At Elisa Rolle’s page page her Behind the Cover gallery has some nice vintage era cover scans accompanied by richly detailed commentary .... the posts include lesser known cover artists like Ann Cantor and Denis McLoughlin.
Showing posts with label Ann Cantor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ann Cantor. Show all posts
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Avon 126 (1947)
Title[s] : Cold-Blooded Murder
Author[s] : Freeman Wills Crofts
Cover art : Ann Cantor
[New York, Avon Paperback, 1947. No. 126. Original title: Man Overboard (Dodd, Mead, 1936). “An Inspector French mystery.” – cover].
style ***
substance ***
collectibility ***
This is one of my all-time favorite vintage paperback covers. Ann Cantor's design is over-the-top even by the standards of one of vintagedom's most sensationalist practitioners, Avon Books. The lighting and content – dead man’s [severed?] head, redheaded woman in low-cut red dress, and the bit of blood on cover – are reminiscent of those great Hammer horror films of the 1950s and 1960s, though in this case the book beats them to the punch by at least a decade.
I must confess that I never heard of Freeman Wills Crofts before I came across this book. My research reveals that he was pretty big in the UK in the between-the-wars group of mystery writers. One of his more unlikely admirers was Raymond Chandler.
Author[s] : Freeman Wills Crofts
Cover art : Ann Cantor
[New York, Avon Paperback, 1947. No. 126. Original title: Man Overboard (Dodd, Mead, 1936). “An Inspector French mystery.” – cover].
style ***
substance ***
collectibility ***
This is one of my all-time favorite vintage paperback covers. Ann Cantor's design is over-the-top even by the standards of one of vintagedom's most sensationalist practitioners, Avon Books. The lighting and content – dead man’s [severed?] head, redheaded woman in low-cut red dress, and the bit of blood on cover – are reminiscent of those great Hammer horror films of the 1950s and 1960s, though in this case the book beats them to the punch by at least a decade.
I must confess that I never heard of Freeman Wills Crofts before I came across this book. My research reveals that he was pretty big in the UK in the between-the-wars group of mystery writers. One of his more unlikely admirers was Raymond Chandler.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Avon Books No. 159, 1948
Title : This is murder, Mr. Herbert, and other stories
Author : Day Keene
Cover art : Ann Cantor
[One of Keene’s first books, this is a collection of four hardboiled stories drawn from the pulp magazines. Includes title story plus : With Blood In His Eye; Sweet Tooth Of Murder; If A Body Meet A Body].
style ***
substance ***
collectibility ***
Avon 159 benefits from terrific bondage-style front cover art : a guy brandishes a pistol and terrorizes a tied-up woman in red dress, while a hand grips the Venetian blind in background. I always thought the guy on the front cover of This is Murder was one of the creepiest looking villains in vintage paperback history. He’s not really sinister, but instead repellant in a geeky sort of way – pudgy, with unkempt hair and a deviant look in his eyes, holding a gun in his left hand held against the girl’s neck. His right hand appears to have a grip on the shoulder strap of her dress, pulling it down in most sleazy fashion [1]; the poor woman in red dress has every right to look a little uncomfortable! And what a great touch, the hand slithering through the blinds! It’s all done with the gaudy colors and over-the-top panache typical of Avon Books in their glory years.
[1] But is he really pulling on her dress, or rather holding the lamp which is inserted in the cover a bit clumsily? Whatever. It’s still a bold, eye-catching cover design.
Author : Day Keene
Cover art : Ann Cantor
[One of Keene’s first books, this is a collection of four hardboiled stories drawn from the pulp magazines. Includes title story plus : With Blood In His Eye; Sweet Tooth Of Murder; If A Body Meet A Body].
style ***
substance ***
collectibility ***
Avon 159 benefits from terrific bondage-style front cover art : a guy brandishes a pistol and terrorizes a tied-up woman in red dress, while a hand grips the Venetian blind in background. I always thought the guy on the front cover of This is Murder was one of the creepiest looking villains in vintage paperback history. He’s not really sinister, but instead repellant in a geeky sort of way – pudgy, with unkempt hair and a deviant look in his eyes, holding a gun in his left hand held against the girl’s neck. His right hand appears to have a grip on the shoulder strap of her dress, pulling it down in most sleazy fashion [1]; the poor woman in red dress has every right to look a little uncomfortable! And what a great touch, the hand slithering through the blinds! It’s all done with the gaudy colors and over-the-top panache typical of Avon Books in their glory years.
[1] But is he really pulling on her dress, or rather holding the lamp which is inserted in the cover a bit clumsily? Whatever. It’s still a bold, eye-catching cover design.
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