| Vintage Pulp | Oct 31 2020 |
Some people need a mental health day every day.
We were going to post an assortment of covers we thought were scary, but when we came across these Psycho fronts we realized they were all we needed. The creation of veteran horror author Robert Bloch and originally published in 1959, one of literature's early homicidal psychopaths remains frightening even today. When Bloch wrote Psycho the concept of psychopathy was little known in American culture, but after Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 movie adaptation, as well as the real-world Dahmers and Specks and Bundys, that naïveté evaporated. Now everyone knows psychopaths are real and live among us.
Bloch's man-child Norman Bates, a sadist and misanthrope with lust/hate feelings toward women, was able despite his dysfunctions to operate in society with a veneer of civility, and was capable of love, but only a stunted and twisted variety instilled by an emotionally violent forebear from whose shadow he could never fully escape. Sound like anybody you know? We have mostly front covers below, along with a rear cover and a nice piece of foldout art we found on the blog toomuchhorrorfiction. These are all English editions. We'll show you one or two interesting non-English covers later.
Crest BooksWarner BooksCorgi BooksTOR BooksPsychoRobert BlochAlfred HitchcockJanet Leighcover artcover collectionliteraturehorror
| Vintage Pulp | Sep 10 2020 |
All these books are on our bucket list.
When you look at paperback covers every day it's interesting the common elements you notice. Of late, we've noticed buckets. They pop up on backwoods and rural sleaze novels, usually in amusing fashion, often in the possession of hardworking women going about difficult chores while nearby men don't do dick. We'll just tell you—that's not the way it works around our place.
Venus BooksCameo BooksCarnival BooksSignet BooksGold Medal BooksPyramid BooksPeggy GaddisHarry WhittingtonAmos HatterSilvia ErskineStuart EngstrandWilliam Brown MeloneyJacques du Boutcover artcover collectionliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Jul 7 2020 |
British publisher Corgi slips its readers some Mickeys.
A while ago we found a cover of Mickey Spillane's The Deep from Corgi Books and commented that we thought the art was by an Italian illustrator named Renato Fratini. That's now confirmed. Fratini painted covers from British publishers such as Corgi, Coronet, Hodder, and Pan, and was also prolific in the realm of magazine art and movie posters. Above and below we have more of his Corgi-Spillane covers, published during the mid-1960s. Fratini sometimes produced alternate versions of these, and other times Corgi changed the background colors for later editions, which means there are even more Fratini-Spillane pieces out there to be found. We also couldn't find a usable cover for Bloody Sunrise, starring his spy character Tiger Mann. Maybe we'll have better luck with that later. But as it stands, this is a nice little collection showcasing an interesting artist who we think deserves to be more widely known.
| Vintage Pulp | May 17 2020 |
Kiss me and I'll kiss you back.
Below, another collection of covers featuring characters expressing a little affection, a continuation of the lip locks we put together way back in 2013, and an adjunct to our collection of Harry Barton neck kisses from 2017. 
Tiffany ThayerMichael AvalloneFranklin M. Davis Jr.Von HoffmanRuth LivingstonFlorenz BranchRex WeldonRuth ParkKathleen NorrisR. G. MayzkRobert CarseRobert Paul SmithJohn DexterPeter CheyneyJ.B. O'SullivanPerry LindsayHarry BestErskine CaldwellWatkins E. WrightDon ElliottVan NizeWilliam E. GordonEdith RobertsFrank YerbyKyle OnstottLance HornerDick DaleVicki BaumNancy HaleJohn BramlettJames Ramsey UllmanViña DelmarIan Stuart BlackDana WilsonJames M. CainJohn B. ThompsonJudith HeimanGordon MerrickKim SavageDaoma WinstonVladimir NabokovWilliam FaulknerAlberto MoraviaDylan ThomasÉmile ZolaRobert WilderMartha GellhornEllen CarenRobert BriffaultAnthony ThorneTheodore PrattVincent JamesFaith Baldwincover artcover collectionliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Apr 19 2020 |
Brigitte earns an advanced degree in espionage.
Above, ten more covers for the spy serial Brigitte in Accion, written by Lou Carrigan, aka Antonio Vera Ramirez, and published by Barcelona based Editorial Bruguera. The artist remains Brazilian illustrator José Luiz Benicio, and Brigitte Montfort, nicknamed Baby, remains the hottest CIA agent of the Cold War. Mid-1970s on these. See the earlier collection here.
SpainBrazilEditorial BrugueraLou CarriganJosé Luiz BenicioAntonio Vera Ramirezcover artcover collection
| Vintage Pulp | Jan 17 2020 |
Remember when politicians were motivated not by money and power, but by a desire to help people? Neither do we.
Below, a small collection of vintage paperbacks all featuring images of the U.S. Capitol. They're reminders that the building has always been a place of intrigue and treachery. Which is exactly why it's perfect for our website.
Jack LaitLee MortimerA.H. BerzenLarston D. FarrarBooth MooneyDashiell HammettHarriett H. CarrJan WarrenMargaret ScherfElliott Arnoldcover artcover collectionliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Nov 26 2019 |
Time for a fresh spin on the Caroselli.
It's been more than a year since we featured Benedetto Caroselli, the best paperback illustrator Italy ever had to offer, in our opinion. He painted hundreds of covers, all executed at the highest level. Below you see ten more. 
ItalyBenedetto CaroselliHugh NorthAnthony PriceChristian BuschHerta GreyJack CabotMatteo BandelloRoland GreavesLucas GromRalph FresnayJames Darrencover artcover collectionliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Sep 9 2019 |
It looks amazing, baby. Er... aaaand should look even better on my lovely wife. Thanks for letting me test it on your neck.
Sometimes when you're caught you're caught. You can try and brazen the moment out, but it usually does no good, at least in mid-century fiction. From there it's just a short distance to mayhem, murder, trials, prison, and all the other fun stuff that makes genre fiction worth reading. From James M. Cain's iconic The Postman Always Rings Twice to J.X. Williams' ridiculous The Sin Scene, infidelity is one of the most reliable and common plot devices. What isn't common is cover art that depicts the precise moment of being caught. Of all the cover collections we've put together, this was the hardest one for which to find examples, simply because there are no easy search parameters. We managed a grand total of sixteen (yes, there's a third person on the cover of Ed Schiddel's The Break-Up—note the hand pushing open the door). The artists here are L.B. Cole, Harry Schaare, Tom Miller, Bernard Safran, and others. And we have two more excellent examples of this theme we posted a while back. Check here and here.
MidwoodLudwell HughesRobert ColbyPeggy GaddisDon HollidayHarry OliveJohn O'HaraJoan ShermanWright WilliamsArthur WeigalOrrie HittJames Warner BellahEdmund SchiddelHarry ShcaareBernard SafranTom MillerRobert DietrichL.B. ColeHelen Topping Millercover artliteraturecover collection
| Vintage Pulp | Apr 8 2019 |
Sleaze imprint offers illuminating cover art.
Several days ago we said we'd revisit whoever painted this cover with an eye toward determining if they were really any good. At a glance these fronts from sleaze imprint Gaslight Books don't compare to the many beautiful efforts from Midwood or Gold Medal, but only at a glance. There's a distinctive style here, a certain beauty of form and color, an ease of execution like sketches brought to life. All are uncredited, but all are by the same artist, who hasn't gotten their due, in our opinion, for taking cover art in this unusual direction. Alternatively, we could simply be high. But give these a close look, revisit last week's cover, check the example we shared several years ago, and see what you think.
| Vintage Pulp | Mar 6 2019 |
A flavorful stew of mid-century paperback covers.
This post was long overdue. Most pulp oriented websites do a collection of covers that have the word wanton in the title, so we're following suit. Basically because we couldn't think of anything else to do today. Numerous examples below. Enjoy.
Lon WilliamsIan GordonKermit WellesR. Wilkes HunterDave KingLester LakeJohn B. ThompsonGeorge CassidyJames ClayfordMichael GillianJudson GreyAl JamesArnold MarmorJ.C. PerlmanLawrence TreatMartin A. LarsonHenry KlingerCarter BrownJames RubelLewis ClayCurt AldrichRichard S. PratherDrew PalmerPeter CheyneyBrett HallidayMark Danielscover artliteraturecover collection
