Pulp International - Henry+Kane

Oct 6 2018

Cats always get in the way at the worst moments.

The above cover from the Milan based publishers Longanesi & Co. features U.S. glamour model Virginia Gordon fronting a 1959 translation of Ed McBain's The Pusher. McBain is basically a legend, but is it a stretch to call Gordon legendary too? We don't think so. She was Playboy magazine's January 1959 Playmate of the Month, and because of that her photos are highly collectible and expensive. You'd see two important reasons why if not for a mischievous cat, but you can outmaneuver him by clicking here or here.

Below we have a few more fronts from Longanesi, including Jonathan Craig's Case of the Village Tramp, which also has Gordon on the cover, and John Jakes' detective novel Johnny Havoc, featuring Carol Baker giving a nice over-the-shoulder glance. Like Australia's Horwitz Publications and several other non-U.S. companies, Longanesi used (probably) unlicensed images of Hollywood starlets and glamor models as a matter of habit. We'll show you more examples of those a bit later.

Italy Milan Longanesi & Co. Playboy Virginia Gordon Ed McBain Evan Hunter Jonathan Craig John Jakes Henry Kane John McPartland Adam Knight Carol Baker cover art literature cover collection

Vintage Pulp

Jul 30 2018

Caught you! Get back to the book cover you came from, young lady, and stay there!

Above is a rather nice cover for Knipoog naar de hel, which in Dutch means “wink to hell.” This was published by the Rotterdam based company Uitgeversmij, and it's a translation of Henry Kane's 1964 thriller Snatch an Eye. As you can see at right (unless you're on a mobile device, in which case it's above), Uitgeversmij borrows art from Frank Kane's (no relation) 1956 Dell Publications novel Green Light for Death. The art for that was by Victor Kalin. The Dutch art is obviously a reworking of the original.

So here we go again. Is the copy by Kalin? Was it licensed? In this case, we think the art is Kalin's original, rather than a knock off by some random unknown, because the actual figure is identical, though the background has been replaced and the spotlight has a marginally different outline. Perhaps this was licensed and Kalin actually got paid, but we doubt it. Why bother to change it in that case? More likely it was appropriated via the use of a good camera, a crisp negative, and a little retouching. Whatever the case may be, we really like this piece.

Netherlands Rotterdam Uitgeversmij Frank Kane Henry Kane Victor Kalin cover art literature

Vintage Pulp

Dec 10 2017

Thirty feet in the air.

Below you see covers featuring characters who came to bad ends—of ropes. Were they suicides? Murder victims? Hint: the books wouldn't be very interesting if they were suicides. There are others we could share, but thirty feet sounded nicer than thirty six or thirty eight. Maybe we'll add more later. For now see two in the same style here and here.

Frances Lockridge Richard Lockridge H.W. Roden F.A. Chittenden Henry Kane Peter Storme Perry Stowe Stuart Friedman Earl Norman Marcel Allain Griff Frances Crane Hank Spencer Craig Rice cover art literature cover collection

Vintage Pulp

Jul 10 2014

A long overdue collection of Bob Abbett covers.

We’ve compiled a collection of Bob Abbett covers, something we should have done years ago. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, working in a couple of distinct styles, he produced some of the most striking book fronts to be found on newsstands. See eighteen pieces of evidence below.

Vintage Pulp

Jun 12 2013

They all deserved it. You can be sure of that.

A few years ago we shared a collection of pulp covers featuring women holding smoking guns. Most of them, but not all, were standing over dead victims. Today we decided to revisit the idea, but this time feature only women standing over men they’ve just gunned down. We found many examples, but these are five of the best. Kind thanks to the original uploaders.

Manhunt Magazine Scott Meredith Sidney Meredith Hank Janson Jack Webb Henry Kane James Savage Robert Maguire cover collection cover art literature