| Vintage Pulp | Sep 24 2017 |
There's nothing quite like a roll in the hay.
You'd think we'd eventually run out of themes in mid-century paperbacks, but the possibilities are seemingly endless. We can add illicit love in the hayloft to the many other time honored subjects exploited by paperback publishers. We've already shared several covers along these lines, such as this one, this one, and this one, but today we have an entire set for your enjoyment. Personally, we've never had sex in a hayloft—in fact, we've never even had the opportunity—but we imagine that once you get past the smelly manure and the scratchy hay and the jittery animals it's pretty fun. Or maybe not. There are also numerous books, incidentally, that feature characters trysting by outdoor haystacks, but for today we want to stay inside the barn. Thanks to all the original uploaders of these covers.
Cameo BooksGail JordanPeggy GaddisGeorge GrossJon BalmerHillary WaughDon BellmoreWilli PetersMark ReedLupo SebrengWilliam HopsonLon WilliamsAngela GilbertJ.X. WilliamsJean BromydeCraig BarstowLuther GordonJohn SteinbeckGeorge Victor MartinGregory SwansonWilliam Brown Meloneycover artliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Aug 12 2016 |
A suitcase and a sense of adventure will take you anyplace you want to go (and some places you don't).
As noted in the above post, we've gotten a trip together for this summer, so we thought we'd inspire ourselves by collecting a set of paperback covers featuring characters with suitcases. Just about anything can happen once you leave the comfy confines of home and we're hoping several of the scenes depicted here come true for us. See if you can guess which. Hint: not the one above—we already did that last year when we got caught in a monsoonal downpour that shut the airport on the day we were supposed to fly. No, we're thinking we want something more like the below cover to happen. And actually, that's a guarantee because the Pulp Intl. girlfriends are coming with us. Anyway, this group of covers serves as a companion set to our hitchhiker collection from last year. Art is by Robert McGinnis, Mitchell Hooks, George Gross, and others.
Paul ConnollyClyde AllisonPeter ShelleyBrian MooreLuther GordonWilliam O'FarrellEugenie GaffneyJack SheridanGerald FosterDay KeeneJim ThompsonMichael AvalloneJames ClayfordKermit WellesAnn BannonMarty HollandScott LaurenceDon BellmoreDante ArfelliNorman BlighAl HineRalph DeanJoe WeissAnna SaundersMaurice DekobraWhit HarrisonJohn O'HaraJoe McDowRobert McGinnisMitchell HooksGeorge GrossVictor OlsonJames AvatiGuiseppe Bertecover collectioncover artliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Mar 13 2016 |
The ptosis with the mostest.
A droopy eyelid is a condition referred to as ptosis, and illustrator Fred Rodewald uses that to great effect on this cover of Passion’s Mistress, written by Luther Gordon (a pseudonym used in this case by James Noble Gifford) for Quarter Books, 1950. Does the character pictured actually have a droopy eye? It would seem not, as both women in the story—“devastating beauty” Olive Haviland and “glamorous actress” Genevieve Gorton—are physically perfect, as only literary characters can be. So credit this quirky eye thing to Rodewald.
Quarter BooksPassion’s MistressPure GirlLuther GordonJames Noble GiffordFred Rodewaldcover artliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Mar 10 2016 |
You can’t put a price on genius.
We spend a lot of time looking for obscure paperback fronts, but sometimes you have to go with the top artists just for a reminder of how good they were. Therefore behold the immortal George Gross—six examples, all perfect.
Wright WilliamsAlbert L. QuandtGerald FosterHarmon BellamyLuther GordonNorman A. DanielsGeorge Grosscover artcover collectionliterature
