Vintage Pulp | May 23 2018 |

I'm not usually a quitter! But right now! I'm considering! Going back! To delivering pizzas!
And speaking of trains, above you see the cover of Lawrence G. Blochman's novel of foreign intrigue Bombay Mail, a murder mystery set in India and staged on a Calcutta to Bombay mail train. The lead character isn't actually a postal worker, but rather an investigator, Leonidas Prike of the British C.I.D., also known as the Criminal Investigation Department. This was Blochman's debut, originally appearing in hardback in 1934, which was the same year another celebrated trainbound mystery—Murder on the Orient Express—was published.
About that copyright date, by the way. Nearly every place you look will have Bombay Mail listed as arriving in 1934, but it may have appeared, at least in limited form, in 1933. We deduced this because the movie Bombay Mail, which was based on the novel, premiered in the U.S. in January 1934. We have a hard time imagining a debut novelist selling his book to movies before it hit the stores, so 1933 might be the actual publication date. One thing we're sure about, though, is this Dell mapback edition arrived in 1943, and the art is by Robert Stanley.
Vintage Pulp | Feb 18 2016 |

When the sun goes down in the city.
Hotels, museums, and restaurants are all important aspects of travel, but what you really need to know is where to score hookers and cocaine, right? Or is that just us? Above, assorted covers from MacFadden-Bartell’s famed sleaze series After Dark, published late 1960s and early 1970s, and which purports to tell readers where and how vice can be found in different cities, as well as the unique variations that exist in each place. Don’t leave home without one. And a pack of condoms.
MexicoFranceLondonParisNew York CityTokyoBangkokRomeHamburgLondonAmsterdamTaipeiCopenhagenSaigonBombayRio de JaneiroManilaIstanbulHong KongMacFadden-Bartell BooksWilliam HopsonLois O'ConnerColin RossWilliam FitzpatrickAndrew HarrisRoberto OrsiOgden FoxNorman NashPhil LewisJean de BallardPhilip MarnaisAllen V. Rosscover artliteraturecover collection
Musiquarium | Apr 18 2009 |

Sin and song done Indian style.
Various Bollywood soundtracks, circa 70s and 80s.