"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"
Although I don’t travel very often or very far, and I have never gone on any kind of “book buying trip,” I am definitely a happier traveller when I am able to steal time from the “real” purpose of any trip I might take to visit a few stores that sell used books. Last Friday, for instance, my wife, our son, and I drove from Regina to Calgary, via Saskatoon, to attend a wedding, and over the next few days, return trip included, I managed to spend a couple of hurried hours browsing through a thrift shop and four different bookstores… although, unfortunately for me, only three of the four sold used books that I could afford. The fourth — which is actually the store in Calgary that I visited first, and only because it was located near a comics and Magic card shop that our son wanted to visit — was clearly designed to appeal to upper-middle-class bibliophiles with discerning taste and deep pockets, i.e., not me. I was fairly happy with both the selection of books and the prices at the two “Fair’s Fair” used bookstores we visited in Calgary, however, and very happy with the selection and prices at the store that we stopped at, briefly, in Saskatoon on the return trip.
And so now, here I am, typing this post while sitting about a metre from two-dozen vintage paperbacks, all newly accessioned to my collection, including this one, with cover art by Jeffrey Jones, which has been on my “want list” for a few years now:
[CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE]
More later, of course!
Keywords:The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories by Roger Zelazny, Jeffrey Jones.
Well, folks, I’m almost to the end of my collection of paperbacks with cover art by Jeffrey Jones. Of course, I’m always on the lookout for books that I don’t have, but since I can’t afford to pay what many online booksellers want for old paperbacks, I generally have to hope that I will stumble upon what I want for cheap at a thrift store, rummage sale, small-town bookstore, or what have you…
A few months ago, I picked up a couple of “bales” of National Lampoon Magazine — thirty-two issues, in all — from a local bookseller for cheap. It was only when I got home with my bales and cut the strings that I found out that all but one of the issues were from the 1980s and 1990s, which was okay because, at the very least, it gave me quite a few terrific comic strips by M. K. Brown, R. Crumb, Shary Flenniken, Rick Geary, Buddy Hickerson, Mark Marek, Rodrigues, Gahan Wilson, et al., to read. The lone exception, however, was an issue from November 1975, which — o lucky me! — includes the second-last Idyl strip by Jeffrey Jones that ever appeared in the magazine.
Now, if all you’ve seen are reprints of Idyl, you might be interested to know that the strip first appeared in a newsprint section of the Lampoon called “Funny Pages” and that, in the November 1975 issue, all of the strips in the “Funny Pages,” including Idyl, were overprinted in light blue with only the word balloons left uncoloured. To give you an idea of the sombre, twilight mood that the blue colour lends to Jones’s strip — which begins with the words, “It’ll be dark soon” — I present to you the following scan:
[CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE]
The effect is so appropriate to the theme of the strip that one can’t help but wonder if the art director didn’t choose the colour specifically to complement Jones’s work…
“Idyl was intended as satire and whimsy. One art director and one editor, who met me each month with puzzled faces, continued to remind me that National Lampoon was a humor magazine, ‘As long as YOU laugh,’ they finally said. So each month I would go in laughing. I also must admit that I love to draw nude women.” — Jeffrey Jones, interview, 2001
Don’t delay! The donation deadline is Thursday 28 February 11:59PM PT.
Jeffrey Jones: artist, model, conventioneer…
If you visited the Indiegogo fundraiser for the independent documentary film, Better Things: The Life and Choices of Jeffrey Catherine Jones, the last time I linked to it, you may have noticed that the “perks” at the $100.00 level include the following:
a limited-edition art book showcasing works by artists inspired by the work and example of Jeffrey Catherine Jones,
a DVD of the film TO BE SHIPPED ONCE IT HAS BEEN OFFICIALLY RELEASED BY A DISTRIBUTOR, and
a set of 6-8 postcards featuring artwork randomly selected from the art book.
Since that time, producer/director/writer Maria Cabardo has added a $75.00 contribution tier with just the limited-edition art book as the perk.
Jeffrey Catherine Jones and Maria Cabardo in conversation…
I’ve copied out the very diverse and impressive list of participating artists below and added links to various official and unofficial websites so you can check out their work; my apologies in advance if I’ve copied a name incorrectly or linked to the wrong website:
And last but definitely not least, the art book will feature reproductions of several pieces of art by JEFFREY JONES himself, including a watercolour sketch donated by collector Robert Weiner, president of Donald M. Grant Publisher, Inc., that will be featured on the cover.
Here’s the official description of the book, cut and pasted from the Better Things Indiegogo home page:
An amazing collection of artwork from artists in the comics, publishing, role-playing, and entertainment field. This book is dedicated to help fund BETTER THINGS and was only made possible by their generosity and willingness to help get Jones’ story and art to the world. It contains 48 pgs of color and black and white work.
Estimated delivery: July 2013
Help Better Things meet its fundraising goal by donating at the $75.00 or $100.00 levels (or higher!), and receive the art book as thanks from your favourite artists. Go to the Better Things home page at Indiegogo and reserve a copy now!
Jeffrey Jones with an unusual fan…
UPDATE (10 February 2013):
If you are reluctant to contribute to the Better Things Indiegogo fundraiser because you think that the campaign is unlikely to reach its fundraising goal of $30,000 dollars — if you think, well, I see a perk that I really like, but it’s never going to happen for Better Things, so why should I bother — here’s something you should know:
The choice of a flexible funding campaign for BETTER THINGS means you will get your perks no matter how much is raised! http://t.co/NglBF30Q
Yes, indeed, the Better Things Indiegogo fundraiser is a “flexible funding campaign,” and as such, the campaign owner receives any money raised but in return has agreed to fulfill the perks even if the stated goal is not met. For more information, see “Following Up and Sending Perks.”
Therese Nielsen (http://tnielsen.com/) and Patrick Hill has been added to the list of artists contributing to the Jones Artbook. It is now a 64-page art extravaganza [upgraded from 48 pages], a tribute to Jones and a wonderful example of the artistic community’s generosity.
UPDATE (13 February 2013):
Earlier today, Maria Cabardo posted a new pledge video:
One of the highest of the many high points of Jeffrey Jones’s career as a cover illustrator was the magnificent series of large-scale oil paintings the artist produced for the Zebra Books reprints of the works of Robert E. Howard. I’ve posted eleven of Jones’s wraparound covers so far, and today I’m back with three new ones — A Gent from Bear Creek, Pigeons from Hell, and The Undying Wizard — which I recently acquired:
[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE]
If Jones produced covers for more than fourteen Zebra/Kensington collections of the works of Robert E. Howard, I would be interested to hear the news, because as far as I am aware, fourteen titles is the complete set.
The other eleven Zebra/Kensington REH paperbacks with cover art by Jones that I’ve scanned and posted here at RCN can be viewed via the following links:
As luck would have it, I have two excellent copies of The Vultures of Whapeton in my collection of mouldering pulp fiction. I scanned one of the copies back on 12 February 2012 and posted the result here, and I like the scan well enough, but since I’m in a scanning mood at the moment, I think I’d like to try again. So here, just for fun, is a scan of my other copy:
Keywords: Breckinridge Elkins, A Gent from Bear Creek, Pigeons from Hell and Other Weird and Fantastic Adventures, Cormac Mac Art, The Undying Wizard, The Vultures of Whapeton.
Just finished scanning these, so the next step is to post them, like so:
[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE]
The “Jeffrey ‘Jeff’ Catherine Jones” category here at RCN — which currently clocks in at 122 posts, with more on the way — is a treasure trove of covers, comics, spot illustrations, sketches, and more. Check it out.
Keywords:The Swords of Lankhmar, Swords against Wizardry, Swords in the Mist.
In my paperback collection, I have at the moment at least half a dozen of the novels in Fritz Leiber’s “Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser” series with cover art by Jeffrey Jones; here are two of them, freshly scanned and processed for your viewing enjoyment:
[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE]
More later!
Keywords:Swords against Death, Swords and Deviltry.
Ragged Claws Network 