Vintage Pulp

April 11 2024

A HELPING HANDSCHOEN

Eight! Nine! Nine and a half! Nine and five-eighths! Get up! I'm bought off but I can't be obvious! You think I'm a Supreme Court justice or something?

This Dutch paperback cover was painted by an unknown, but we love it. It fronts Judson P. Philips’ De gouden handscheon. “Handschoen” is a pretty easy translation if you think literally—handshoe. But what the hell is a handshoe? *checking internet* In Dutch it means “glove.” Makes perfect sense. What do they call a condom? *checking internet* Sadly, it isn’t “dickshoe.” Anyway, Philips was a pseudonym for Hugh Pentecost, and this was published by Uitgeverij de Combinatie in 1948.

Update: Same day update, actually, which should give you an idea how much time we spend poking around for information. Turns out the above cover was adapted from a 1936 issue of the pulp magazine Argosy. The art is signed by John A. Coughlin. Also note that Judson P. Philips has a story in the issue. That leads to the reasonable conclusion that De gouden handschoen is a Dutch translation of that story typeset to paperback length.

Netherlands, Rotterdam, Uitgeverij de Combinatie, Argosy, Judson P. Philips, Judson Philips, Hugh Pentecost, John A. Coughlin, cover art, magazine art, literature, boxing

Vintage Pulp

March 23 2024

JOAN THE CLUB

A cover collection to help Bofill your day.

Below: a small set from Spanish artist Joan BeltraÌn Bofill, who signed his work as “Noiquet,” here working for a pair of Rotterdam based publishers illustrating novels by Edward Multon, who was an alter ego of Dutch author Herman Nicolaas van der Voort. These are from 1967 and 1968.

Spain, Netherlands, Rotterdam, Joan BeltraÌn Bofill, Noiquet, Edward Multon, Herman Nicolaas van der Voort, cover art, cover collection, literature

Vintage Pulp

March 1 2024

HIGHER INTELLIGENCE

How does an angel get its wings? Via cleverly repurposed cover art.

European and Australian publishers made a habit of reusing U.S. paperback art, and you see another example above. The top piece for John D. MacDonald’s 1963 novel On the Run received a remix on the front of 1968’s Een “kick” voor Erica, which is a translation by Dutch publishers Combinatie of Stephen Marlowe’s 1967 novel Drumbeat — Erica. It’s hard to improve on a McGinnis, but we think the fantasy-like transformation and giant wings—dare we say?—elevate cover number one to something even nicer. We found both on Flickr, so thanks to those two uploaders.

Netherlands, Rotterdam, Uitgeverij de Combinatie, Fawcett Publications, Gold Medal Books, John D. MacDonald, Stephen Marlowe, Robert McGinnis, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

April 23 2020

VERY WELL RED

Need to spice up your book cover? Try a splash of color.

Over haar lijk was published in 1960 by Rotterdam based Uitgeversmij, and it’s a Dutch edition of Richard S. Prather’s 1959 thriller Over Her Dead Body. This caught our eye because the cover has the same art that was used on Steve Brackeen’s Baby Moll, except with the background changed to an eye-catching blood red. Uitgeversmij often took U.S. covers and colored them. It sometimes led to cheap looking results, but occasionally, such as here and with Henry Kane’s Snatch an Eye (which we showed you a while back), they lucked into beautiful results. We’ve seen this cover around, but we suspect it came from Flickr, so thanks to original uploader on this.

Netherlands, Rotterdam, Uitgeversmij, Richard S. Prather, Steve Brackeen, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

July 30 2018

TO HEL AND BACK

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 de Combinatie, 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 de Combinatie, Frank Kane, Henry Kane, Victor Kalin, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

November 5 2015

DUTCH SEXPRESS

Fast lane to the promised land.

We’ve done a bit of France and Germany this week, so we thought we’d keep Pulp Intl. international by heading over to Holland. Above you see eight pulp style covers from Rotterdam publisher De Vrije Pers for various works of erotica, including Marquis de Sade’s Wilde Nachten, aka, The 120 Days of Sodom. These were part of De Vrije Pers’s Sexpress collection, and indeed the rear covers inform readers Een nieuw serie ware sex verhalen sprankelen van realisme—a new series of true sex stories sparkle with realism. Which is good, because who doesn’t love a little sparkle? We also love the covers. You may remember we shared one a while ago and promised to revisit the collection. So this is us doing that. Middle and late 1960s on these.

Netherlands, Rotterdam, De Vrije Pers, Clare O'Neill, John Ray, Rocco D. Jack, Marquis de Sade, Jefferson Blake, John Laurent, Henriette Duval, Harry White, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

July 13 2015

BEACHWEAR BASICS

Trend in swimsuits moves toward more coverage and suffocating fabrics.

If you run Spelen op het strand through the trusty ole translator you come up with “Playing on the Beach.” That doesn’t seem to match the front of this paperback at all, does it? Well, it doesn’t matter, because the art is great—it’s signed, but unreadable, so we can’t tell you who did it. But we can tell you Spelen op het strand is part of the Sexpress collection from Rotterdam, Netherlands based publisher De Vrije Pers, and it appeared in 1967. We’ll post more of these interesting Sexpress covers down the line.

Netherlands, Rotterdam, De Vrije Pers, Spelen op het strand, Johnnie Roberts, cover art, literature

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 5

1945—Hollywood Black Friday

A six month strike by Hollywood set decorators becomes a riot at the gates of Warner Brothers Studios when strikers and replacement workers clash. The event helps bring about the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, which, among other things, prohibits unions from contributing to political campaigns and requires union leaders to affirm they are not supporters of the Communist Party.

October 4

1957—Sputnik Circles Earth

The Soviet Union launches the satellite Sputnik I, which becomes the first artificial object to orbit the Earth. It orbits for two months and provides valuable information about the density of the upper atmosphere. It also panics the United States into a space race that eventually culminates in the U.S. moon landing.

October 4

1970—Janis Joplin Overdoses

American blues singer Janis Joplin is found dead on the floor of her motel room in Los Angeles. The cause of death is determined to be an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol.

October 3

1908—Pravda Founded

The newspaper Pravda is founded by Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles living in Vienna. The name means “truth” and the paper serves as an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991.

October 3

1957—Ferlinghetti Wins Obscenity Case

An obscenity trial brought against Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of the counterculture City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, reaches its conclusion when Judge Clayton Horn rules that Allen Ginsberg’s poetry collection Howl is not obscene.

October 3

1995—Simpson Acquitted

After a long trial watched by millions of people worldwide, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson subsequently loses a civil suit and is ordered to pay millions in damages.

October 2

1919—Wilson Suffers Stroke

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed. He is confined to bed for weeks, but eventually resumes his duties, though his participation is little more than perfunctory. Wilson remains disabled throughout the remainder of his term in office, and the rest of his life.