Friday, April 19, 2013

“Too Beautiful to Live”



Today in The Rap Sheet, contributor Jim Napier writes fondly about the 1943 novel Laura, by Vera Caspary. To illustrate that essay, I used the cover from the most recent Vintage UK paperback edition. However, Laura has a long printing history, and at least two other, previous editions are worth celebrating on this page.

The front above comes from the 1961 Dell paperback version, illustrated by Gino Forté, while the one below was released by Popular Library in 1950, with cover art by Sam Cherry.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Multiple Choice



If you love vintage Erle Stanley Gardner paperback book covers (and, hey, who doesn’t?), you really ought to check out the Seattle Mystery Bookshop--Hard-boiled Tumbler site, which has lately been on quite a Gardner kick. It offers illustrated works by Robert McGinnis, Mitchell Hooks, John Fernie, and others. One of my favorites among its selections, though, is actually a photographic front (shown above), from the 1955 Pocket paperback reissue of The Case of the Borrowed Brunette, with a cover shot by Alfred Gescheidt.

This would have made a good addition to our “peeping tom” set.

If you’d like to enjoy all of the Seattle Mystery Bookshop’s Gardner cover collection, simply click here.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Beware the Curves

It’s often interesting to see how different paperback artists of old illustrated the same work of fiction. In the case of Carter Brown’s The Bombshell, though, it seems there were all of one rather suggestive mind. You’ll find many more Carter Brown covers here.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Crossing the Line

Veteran U.S. Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) invited derision last week when, in answer to a question about how technology is reducing the need for human workers, he told a radio audience, “My father had a ranch; we used to have 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes. It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.” Young soon tried to walk back his bigoted reference to Mexicans, but you can guarantee that during the 2014 election cycle, rival Democrats will use his statement to tar Republicans on a national scale. Even Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), said that “slurs” such as Young’s “do nothing to elevate our party.”

(So much for Republican outreach to Latino voters, eh?)

Maybe it’s only because I have written recently about the death of renowned American illustrator Mitchell Hooks, but the first thing that came to mind when I heard Young’s offensive statement was the 1956 Dell release, Wetback. That edition of William O’Farrell’s “strong, moving story of a woman beyond the protection of the law” featured rather powerful cover art by Hooks, don’t you think?

Those Beautiful Brits

Have you scrolled through Nick Jones’ extensive “Beautiful British Book Jacket Design of the 1950s and 1960s” gallery over at Existential Ennui? If not, you really should.

READ MORE:Beautiful British ’50s & ’60s Book Jacket Design: Beyond 100 Covers,” by Nick Jones (Existential Ennui).

It’s What’s Up Front that Counts

Are these really the “most iconic book covers of all time”?