Pulp International

Feb 6 2022

We always have space for Giovanni.

Benvenuti is an Italian word that means “welcome,” and an artist who's always welcome here is Giovanni Benvenuti, a genius we've featured several times. But it's been a while so we've put together another collection of his work below.

Italy France Éditions Ditis Garzanti Giovanni Benvenuti Anthony Morton Bruno Bax Jean Pierre Ferrière Michel Averlant Manning Long Stuart Palmer Mickey Spillane John Creasey D. Miles Disney cover art cover collection literature

Vintage Pulp

Oct 7 2020

When it rains it pours talent.

Giovanni Benvenuti was an illustrator of unique skill. We've posted a couple of wonderful collections of his covers (you can see those here and here, and we really recommend them because it's all very striking work), but have neglected him these last several years. That stops today, because he's a top tier artist. Above you see the cover he painted for Dominique Dorn's thriller Véronique et la St. Médard, published by Éditions Ditis for its Collection la Chouette in 1961. There's a lot to like about this piece, but we're most struck by the indistinct lights seen through the veil of rain. They're suggestive but could really be anything.

Dominque Dorn, appropriately, could really be anyone. It was the pen name of Marie-Anne Devillers, who also published as Mario Ropp, Maïa Walbert, Maïa de Villers, and Michèle Vaudois. That's a lot of names, and she used them to write a lot of books. Ropp was by far her most prolific pseudonym. She published more than one hundred novels under that identity. On the whole, Dorn churned out novels at an astounding rate, sometimes publishing six a year. That's a lot of output, so we'll probably run into her again. See another here.

France Éditions Ditis Marie-Anne Devillers Giovanni Benvenuti Mario Ropp Maïa Walbert Maïa de Villers Michèle Vaudois cover art literature

Vintage Pulp

Jun 10 2019

Four U.S. authors make their mark on France and on film.

Above, four covers from Éditions Ditis for its La Chouette collection, circa late 1950s. All of these were originally published in the U.S. and translated into French after being adapted into films. The first three were turned into the film noir classics Sudden Fear, A Kiss Before Dying, and Black Angel, while the fourth became the French crime thriller Bonnes à tuer, which is known in English as One Step to Eternity.

Vintage Pulp

Oct 29 2014

Giovanni Benvenuti shows the way.

We thought we’d revisit the awesome work of Italian illustrator Giovanni Benvenuti. We shared a set last month, but just had to do another. These are once again part of the La Chouette collection published by the French imprint Ditis during the 1950s and 1960s.

Italy France Éditions Ditis Giovanni Benvenuti Anthony Morton Geneviève Manceron Jean Pierre Ferrière Gil Perrault Michel Averlant David Alexander cover art cover collection literature

Vintage Pulp

Sep 25 2014

Giovanni Benvenuti raises the bar for French crime covers.

Today we wanted to share a series of truly spectacular French covers from Frédéric Ditis’s eponymous company Ditis, published as part of its popular La Chouette—or Owl—collection. These all date from the mid-1950s to early 1960s, and there’s really nothing to say about them except that they’re by the sublime Giovanni Benvenuti.