Covers by Tom Adams of Raymond Chandler.

Bookmaven on tumblr features 1970s covers by artist Tom Adams of various works by Raymond Chandler. Adams (1926–2019) was also known for his covers of Agatha Christie titles.

A 2016 collection of Tom Adams covers

 

Cover by Tom Adams of
Chandler's Pickup on Noon Street

The art of Dell design.

For those who love Dell paperbacks, two selections from the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto:

How do you say “murder” in ___________? … Murder in any language by Kelly Roos. New York : Dell Pub. Co., 1948. … #mysteries #paperbacks #rarebooks #fisherlibrary #uoft

A photo posted by Fisher Rare Book Library (@fisherlibrary) on Aug 17, 2016 at 6:03am PDT

Philip Ketchum,
from U-Denver's
1925 Kynewisbok

First Dell paperback: Death in the library, by Philip Ketchum. New York : Dell Pub. Co., 1937. ... #mysteries #paperbacks #rarebooks #fisherlibrary #uoft

A photo posted by Fisher Rare Book Library (@fisherlibrary) on Aug 4, 2016 at 4:48am PDT

Honey West cover art.

Anne Francis as Honey West

In their "Whodunit Wednesday" tumblr features, University of North Carolina Greensboro's Special Collections have been highlighting artists who designed Honey West covers that are part of their Robbie Emily Dunn Collection of American Detective Fiction. The latest is R.A. Maguire, who created three Honey West covers: Kiss for a Killer, Dig a Dead Doll, and Blood and Honey. There are previous posts on artist Harry Schaare and Honey West author G. G. Fickling (pseudonym of Gloria and Forest Fickling).

Coming soon: ME exhibition on pulp cover art.

Opening on October 3 at the Portland (ME) Public Library is "The Pulps," an exhibition of original cover art for the pulps that will include Tarzan, the Shadow, and Doc Savage. The exhibition, cosponsored by the Maine College of Art, will run until December 26.

Book cover design: Tiny men, women's backs.

Jack Higgins cover illustrating
the "tiny man" scenario

The Times Literary Supplement blog builds on J. Kingston Pierce's earlier blog posts (such as here and here) on book cover designs that contain similar elements. I had not noticed the "women with their backs to the reader" and "tiny men walking into the distance" trends, but the evidence seems clear. Also noted: Web sites with bad book cover designs (one of which poses the immortal question, "Whose head is she wearing?").

A selection of Faber's mystery cover art.

Some historical samples of Faber's online archive of cover art include the following mystery works:

• The Black Tower by P. D. James (1975)

• Death at Crane's Court by Eilis Dillon (1953; new ed. from Rue Morgue P)

• Death by Request by Romilly John and K[atherine]. John (1933). Romilly was the son of painter Augustus John and the half-brother of cellist Amaryllis Fleming, half-sister of Ian Fleming.

George Antheil, NYPL

• Death in the Dark by Stacey Bishop (aka composer George Antheil, 1930)

• An English Murder by Cyril Hare (aka Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark, 1951)

• Famous Crimes, retold by "The Prince of Criminologists," William Roughead (1935)


• The Mummy Case by Dermot Morrah (1933; review here)

• The Ticker-Tape Murder by Milton Propper (1930; review here; partially serialized in the Border City Star, parts 1, 2, 3)

• A Tomb with a View by BBC producer Lance Sieveking (1950)

And of interest to Rex Stout fans:
• Forest Fire by Stout (1934; review here)
• Mr. Cinderella by Stout (1939; better cover of U.S. ed. here; review here)

Collection of pulp covers on view in NYC.

"Blood on My Doorstep"
by Rafael De Soto for
New Detective Magazine
Jul 1949. Part of the
Robert Lesser Collection

"Pulp Art: The Robert Lesser Collection" exhibition is on display until July 30 at New York's Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators.

Hawthorne meets the blow dryer.

The Harvard University Press blog discusses its new covers for works by Nathaniel Hawthorne that feature various renderings of the author, but they tend to appear as if Hawthorne has discovered the blow dryer (see sample at left).