Look Here: Four ’40s paperbacks by Hammett, with cover art by various hands

8 May 201410 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

None of the following paperbacks by Dashiell Hammett includes a credit for the cover artist, but the languorous signature of H. Lawrence Hoffman is clearly visible in the lower left-hand corner of the “Pocket Book Editions” of Red Harvest and in the lower-middle of The Thin Man. Several websites give Gerald Gregg the nod for the cover of Dead Yellow Women, so let’s just say that one is by that guy (unless and until someone proves otherwise). And last but not least, the cover art for The Glass Key is signed “MANSU” in the lower right, a solid clue that ought to lead to an attribution, except that I have no idea who Mansu is, and neither, if Google is to be believed, does anyone else. But maybe you can help…?

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**ABOVE:** Dashiell Hammett, *The Glass Key* (NY: Pocket Books, 1943), with cover art signed “Mansu.”

**ABOVE:** Dashiell Hammett, *Red Harvest* (NY: Pocket Books, 1943), with cover art by H. Lawrence Hoffman.

**ABOVE:** Dashiell Hammett, *The Thin Man* (NY: Pocket Books, 1944), with cover art by H. Lawrence Hoffman (attrib.).

**ABOVE:** Dashiell Hammett, *Dead Yellow Women* (NY: Pocket Books, c1947), with cover art by Gerald Gregg (attrib.).

UPDATE (19 July 2014):

Turns out, the cover art for The Glass Key is not signed “MANSU.” Rather, the signature is “MANSO,” which is the surname of Leo Manso (1914-1993), who later made a name for himself as an abstract painter and collagist.

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Frank Frazetta · Illustration Art · Look Here

Look Here: DARK CRUSADE and five others with cover art by Frazetta

1 May 201410 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

My books. My scans. You’re welcome.

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**ABOVE:** Karl Edward Wagner, *Dark Crusade* (NY: Warner Books, 1983), with cover art by Frank Frazetta.

**ABOVE:** Michael Moorcock, *The Silver Warriors* (NY: Dell, 1973), with cover art by Frank Frazetta.

**ABOVE:** Richard A. Lupoff, *Into the Aether* (NY: Dell, 1974), with cover art by Frank Frazetta.

**ABOVE:** Edgar Rice Burroughs, *The Moon Men* (NY: Ace, 1978), with cover art by Frank Frazetta.

**ABOVE:** Karl Edward Wagner, *Bloodstone* (NY: Warner Books, 1983), with cover art by Frank Frazetta.

**ABOVE:** Robert E. Howard, *Conan the Warrior* (NY: Ace, n.d.), with cover art by Frank Frazetta.

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Illustration Art · John Berkey · Look Here

Look Here: A couple of lovely covers with atypical SF art by John Berkey

24 April 201410 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

Scanned by me, as usual:

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**ABOVE:** Edmund Cooper, *The Cloud Walker* (NY: Ballantine, 1973), with wraparound cover art by John Berkey.

**ABOVE:** Stephen Goldin, *And Not Make Dreams Your Master* (NY: Fawcett, 1981), with cover art by John Berkey.

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Fernando Fernandez · Illustration Art · Look Here

Look Here: A Zebra illustrated picture gothic with cover art by Fernando Fernandez

17 April 201410 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

The cover is uncredited, but the moment I pulled Larksong at Dawn out of the stacks of old paperbacks at a local church sale, I knew by the signature that the illustrator was Fernando Fernández, whose “Circles Trilogy” was featured here at RCN back in 2010. Fernández had died earlier that same year, and his passing was noted, and his career celebrated, in an obituary published on the Guardian website right here.

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**ABOVE:** Agnes Russell, *Larksong at Dawn* (NY: Zebra Books, 1978), with cover art by Fernando Fernandez.

Look Here: Two more covers with art by Jeffrey Jones

15 April 201410 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

One of the following covers with art by Jeffrey Jones is pretty badly scuffed. Can you guess which one it is?

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**ABOVE:** Stanley G. Wienbaum, *The New Adam*(NY: Avon, 1969), with cover art by Jeffrey Jones.

**ABOVE:** Robert E. Howard, *The Hand of Kane*(NY: Centaur Press, 1970), with cover art by Jeffrey Jones.

If I ever come across a better copy of The New Adam, I’ll probably buy it. I only purchased the battered copy that you see above at a local church sale because I couldn’t, at that moment, remember having seen one before, ever.

As for my copy of The Hand of Kane, I have to say, it’s in much better condition than the scan makes it look.

And so it goes…

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Illustration Art · Look Here

Look Here: A classic novel with sinister cover art by Ralph McQuarrie

14 April 201410 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

Although American commercial artist Ralph McQuarrie (13 June 1929 – 03 March 2012) was perhaps best known for his work as a conceptual designer for movies and television, including the original Star Wars trilogy (1977-1983), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the original Battlestar Galactica TV series (1978), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Cocoon (1985), he was also active, especially in the 1980s, as a cover illustrator for non-movie-related SF paperbacks. Here’s an especially effective example of McQuarrie’s work in that vein, scanned by me from my very own copy of Eric Frank Russell’s Sinister Barrier:

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**ABOVE:** Eric Frank Russell, *Sinister Barrier* (NY: Ballantine, 1986), with cover art by Ralph McQuarrie.

Connections · Fine Art · Look Here · Mark English

Connections: Hans Holbein the Younger and Mark English

10 April 201410 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

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Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Bruce Pennington · Illustration Art · Look Here

Look Here: Five paperback covers with art by Bruce Pennington

31 March 201410 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

More scans of books selected from the piles that continually rise and fall and fall and rise again around me here in our tiny home office; the artist this time around is Bruce Pennington:

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**ABOVE:** Laurence James, *Starcross* (London: Sphere, 1974), with cover art by Bruce Pennington.

**ABOVE:** Clark Ashton Smith, *Lost Worlds: Volume 1* (Frogmore: Panther, 1974), with wraparound cover art by Bruce Pennington.

**ABOVE:** Mack Reynolds, *The Towers of Utopia* (NY: Bantam, 1975), with cover art by Bruce Pennington.

**ABOVE:** Ronald Holmes, ed., *Macabre Railway Stories* (London: Star, 1983), with cover art by Bruce Pennington.

**ABOVE:** Robert Silverberg, ed., *Alpha 5* (NY: Ballantine, 1974), with cover art by Bruce Pennington.

Bob Peak · Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Illustration Art · Look Here

Look Here: ROLLERBALL MURDER with cover art by Bob Peak

26 March 201410 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

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**ABOVE:** William Harrison, *Rollerball Murder* (London: Futura, 1978), with cover art by Bob Peak.

The artwork for the above cover, which I just scanned from the battered copy in my personal collection, is uncredited and unsigned, but the style is unmistakable — even if one didn’t already know that the image had been recycled from the Rollerball movie poster.

Finally, apropos of nothing, here’s a bit of discontinuity that I noticed: although the cover of William Harrison’s book sports the title “Rollerball Murder” (two words), the title page says it’s “Rollerball [one word]: 13 Selected Stories by William Harrison,” while the actual title of the short story upon which the movie Rollerball was based is given in two places — the contents page and the story’s title page — as “Roller Ball Murder” (three words). A mistake, or a case of the publishers wanting to have their cake and eat it? You decide.

BONUS IMAGE:

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Illustration Art · Look Here · Robert McGinnis

Look Here: Two lovely mystery covers with art by McGinnis

25 March 201410 August 2016 RC1 Comment

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**ABOVE:** Erle Stanley Gardner, *The Case of the Golddigger’s Purse* (Montreal: Pocket Books, 1963), with cover art by Robert McGinnis.

**ABOVE:** Erle Stanley Gardner, *The Case of the the Bigamous Spouse* (Montreal: Pocket Books, 1964), with cover art by Robert McGinnis.

Wish the books were in better condition, and cleaner, but cheapskates can’t be choosers. “Buy low, pile high” is my motto. Okay, not really; I just made that up. Clever turn of phrase, though. And true, all too true, too. Just ask my wife.