The first reprint (since its original publication in 1927) of The Dark Chamber was in mass market form by Popular Library of New York. Though undated, it came out in October 1972. Here is the cover:
There is no credit for the cover art, but it's style looks somewhat familiar. Anyone have any theories about who the artist was?
Interestingly, the same art was used on the German translation of John Crawford's Dark Legion (1967), when it was translated into German in 1973 as Der Geisterhügel. (John Crawford was a pen-name of John S. Glasby, 1928-2011.) It has been suggested that the art is by UK artist Bruce Pennington, but Pennington himself has said it is not his work. Since the first usage of the art was on a US cover, one would suspect it was a US based artist.
It reminds me of the art used on some of the era's romance novels, mainly those of a gothic hue. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable of this genre's illustrators could help. Has there ever been a history or study or romance novel covers? I do recall some analysis of the once ubiquitous Fabio and another about the recurrent image of the swooning woman with titillating decolletage and the masterful hero.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michael. I agree that it reminds one of the covers from the Gothic romance craze of the 1960s. For the ones I've looked at the covers are often uncredited.
ReplyDeleteThis may be the work of George Ziel. He was certainly working for Paperback Library at the time. The Ziel checklist at Lynn Munroe Books, the best that I've found, does not list this book but their Paperback Library checklist is admittedly problematic, since Ziel did much of his work for the publisher without credit, and likely far from complete. Perhaps reach out to them (lynn-munroe-books.com).
ReplyDeleteThanks. That's a very good suggestion. I do see some similarities with various Ziel covers of the same time period, and even for the same publisher.
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