This novel has a rather funny title—Vide ton sac... hé means “Empty your sack... hey!” It was written by Louis de la Hattais for the Allo Police series published by SEG, aka Société d’Editions Générales, 1957 copyright. We didn't know who painted these covers when we first posted from this series, but now know it's Auguste Liquois, who did a lot of work for SEG. Learn more about de la Hattais and Allo Police here.

Above and below are assorted covers featuring yet another fun mid-century paperback art motif—the looming or threatening shadow. The covers are by the usual suspects—Rader, Phillips, Gross, Caroselli, Nik, as well as by artists whose work you see less often, such as Tony Carter’s brilliant cover for And Turned to Clay. That's actually a dust jacket, rather than a paperback front, but we couldn't leave it out. You’ll also notice French publishers really liked this theme. We’ll doubtless come across more, and as we do we’ll add to the collection. This is true of all our cover collections. For instance, our post featuring the Eiffel Tower has grown from fifteen to twenty-two examples, and our group of fronts with syringes has swelled from thirteen to twenty-six images. We have twenty-four twenty-six—see what we mean?—more shadow covers below, and thanks to all original uploaders.

Above, a piece of cool French pulp, Salut et Éternité from Collection Paterson, with minimalist but effective cover art, published 1959. This and others in the series were written by the prolific Louis de la Hattais. 

We said we’d get back to Louis de la Hattais and today we’re keeping our word. Above you see four book covers from French author Jerry Lewray, who was a pseudonym invented by de la Hattais, and used by him and possibly other authors who churned out thrillers for Société d’Editions Générales' Interpol and Allo Police series during the 1960s, as well as stand-alone novels of his/their own. But it turns out Louis de la Hattais wasn’t real either—he was a pseudonym of author and editor Louis Fournel, who, starting in the 1940s, wrote under the names Louis Delaht, Anne-Marie Delfour, Jean Delhat, Lew Dolegan, Anne-Marie Fervel, Louis Hellais and several others. Confused? You’re not alone. But as the mystery deepens, we keep digging. It’s not just educational—it’s fun! 

Here’s a little artifact from our trip to Paris last year, which we picked up from one of the booksellers by the Pont Neuf. It’s a Louis de la Hattais novel from 1957, part of the “Allo Police” collection printed by Société d’Editions Générales. It’s called Des Mégots pour al Petit!, which means Cigarette Butts for the Little Girl. De la Hattais was a prolific mid-century pulp author, and we’ve actually seen a lot of his books around, although we suspect he was actually a pseudonym. We'll find out and get back to you on that. As far as the art goes, while it may be less masterful than that of pulp icons such as Aslan and Robert McGinnis, we find it quite effective. So much so that just for your visual pleasure this Wednesday, we’ve posted a few more “Allo Police” covers below. Enjoy.