 I came in for a quick pick-me-up. Now I just have to decide who. 
We could have added this cover for Arthur Jacmi's 1958 novel Les affriolantes to our recent collection of women in bars, but it especially appealed to us, with its femme fatale sipping a drink through a straw, so we decided to give it a separate post. It was painted by Jihel, a pseudonym for French caricaturist Jacques Leclerq. There was another Jihel—French caricaturist Jacques Camille Lardie. Lately he's had a revival, so when you look up Jihel online you'll get more hits on Lardie than on Leclerq, but they were different people. When you look up Arthur Jacmi you'll find that virtually no info about him exists. That's a real shame. We won't be able to make more quips about his name. C'est la vie. See more Jihel here and here.
 I really like her, but if she lost eighty, maybe ninety pounds, she'd be perfect. 
Above is another fun cover from French illustrator Jacques Leclerc, who also signed his art as Jihel, and here works his magic on Roland Patrick's The Lost Nights. We've featured this artist several times. See more here, here, and here.
 I love you, tiny shoe. I'm going to draw out the delicious anticipation before I put my foot inside you. 
More from France today. Above you see Envoûtement sensuel, by Pierre Sénard for Éditions C.P.E., published in 1958. The title translates to “sensual enchantment,” and enchanting is a perfect word to describe this cover, which has a very romantic feel. The art wraps around onto the book's spine too, which makes it even nicer. We assume the cover figure is contemplating something other than her right shoe, but maybe not—we know a couple of women that get this way about footwear. The artist here is Jacques Leclerc, who signed his work as Jihel, and we think it's among his best.
 Not only is she fun—she’s easy to swallow. 
Souris à croquer means “chewable mouse.” Nothing more to add there, really, except to speculate that maybe it’s a slang phrase. French friends help us out. Moving on, you may already know the master illustrator Jean David, who signed his work J. David. Did he write this book? We have no idea, and neither did anyone else we asked. Considering J. David painted from the 1940s onward, and this book by Jean David appeared in 1958, it’s certainly possible they’re the same person. Note to selves: more research. Souris à croquer, by the way, means “chewable mouse.” Did we mention that already? Well, it bears repeating. The cover art here is not by J. David, but by Jihel, aka Jacques Leclerc. Update: Jo B. from Marseille has the answer, writing: "Souris à croquer" means "a mouse to eat." "Mouse" is a little slang term (not vulgar) to designate a pretty girl. "Croquer" is the way you eat an apple, a bar of chocolate or something like that. I don't know the real word in English (munch, crunch?). Maybe we have two mice to crunch on the cover as "souris" can be one mouse or many mice. Thanks so much Jo.
 At least now she'll stop all her Russian about.  
Above, two editions of Ellen Edisson’s Aller simple pour Moscou, aka One Way to Moscow. The first was published in 1956 by Thill in its Stop-Espionnage alter-ego as part of its Serie Le Loup, and the second appeared in 1959 from Champ de Mars, and was the first in its popular series Le Moulin Noir.
 Pretty maids all in a row. Five brilliant La Compagnie d'Edition Parisienne erotic pulp covers, circa 1950 to 1954, featuring the work of French illustrator Jacques Leclerc, who painted under the name Jihel (there was another French illustrator who used Jihel as a nickname—caricaturist Jacques Camille Lardie, not the same person). Leclerc/Jihel also painted illustrations for the classic French erotic magazine La Vie Parisienne, and we have a few copies we picked up in Paris that we'll show you in the near future.
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
1941—Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor
The Imperial Japanese Navy sends aircraft to attack the U.S. Pacific Fleet and its defending air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. While the U.S. lost battleships and other vessels, its aircraft carriers were not at Pearl Harbor and survived intact, robbing the Japanese of the total destruction of the Pacific Fleet they had hoped to achieve. 1989—Anti-Feminist Gunman Kills 14
In Montreal, Canada, at the École Polytechnique, a gunman shoots twenty-eight young women with a semi-automatic rifle, killing fourteen. The gunman claimed to be fighting feminism, which he believed had ruined his life. After the killings he turns the gun on himself and commits suicide. 1933—Prohibition Ends in United States
Utah becomes the 36th U.S. state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 75% of states needed to overturn the 18th Amendment which had made the sale of alcohol illegal. But the criminal gangs that had gained power during Prohibition are now firmly established, and maintain an influence that continues unabated for decades. 1945—Flight 19 Vanishes without a Trace
During an overwater navigation training flight from Fort Lauderdale, five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger torpedo-bombers lose radio contact with their base and vanish. The disappearance takes place in what is popularly known as the Bermuda Triangle.
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