| Vintage Pulp | Nov 19 2022 |
….then he ate their livers. Anyway, I think he went that way. You check it out and I'll light your way from back here.
First rule of dark places: make sure you never go in first. Jean Salvetti paints a sinister scene on this cover for 1953's Des clous! by Robert Tachet, which is about crime, smuggling, and espionage in Perpignan on the French/Spanish border. The title, pronounced like “clue,” means “nails,” or maybe “spikes.” In the least surprising revelation imaginable, Tachet was a pseudonym for André Héléna. Why is that no surprise? Because Héléna was a pseudonym machine who also published as—ready?—Noël Vexin, Andy Ellen, Andy Helen, Buddy Wesson, Maureen Sullivan, Herbert Smally, Jean Zerbibe, Kathy Woodfield, Sznolock Lazslo, Clark Corrados, Peter Colombo, Alex Cadourcy, Joseph Benoist, Lemmy West, and C. Cailleaux. He was not only prolific, but was also one of the few mid-century writers to have his books translated into English from another language. Salvetti was prolific too. We have a few more examples of his brushwork if you're interested. Check here, here, here, here, and here.
FranceÉditions CondorRobert TachetJean SalvettiNoël VexinAndy EllenAndy HelenBuddy WessonMaureen SullivanKathy WoodfieldHerbert SmallyJean ZerbibeSznolock LazsloClark CorradosPeter ColomboAlex CadourcyJoseph BenoistLemmy WestC. Cailleauxcover artliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Dec 7 2014 |
Virtually unknown French artist James Hodges shows he’s a top tier illustrator.
Above are fifteen more covers from French artist James Hodges, who we’re still trying to learn details about. Was he actually French, with a name like James? That much seems certain. Was he a genius? Clearly. We’ll keep digging until we know all there is to know.
Update: On the other hand, he could be less of a genius than we thought...
| Vintage Pulp | Sep 25 2014 |
Giovanni Benvenuti raises the bar for French crime covers.
Today we wanted to share a series of truly spectacular French covers from Frédéric Ditis’s eponymous company Ditis, published as part of its popular La Chouette—or Owl—collection. These all date from the mid-1950s to early 1960s, and there’s really nothing to say about them except that they’re by the sublime Giovanni Benvenuti.
FranceÉditions DitisFrédéric DitisGiovanni BenvenutiHelen NielsenNoël VexinAnthony MortonTerry DrakeMichel AverlantJean Pierre FerrièreJohn EvansGeneviève Manceroncover artcover collectionliterature
