Are you one of those who lament the disappearance of the painted paperback cover (and, for that matter, the painted film poster)? Do you miss the highly individual — and highly accomplished – graphic work of the great illustrators of 1950s and 1960s who sadly fell out of favour and whose work has now been replaced by photographic illustration? I certainly count myself among that number, and I was particularly pleased that the publisher of my Crime Fiction: A Reader’s Guide suggested a vivid illustration from the Pan Books Golden Age of illustrated covers. So you won’t be surprised to hear that for me this new collection (described on the jacket as ‘An Appraisal by Colin Larkin’) is absolute catnip, with its luxurious large format reproductions giving us the chance to enjoy the dramatic and colourful artwork of such masters as John Pollack Edward Mortelmans and SR Boldero in a format which makes it considerably easier to appreciate the art than on the foxed paperbacks that we collectors cherish. And though this collection is largely confined to crime paperbacks, other genres creep in, such as two macabre Boldero illustrations that have become iconic over the years, those for the Second Pan Book of Horror Stories and Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV. Sex, of course, raises its alluring head several times throughout this collection with the odd cleavage-sporting blonde in a state of leggy disarray, but these British paperbacks are generally more subtle (or at least slightly more subtle) than their American counterparts. Colin Larkin’s text has a lightly worn scholarship which tells us everything we need to know about these forgotten craftsmen. Such accomplished modern illustrators as Graham Humphreys and Les Edwards have kept the tradition of the painted cover alive, but this is a reminder book of an era when such things were the norm rather than the exception. It’s a delectable collection.
Cover Me: The Vintage Art of Pan Books: 1950-1965 by Colin Larkin is published by Telos
