"This day's experience, set in order, none of it left ragged or lying about, all of it gathered in like treasure and finished with, set aside." –Alice Munro, "What is Remembered"
The original reproduction on many of the following covers by Jeffrey Jones, all from the library of yours truly, was very poor, so my scans are sometimes not the best here. One exception is the last cover, Twilight of the Serpent, which actually showcases Jones’s artwork in more detail and with more lively colour than does the rather dour reproduction on the back cover of publisher Underwood-Miller’s lavish hardcover, The Art of Jeffrey Jones.
ABOVE: Robert Silverberg, ed., Earthmen & Strangers (New York: Dell, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
ABOVE: A. E. Van Vogt, The Book of Ptath (New York: Paperback Library, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
ABOVE: Samuel R. Delany, The Jewels of Aptor (New York: Ace, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
ABOVE: L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, The Incomplete Enchanter (New York: Pyramid, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
ABOVE: Peter Saxon, The Curse of Rathlaw (New York: Prestige Books, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
ABOVE: Richard Meade, The Sword of Morning Star (New York: Signet, 1969), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
ABOVE: Frank Brunner, Bedlam Planet (New York: Ace, n.d.), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
ABOVE: Peter Valentine Timlett, Twilight of the Serpent (New York: Bantam Books, 1977), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
My favourites this time around are the covers for The Curse of Rathlaw (1968), an early effort in which Jones’s attractive design for the vignette is nicely reinforced by the typography, and Twilight of the Serpent (1977), a later cover which displays Jones’s hard-won skills as a draftsman (or draughtsman, if you prefer), mastery of lost-and-found edges in oil painting, and increasing willingness in the 1970s and early 1980s to produce images that went against the grain of traditional heroic fantasy.
Keywords:Earthmen and Strangers, Kothar of the Magic Sword, The Book of Ptath, The Jewels of Aptor, Seetee Shock, The Incomplete Enchanter, The Curse of Rathlaw, The Sword of Morning Star, Bedlam Planet, Twilight of the Serpent.
ABOVE: Arthur C. Clarke, The Deep Range (New York: Signet, 1964), with cover by Paul Lehr.
ABOVE: Keith Laumer and Gorden R. Dickson, Planet Run (New York: Berkley, 1967), with cover by Paul Lehr.
ABOVE: John Brunner, More Things in Heaven (New York: Dell, 1973), with cover by Paul Lehr.
ABOVE: Keith Laumer, Night of Delusions (New York: Berkley, 1974), with cover by Paul Lehr.
The 1964 edition of The Deep Range by Arthur C. Clarke with the cover by Paul Lehr is a pretty cool find, I think. It’s a pity the artwork is obscured by the title, etc., but the book is in excellent condition, so it scanned fairly nicely, and of course, it is instructive to compare it with Lehr’s later covers, which, unlike The Deep Range, typically combine highly saturated colours with a strict adherence to traditional colour schemes.
Keywords:The Deep Range, Planet Run, More Things in Heaven, Night of Delusions.
Jones’s Scheherazade graced the cover of the Styx #2 back in 1973 (37 years ago!):
Styx was published by Winnipeg’s own Joseph Krolik, who was very active in fandom beginning in the mid-to-late 1960s, when he and a buddy, Andris Taskans, both in high school at the time, started a club called “The Science Fiction Fans & Comic Collectors of Winnipeg” and published a “clubzine” called Universe that ran for seven issues.
On 05 March 2010, Glimmer Graphics, known to readers of this blog as the publisher of an ongoing series of first-rate prints and posters by Jeffrey Jones, will release Poetry (see above image), a lush new 22 x 15 inch limited-edition giclée print by Barry Windsor-Smith. Each of the 375 prints that make up the edition will be signed and numbered and will be presented in a foil-stamped linen folder with a tipped-on colour plate. The unit price is US$135, shipped and insured, and you may pay in full or with installments. To place your order, click here.
This is NOT a paid advertisement. If the money BWS makes from the print enables him to complete work on his long-awaited Monsters graphic novel, that will be payment enough. The previews on BWS’s site are gorgeous!
The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives Volume 2 HC (Publication Date: 19 May 2010) — “The two Barry Windsor-Smith archives collect all of the historic and influential Conan the Barbarian comics drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith,” including his adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s “Red Nails”!
ABOVE: Ted White, The Spawn of the Death Machine (New York: Paperback Library, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
ABOVE: Michael D. Resnick, The Goddess of Ganymede (New York: Paperback Library, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
ABOVE: A. E. Van Vogt, The Far Out Worlds of A. E. Van Vogt (New York: Ace Books, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
ABOVE: L. Sprague de Camp, The Clocks of Iraz (New York: Pyramid Books, 1971), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.
Even though I don’t much care for any of the above covers, I have decided to include them here anyway for what they reveal about Jones’s slow but steady development as an artist.
Keywords:The Spawn of the Death Machine, The Goddess of Ganymede, The Far Out Worlds of A. E. Van Vogt, The Clocks of Iraz.
Note that the first two paperback covers below are from early in Lehr’s career as a cover artist while the third one is from fairly late in Lehr’s career:
ABOVE: Robert A. Heinlein, Podkayne of Mars (New York: Avon, 1966), with cover by Paul Lehr (1930 – 1998).
ABOVE: Robert A. Heinlein, Glory Road (New York: Avon, 1966), with cover by Paul Lehr (1930 – 1998).
ABOVE: Sharon Baker, Journey to Membliar (New York: Avon, 1987), with cover by Paul Lehr (1930 – 1998).
Keywords:Podkayne of Mars, Glory Road, Journey to Membliar.
Here’s one of a signed-and-numbered edition of fifty prints, published by Idyl Impress in 1977, that were hand-coloured with watercolour by Jeffrey Jones. It is followed by the uncoloured version, which was published the same year by Idyl Impress in a signed-and-numbered edition of 1200:
ABOVE: Jeffrey Jones, In a Sheltered Corner (Idyl Impress, 1977), hand-coloured, limited-edition lithograph, 17 x 21 inches.ABOVE: Jeffrey Jones, In a Sheltered Corner (Idyl Impress, 1977), limited-edition print, 17 x 21 inches.
Ragged Claws Network 