“The Tritonian Ring,” by L. Sprague de Camp

And what a lovely book front this is! It comes from the 1971 Paperback Library edition of The Tritonian Ring, by American science-fiction and fantasy writer Lyon Sprague de Camp (1907-2000), part of his Pusadian “sword and sorcery” series. Sadly, I don’t own this novel, so cannot judge it on any basis other than its cover. But a plot summary from Wikipedia reads:

When the gods resolve to destroy Lorsk, principal kingdom of the sinking continent of Pusad, because Prince Vakar, heir to its throne, is thought to be a threat to them, the king sends the prince on a quest to save the realm from destruction. Vakar is tasked with traveling the known world in search of what the gods most fear, accompanied only by his servant, Fual. He finds himself hampered by ignorance of just what that might be and continual attempts to murder him by parties unknown; meanwhile, his treasonous brother Kuros is plotting with the pirates of the Gorgon Isles, Lorsk's enemies, to overthrow their father. On his quest Vakar encounters Amazons, a seductive queen who is under a spell, an amorous centauress, sorcerers who command legions of headless warriors, and the dangerous Gorgonians themselves, masters of the medusas with their paralyzing glares.

I thought the willowy young woman shown above might be the “amorous centauress” in question; she’s clearly an essential character in de Camp’s yarn, being also represented on other versions of this book (such as this one). However, while said filly sports a tail, she lacks the horse’s aft end that I normally associate with such a mythical creature. Perhaps Midwestern artist David McCall Johnston decided that feature might not be universally appealing.

Johnston, born in South Bend, Indiana, back in 1940, painted a small number of SF covers. During the years he spent as a book-cover artist, he came to be known much better for his contributions to the fantasy-fiction field. You can enjoy more of his work here.

Front to Back: Future Tense

Part II of a series spotlighting wraparound paperback art.


Beyond Tomorrow, edited by Damon Knight (Pan UK, 1973). Cover illustration by Ian Miller, with an unusual title typeface dating back to the early 20th century.

OK, so it’s now been a couple of weeks since I began posting my multipart look at wraparound paperback fronts. We finally turn to the science fiction and fantasy genres, which have left us with more examples of this extended artwork than any other category of book. Many more examples. And some beauts, to boot.

I was a big reader of SF during my teenage years, and I own some of the specimens displayed below (most of which are softcovers, with a couple of hardbacks thrown in). Others I can only wish to have found and collected when they we still available for their modest cover prices. Among the artists represented below are Dean Ellis (Protector, The Lost Continent), Peter Andrew Jones (A World Out of Time, The Patchwork Girl), Michael Whelan (The Smoke Ring), Brad Holland (Cities in Flight), Ken Laidlaw (Doctor Rat), Gervasio Gallardo (Fungi from Yuggoth & Other Poems), the remarkably prolific Bruce Pennington (Satan’s World, Dune Messiah, Lost Worlds), Ian Miller (Guardians of Time, Long After Midnight, I Sing the Body Electric!, S Is for Space, R Is for Rocket, The Golden Apples of the Sun, The Time Machine), Richard Powers (Brain Wave, Expedition to Earth, Indoctrinaire), Bob Pepper (A Voyage to Arcturus, The Mask of Circe, The Omega Point), Louis Glanzman (Tales of Neverÿon), Chris Moore (The Fountains of Paradise), David McCall Johnston (Orlando Furioso, The Tsaddik of the Seven Wonders), Leo and Diane Dillon (Strange Wine), Paul Slater (The Space Machine), Jeff Jones (The Dying Wizard, The Vultures of Whapeton), Tony Roberts (Double Star), Patrick Woodroffe (Waldo & Magic, Inc., Seven Footprints to Satan), Alan Lee (The Lost World), Ian Pollock (Profundis), Chris Foss (Orbit 4), Ray Cruz (The Shaving of Shagpat), Chris Yates (Rogue Moon), Josh Kirby (Wooden Centauri), Don Maitz (The Virgin & the Wheels), and Robert LoGrippo (The Boats of the Glen Carrig).

Also well-remembered for his wraparounds is Tim Gill, who created beautiful fronts for Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia trilogy in the 1980s.

Click on any of the images here to open an enlargement.

FOLLOW-UP: Two more examples of sci-fi wraparounds came to my attention after this piece was posted. Tom Stimpson created the artwork for The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (1980), while credit goes to Jim Burns for the front of The Stochastic Man (1978).