the steps where the title used to be, and the title is clear of the machinery at the top?

Angie