Friday, November 11, 2011

Collección Pandora No. 74 (195?)

Title : Vengo a Saldar Cuentas
Author : Peter Randa
Cover art : uncredited
   [Buenos Aires : Malinca, 195?. Collección Pandora No. 74. Titulo deo original : Tous Frais Payés, Paris, Editions Fleuve Noir.]
style **
substance **
collectibility ***

   Of the recent spate of Latino titles Pandora 74 is probably the closest in mood and technique to the American vintage style. In particular the present title has a vaguely unfinished look so typical of much of the work of Barye Phillips. Once again, the cover art here alas is uncredited. Before this book I’d never heard of author Peter Randa. Apparently he was a fairly major figure in French detective fiction in the mid-Twentieth Century.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Collección Déborah No. 13 (1957)


Title : Fiebre de Venganza
Author : Jon Balmer
Cover art : uncredited

   [Buenos Aires : Ediciones Malinca, 1957. Collección Déborah No. 13. Titulo del original : Fever Hot. Traducción de Luis Caballero.]

style **
substance **
collectibility ***


 
   Fiebre de Venganza was originally released in the U.S. as a vintage sleaze title known as Fever Hot, written by Jon (Moment of Rapture) Balmer. The Argentine reissue has many appealing qualities. I especially like the wavy, intensely reddish quality of the girl's hair, which somehow matches her clothes perfectly and duplicates almost exactly the shading of the girl's hair from the first printing. Coincidence? Likewise, the guy smoking a cigarette is a nice touch as it recalls the cigarettes from the original. In sum, the alas anonymous cover for
Fiebre de Venganza is a very pleasing, eye catching design. However . . . a glimpse at the Exotic Novel original reveals that quite a bit of sizzle has been lost in the aesthetic translation. 
  P.S. Can anyone tell me about the mysterious goings on outside the window just beyond the ladder in the Colleccion Deborah version? 

Exotic Novel 19 (1951)