Paperback days

Remember the glory days of paperbacks - a time when all newsagents, garages and book shops had a spinning paperback rack. A spinner was, I think, the technical term. Indeed these days with the rise of eBooks it looks like the days of the paperback are numbered.


Those days are long gone - recalled with fondness by old dudes like me. I plan to present regular posts such as this containing scans of classic paperback art - and not only westerns.

Here's the first selection.



A traditional style cover for Paul Lehman's Bandit in Black (1958). The washed out background gives the feeling of great heat. This is a reprint from MB Books, date unknown, with a cover price of 50c


















Dead End Trail by Norman Fox who is actually Luke Short -though why anyone would select the name Norman for a western writer is beyond me. This is a British edition from Fontana and it was first published, as by Luke Short in 1944. This edition is from 1962. The story is about a reformed outlaw facing a dilemma that could see him turning to his old ways.



















J.T.Edson is probably the most successful British western author in history. Man, he could kick Jack Martin's arse! Many of his books are still in print as collected editions. This 1968 Corgi edition of Quiet Town is unsual since most of the Edson books are numbered. I have seen editions of this book numbered 60 and 23, so I'm not at all sure where it comes in the large canon. Still it's a wonderful cover even if the cowboy does look like he's suffering from Bells-Palsy.