I came across this Flickr photo stream this morning of what are labelled Dell Mapback -- Vintage Paperback Covers. Some of them are Romance covers and the others are DELL Mystery.The CARDS ON THE TABLE cover struck me as particularly opportune for today, Valentine's Day!
They are certainly striking covers aren't they? I don't know that they would be a success these days. They look a bit garish. But they are a real contrast to the sort of cover that were used recently on FRIEND OF THE DEVIL by Peter Robinson that I posted about last week. Perhaps someone could tell me what it means when it says "Complete with Crime Map on Back Cover"?
Check them all out on Flickr and view the slideshow of all 26 covers.
These are part of a collection called Dastardly Deeds. Crime Fiction in illustration from the teens to the late 50s. With an emphasis on the Golden Age Of Mystery dust jackets, and those down and dirty dames in pulp fiction.
Check out Pulp Fiction, and The Golden Age of Mysteries!
Here is a pulp fiction cover for THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES. Bit different from the sedate one below isn't it?
3 comments:
Last year I taught one of my classes about crime fiction. Apart from the last one, these covers resembled the ones I used to illustrate American hardboiled crime fiction :)
- if it had been a writer I didn´t know, these covers would put me off. Most of them are meant to appeal to men, aren´t they?
The pulp fiction cover for The Mysterious Affair at Styles combined with the comment "complete and unabridged' could almost be considered an offence under the trade descriptions act. ;0)
Makes you wonder whether people who bought the pulp cover of The Mysterious Affair at Styles would have felt duped doesn't it Norman?
I agree Dorte, I find them just a bit off-putting
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