These are the two most famous and expensive Bantams although not the most uncommon. They are the first appearance of The Shadow and Tarzan in mass market format.
Bantam 21
Bantam 21 back
Bantam 23
Bantam 23 back
Showing posts with label illustrated. Show all posts
Showing posts with label illustrated. Show all posts
Saturday, January 29, 2011
LA Bantam Illustrated Covers Part IV
The first three posts in this series highlighted seven of the nine illustrated covers published in 1941 by Bantam Publications of Los Angeles. Here are the last two. Like all but one of the first seven the art is not signed. The back covers are similar to six of the other seven with the the book in hand not listed.
These are the two most famous and expensive Bantams although not the most uncommon. They are the first appearance of The Shadow and Tarzan in mass market format.
These are the two most famous and expensive Bantams although not the most uncommon. They are the first appearance of The Shadow and Tarzan in mass market format.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
LA Bantam Illustrated Covers Part III
Here are the seventh of nine illustrated covers seen on Bantam Publications books. There are two copies of The Blue Geranium and other Tuesday Club Murders. On the first the laminate covering the card stock can be seen. This is the only illustrated Bantam I've seen with laminate on the back cover. The other copy has only the ghost of laminate remaining. The effect of the laminate on the image is very clear.
LA Bantam 26
LA Bantam 26 back
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
LA Bantam - Illustrated Covers Part II
In part I I discussed the nine illustrated covers that Bantam produced for books 21 through 28 plus A1. Books 21 to 28 also came with type covers.
Here are three more of the illustrated covers. The only signed cover art is seen here - Nobody Heard the Shot. Note a feature that is common to the covers. The front cover and spine were laminated for better wear but the laminate has often lifted to some degree. The addition of the laminate also caused some deterioration to the colours.
The lifting of the laminate is also found in early Pocket Books. See the example below.
Here are three more of the illustrated covers. The only signed cover art is seen here - Nobody Heard the Shot. Note a feature that is common to the covers. The front cover and spine were laminated for better wear but the laminate has often lifted to some degree. The addition of the laminate also caused some deterioration to the colours.
The lifting of the laminate is also found in early Pocket Books. See the example below.
Bantam 22
Bantam 25
Bantam 27
Pocket Books 11
Friday, August 20, 2010
Red Arrow Illustrated Issues
Twelve of Red Arrow's 13 books had issues with illustrated covers in addition to text only covers. I imagine for the same reason that Bantam Publications tried illustrated covers on their last nine books - to boost sales. And like the LA Bantam illustrated covers they are uncommon. I've seen the illustrated covers for all of the LA Bantam books but only 4 of the 12 Red Arrow books. The only signed cover below is Red Arrow 7 - Politzer. Who is he? No idea.
Red Arrow 3
Red Arrow 2
Red Arrow 7
Red Arrow 12
Monday, July 12, 2010
LA Bantam Illustrated Covers Part I
One of the intriguing aspects to Bantam Publications is the illustrated covers seen on books 21 to 28 plus A1. Books 21 to 28 also had text only covers. Why illustrated? Were they published after the text versions, before or at the same time? Why only these nine books out of the total of 29 that Bantam published? Who were the artists?
The reason is likely an effort to boost sales. Pocket Books was producing colourful covers and the bland text only Bantams would look uninviting next to them in the bookstores or on the news stands.
There is evidence that books 21 to 28 were published separately from books 1 to 20. Books 1 to 20 have an ad on the back cover not seen on books 21 to 28. There are a couple of different ads on books 21 to 28 listing either 11 or 12 books. Some of books 1 to 20 have these ads as well and are likely later printings. Books 1 to 20 were in two April 1941 Publisher's Weekly lists of books published. See this post for the details. Finally, for those books in the Library of Congress's Catalogue of Copyright Entries, the ones from books 1 to 20 group are dated July through September 1940. The ones from the second group are dated April 1941.
So it appears that only the later batch of books were given illustrated covers, perhaps at the same time as the text only variants were published. The last book, Red Threads (A1), was published with only an illustrated cover.
The art is unsigned.
The reason is likely an effort to boost sales. Pocket Books was producing colourful covers and the bland text only Bantams would look uninviting next to them in the bookstores or on the news stands.
There is evidence that books 21 to 28 were published separately from books 1 to 20. Books 1 to 20 have an ad on the back cover not seen on books 21 to 28. There are a couple of different ads on books 21 to 28 listing either 11 or 12 books. Some of books 1 to 20 have these ads as well and are likely later printings. Books 1 to 20 were in two April 1941 Publisher's Weekly lists of books published. See this post for the details. Finally, for those books in the Library of Congress's Catalogue of Copyright Entries, the ones from books 1 to 20 group are dated July through September 1940. The ones from the second group are dated April 1941.
So it appears that only the later batch of books were given illustrated covers, perhaps at the same time as the text only variants were published. The last book, Red Threads (A1), was published with only an illustrated cover.
The art is unsigned.
LA Bantam 24
LA Bantan 28
LA Bantam A1
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