View allAll Photos Tagged DustJacket
1951; Edge of Panic by Henry Kane. Cover art by Denis McLoughlin. Hard Cover edition with Dust Jacket.
1938; Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. With black and white drawings by Theodore Naish. Dust Jacket edition
Professor Hoffmann (1839 - 1919), born Angelo John Lewis in England, was a lawyer, professor and the leading writer on magic, and on the games, amusements and puzzles of his time. He wrote a series of articles on magic for a boy's magazine (“Every Boy's Annual”) that was later expanded into his classic book on magic, “Modern Magic,” first published in 1876. He used the pen name, Professor Hoffman, because he feared that his professional prospects as a lawyer would be injured if it became known that he possessed such an intimate knowledge of the arts of deception. He was also the author of a novel for kids entitled “Conjurer Dick” (1886). Another of his works is entitled “The Haunted Hat,” a magical short story, first published in Chambers's Journal, January 7, 1905.
His classic “Modern Magic” (1876), and three sequels (“More Magic” (1890), “Later Magic” (1903), and “Latest Magic” (1918) have been reprinted numerous times in many different editions since their original publication, and are still in print and enjoy popular sales today to magic enthusiasts.
Of the series, “Modern Magic” is the most famous. It provides advice on the appearance, the manner of dress, and the staging for magicians. It goes on to describe many different effects with playing cards, coins, watches, rings, handkerchiefs, dominoes, dice, cups and balls, balls, and hats. It concludes with a long chapter on miscellaneous tricks, including magic with strings, gloves, eggs, rice and descriptions of some utility devices. The penultimate chapter describes large stage illusions, and the final chapter contains advice on routines for a magic show, and more advice on staging.
Its popularity is due in part to the scarcity of teaching materials available to would-be magicians in the late 19th Century. “Modern Magic” was the first book in the English language to really explain the techniques of how to perform magical feats.
[Source: Magicpedia at www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/Professor_Hoffmann
From the blurb on the dust jacket:
The circumstances that brought Tarzan northward into Kaffa are not part of this story. Perhaps it is enough that the Lord of the Jungle loves to roam remote fastnesses still unspoiled by the devastating hand of civilization. Unsated with adventure, it may be that Abyssinia’s 350,000 square miles of semisavagery held an irresistible lure for him in their suggestion of mysterious back country and in the ethnological secrets they have guarded from time immemorial.
Wanderer, adventurer, outcast, Greek phalanx, and Roman legion, all have entered Abyssinia within times chronicled by history or legend never to reappear; and it is believed by some that she holds the secret of the lost tribes of Israel. What wonders, then, what adventures, might not her remote corners reveal!
And it was to one such corner that the strange white warrior in armor of ivory led Tarzan to the luxurious court of the most beautiful woman in the world, to slavery, to the arena, to the lion pit, to an atmosphere of love and hate, of intrigue and murder, to new friends and powerful enemies, to the throne of the Great God Thoos, to flaming Xarator, and to the horrors of the Grand Hunt.
If you are bored by the humdrum of the daily grind of civilization, lay aside the badges of your servitude, don a loin cloth of lion skin, seize bow and arrows and spear, and tread the silent trails of the mysterious jungle toward high adventure with Tarzan of the Apes.
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an adventurer in life before he opened up a new world of adventure with his books. After an excitingly varied career as a cavalryman in Arizona, a cowboy in Idaho, a policeman in Salt Lake City, and a gold miner in Oregon, he did not start to write until he was thirty-five. Then he found himself famous as the author of Tarzan. The world-wide appeal of his books is a matter of record, and on this record he ranks as one of the most widely read of living writers; one of the most popular writers America has ever produced.
“Nayland Smith is pitted against Fu Manchu in a desperate attempt to preserve the peace of Europe.
“Nayland Smith, whose battle with Dr. Fu Manchu has raged up and down the world for many years and several books, finds himself appointed to the responsible job of protecting the various dictators, financiers, and diplomats to whom the Chinese doctor has decreed death. As possible aggressors in a war which he does not wish to happen, two of these men have already been poisoned by Fu Manchu’s orders, and several others given final warning of his intentions should they continue their international disturbance. Nayland Smith is partly unsuccessful in his mission to protect Rudolf Adlon, German dictator, and Monaghani, Italian leader, but is still able, by using Fu Manchu’s weapons against himself, to salvage the key position in their struggle. In a thrilling, dramatic close, the voice of Fu Manchu speaks to Nayland Smith, promising unceasing, devious war on Europe and the Western World.”
The novel was made into a 15-chapter movie serial of the same name in 1940, that starred Henry Brandon as Dr. Fu Manchu.
Chapter 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjXII9gq3Nw&list=PLi5s3-YiYzf...
Professor Hoffmann (1839 - 1919), born Angelo John Lewis in England, was a lawyer, professor and the leading writer on magic, and on the games, amusements and puzzles of his time. He wrote a series of articles on magic for a boy's magazine (“Every Boy's Annual”) that was later expanded into his classic book on magic, “Modern Magic,” first published in 1876. He used the pen name, Professor Hoffman, because he feared that his professional prospects as a lawyer would be injured if it became known that he possessed such an intimate knowledge of the arts of deception. He was also the author of a novel for kids entitled “Conjurer Dick” (1886). Another of his works is entitled “The Haunted Hat,” a magical short story, first published in Chambers's Journal, January 7, 1905.
His classic “Modern Magic” (1876), and three sequels (“More Magic” (1890), “Later Magic” (1903), and “Latest Magic” (1918) have been reprinted numerous times in many different editions since their original publication, and are still in print and enjoy popular sales today to magic enthusiasts.
Of the series, “Modern Magic” is the most famous. It provides advice on the appearance, the manner of dress, and the staging for magicians. It goes on to describe many different effects with playing cards, coins, watches, rings, handkerchiefs, dominoes, dice, cups and balls, balls, and hats. It concludes with a long chapter on miscellaneous tricks, including magic with strings, gloves, eggs, rice and descriptions of some utility devices. The penultimate chapter describes large stage illusions, and the final chapter contains advice on routines for a magic show, and more advice on staging.
Its popularity is due in part to the scarcity of teaching materials available to would-be magicians in the late 19th Century. “Modern Magic” was the first book in the English language to really explain the techniques of how to perform magical feats.
[Source: Magicpedia at www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/Professor_Hoffmann
On the dust jacket is Rockwell's "Triple Self-Portrait' which first appeared as a cover illustration on the "The Saturday Evening Post," February 13, 1960.
Humor and humility were essential aspects of Norman Rockwell’s character, so when asked to do a self-portrait, the results were lighthearted and somewhat self-deprecating. Rockwell was a stickler for neatness, but here he has scattered matchsticks, paint tubes, and brushes over the studio floor. The glass of Coca-Cola, his usual afternoon pick-me-up, looks as if it will tip over at any moment.
A little older artist is gazing at himself in the mirror and he looks very different on canvas. He’s got a little more hair, his pipe is a little perkier and he’s looking out directly at you, without glasses.
Paint rags and pipe ashes sometimes conspired to ignite small fires in Rockwell’s brass bucket, so the wisp of smoke in the painting rings true. It is a reminder that once Rockwell’s studio caught fire as a result of his carelessness with pipe ashes. His brass helmet, a French fireman’s helmet he acquired in Paris in 1923, usually placed on an unused easel, crowns this one.
The four self-portraits on his canvas – Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent Van Gogh – are his references. He did tack or tape studies to his drawings or canvases and he did immerse himself in favorite artwork before beginning a project.
[Source: Norman Rockwell Museum]
Pre-decimal pricing.
Encouraging, gentle marketing.
Too bad that internet and supermarket shopping killed off companies like this.
Some interesting titles listed here.
Ten stories about the time when men will be adventuring to the stars. Authors include Walter M. Miller, Jr (“No Moon for Me”), Edward Grendon (“Trip One”), Raymond F. Jones (“Tools of the Trade”), Arthur C. Clarke (“Hide and Seek”), Richard Ashby (“Master Race”), Eric Frank Russell (“Dear Devil”), Clifford D. Simak (“Courtesy”), Alan E. Nourse (“Nightmare Brother”), Fletcher Pratt & Walter Kibilius (“Second Chance”), and Irving Cox, Jr. (“Like Gods They Came”).
“. . . these are stories amusing, serious – in one or two cases, even grim – about how the world of tomorrow, with its horizons extended to the infinities of space, will challenge the people who live in it.” [From the blurb on the dust jacket]
This book reprints two full-length novels featuring the sinister Oriental master villain, Shiwan Khan, stories that originally appeared in 1939 in “The Shadow” magazine. Khan wants nothing less than world domination and only one man can stop him from achieving his goal: Lamont Cranston, better known as The Shadow. The Shadow is a crimefighter who has the power to cloud men’s minds and, in the 1930s and 40s, was the most popular radio and pulp magazine hero. Shiwan Khan was his most formidable foe.
Eric Kroll (editor) - The Wonderful World of Bill Ward
King of the Glamour Girls
Taschen Books, 2006
Cover Artist: Bill Ward
Missing caption:
"Gee, Mr. Rank, we sure were lucky you had this cute little place nearby when the car broke down and it started raining!" (Jest, Jan 1960, p71)
A pic of some of my much loved first editions. Apart from a rogue V.S. Naipaul book, these are all Australian authors from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
Among them are two of my favourite authors, Frank Hardy and George Johnston. Also, some Barry Oakley books. Oakley was an Australian book critic who wrote some energetic novels in the 1970s. As of the time of writing he is still around at the grand age of 91.
For me the holy grail has been to get a copy of Power Without Glory with its original dust jacket. Quite a feat given how poorly made the first edition was, but a year or so ago I managed it.
Hardy was known mainly for this book but, later in life, he wrote a few exceptional works, namely The Unlucky Australians and But The Dead Are Many.
Intorduce more members to Readers Union and yu could claim a Conway Stewart fountain pen. Notably, Winston Churchill favored a Conway Stewart. They still make pens, with buttery-smooth gold nibs, but they are somewhat more expensive today than 25 shillings.
From the blurb on the dust jacket:
The human body is a physical miracle we all take for granted. Now John Fisher unveils the body as a self-contained magic show, with the brain directing the performance and the senses and powers of imagination exhibiting their enormous capacity to amaze, deceive, instruct and entertain. He strips away some of the mystique and pretension from the world of magical arts and the paranormal, and in a fully illustrated series of fascinating tricks shows how easily we can realise our body potential and perform all kinds of seeming miracles that hypnotists, magicians and illusionists have practised and exploited for centuries.
Mirror-writing, table-tilting, mind reading, the "law of reversed effort" which allows matches to walk along a knife-blade -- this is an absorbing book of entertainment, and more -- "Body Magic" opens up a vital new awareness of our miraculous human mechanism and in exploring our positive body functions and defining the general principles of psychology, acoustics, optics and mnemonics pinpoints the source and potential of our own and others "body magic." This highly original view of the human body as a treasure-house of illusion offers an enlightening entree to an apparent magical expertise which will both baffle and entertain.
From the blurb on the dustjacket:
“With this new departure – a ‘special’ in ‘The Young Traveller Series’ – we present a book for young people in which space science is taken out of the realms of fiction and fantasy into those of fact and probability.
“. . . It is by the foremost authority on the subject (and lately Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society) . . . Man’s curiosity about worlds beyond his own is unlimited. Arthur Clarke tells us of the history of this curiosity from the visions of de Bergerac in 1656, through the prophesies of Verne and Wells, to recent experiments of sending animals into space by rocket, and man’s deepening knowledge of life on other planets. . .
“There is an account of the solar system; of what life would mean on a space station; of the solutions which must be found before space travel becomes a practical reality; and of the engineering problems connected with rocket construction. Thirty-two plates and six diagrams prepared especially for the book combine to make a volume to be recommended as an authoritative, reliable and exciting account of the problems of man’s greatest adventure, the conquest of space.”
From the blurb on the dust jacket:
“Something was moving about the house. It was not alive, nor was it being propelled. Yet it moved.” That is the beginning of one of the most engrossing science novels ever to appear in print. Charged with thrills and suspense, it grips and holds your attention from the very first word.
When Captain Robert Lane of the U.S. Marines leaves for the Orient on the day before Easter, he has no idea that his young wife and four-year-old son are to become involved in a conflict far more deadly than the one in which he is to engage, a war older than the human race. Nor does he realize that he himself is potentially the most dangerous man in the world.
“The Crystal Horde” begins with an Easter egg, a storage egg dyed a virulent green, and it concludes with one of the most tremendous – and unique – battles ever conceived by the mind of man. The body of the tale is made up of action and mystery, beginning in California and moving from there to the interior of China.
Written by Dr. E.T. Bell of the California Institute of Technology (who writes science fiction as “John Taine”), “The Crystal Horde” displays the author’s customary ingenuity and originality in dealing with the unusual. In marked contrast with the otherworldly menace which supplies the basic plot of the story is the array of all-too-human characters. Dr. Saxby, who collects earthquakes, is definitely not a conventional science fiction scientist. He might well be one of Dr. Bell’s colleagues. You will be interested in meeting Hu the Good and his daughter, White Lily; the communist agents, Markoff and Liapanouff; and other ordinary and extraordinary people.
It is worth noting that, although “The Crystal Horde” cannot be called a satire in any sense of the word, Dr. Bell was unable to resist completely the thrusting of a satiric scalpel into some of the infected areas of modern society – and on occasion giving it a not-too-gentle twist!
“The Crystal Horde,” to summarize, is adult, literate reading fare – entertaining and thought-provoking, and written with the skill you’d expect to find in the work of an author who has produced twenty-five reasonably successful books.
“The ability to read minds isn't an unmixed blessing, so learns George Hanlon, Secret Operative of the Inter-Stellar Corps. His unique gift helps him with his assignments, of course -- except that he has a lot of trouble with alien minds. He encounters a whole planet full of alien minds on Estrella when the semi-human inhabitants of this Earth-like world of another sun decide that they want nothing to do with the Federation Planets. Hanlon's investigation's lead him into complications and troubles, all of which contribute to the entertainment of this tale of intrigue on a distant world. The striking jacket of this book is by the master of science fiction art – Hannes Bok.” [Summary at Goodreads.com]
List of stories: “The Hound of Death,” “The Red Signal.” “The Fourth Man,” “The Gypsy,” “The Lamp,” “Wireless,” “The Witness for the Prosecution,” “The Mystery of the Blue Jar,” “The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael,” “The Call of Wings,” “The Last Séance,” and “S.O.S.”
“Most of these are tales of fate and the supernatural with comparatively little detective content. This collection is most notable for the first appearance in a book of Christie’s famous short story “The Witness for the Prosecution.” The author subsequently wrote an award-winning play based on this story which has been adapted for film and twice for television.” [Source: Agatha Christie Wiki at agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hound_of_Death_and_Oth...]
"Witness for the Prosecution" 1957 Movie Trailer:
John W. Campbell’s classic “Who Goes There?” was the basis of two popular movies – Howard Hawks’ “The Thing From Another World” in 1951 and John Carpenter’s “The Thing” in 1982. The story is about an Antarctic research camp that discovers and thaws the ancient, frozen body of a crash-landed alien. The creature revives with terrifying results, shape-shifting to assume the exact form of animal and man alike. Paranoia ensues as a band of frightened men work to discern friend from foe and destroy the menace.
Here are links to the movie trailers:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=05-qogh7GA0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p35JDJLa9ec
Hannes Bok (1914-1964) is one of a handful of fantasy illustrators from the pulp magazine era, along with Virgil Finlay and Edd Cartier, whose work is just as popular today as it was in the 1940s. He made his professional debut in the pages of Weird Tales in late 1939, but he began dabbling in fantasy and science fiction art as early as 1930. He did considerable pulp magazine work throughout the 1940s, and was active as a book illustrator and painter in the late 1940s and early 1950s, contributing to such publishers as Arkham House, Shasta, Fantasy Press, and Gnome Press.
“While visiting Tarzan in his African jungle home, an American girl falls into the most astonishing science-fiction adventure of all. By a quirk in Time, a white-skinned savage from the Stone Age is thrust forward to modern days long enough to meet her and bring her back to his own world of cave people, saber-tooth tigers, and prehistorical wilderness. The ETERNAL SAVAGE (aka, The Eternal Lover) is the story of Nu of the Niocene and Victoria Custer of Nebraska, U.S.A. two human beings pitted against the world of primeval past. A startling natural catastrophe throws a caveman into contact with the modern African jungle and brings a Twentieth Century American girl into the dawn world of the Niocene Age. Here is Nu, son of Nu seeking to test his mettle against the terrible angst of the ferocious saber-tooth tiger. Here is Victoria Custer, guest of Tarzan, seeking vacation and adventure and finding more than she The Eternal Savage could ever have dreamed of.”
[Synopsis from the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library at www.edgarriceburroughs.com/series-profiles/stories-of-adv...]
From the blurb on the dust jacket:
One minute, Learoy Spofford was a former American tennis champion, enjoying a visit to London with his lovely wife – the next minute he was a muscular savage on the weird world of Graypec, fighting for the possession of a primitive but beautiful blonde. Catapulted by a strange science into a universe existing within an atom, not knowing if he could ever return, Learoy finds himself involved in the greeds and lusts of primeval men and women at war with a crustacean form of life. Suspense builds through climax after climax to a finish which is as startling as the premise. This is the novel about which H. G. Wells said: “. . . I think it’s a very good story, indeed, of the fantastic scientific type and I was much amused and pleased to find myself . . . in it.”
Young Jody Baxter lives with his parents, Ora and Ezra “Penny” Baxter, on a small farm in the animal-filled central Florida backwoods in the 1870s. Jody loves the outdoors and his family and he has wanted a pet for as long as he can remember. His mother says that they barely have enough food to feed themselves, let alone a pet, but he convinces his parents to allow him to adopt a fawn – named Flag – and it becomes his constant companion.
The book focuses on Jody’s life as he matures along with Flag and on Jody’s struggles with strained relationships, hunger, death of beloved friends, and the capriciousness of nature through a catastrophic flood. He experiences tender moments with his family, his fawn, and their neighbors and relatives. Along with his father, he comes face to face with the rough life of a farmer and hunter.
First published in March, 1938, “The Yearling” became the best-selling novel of 1938 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. It was adapted into a 1946 film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, Claude Jarman Jr. (as young Jody), Chill Wills and Forrest Tucker.
Movie Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es3J3nOahnE
From the blurb on the dust jacket:
The four stories that make up “Beyond Infinity” reveal unusual heights of imagination and a sure, smooth writing style that is rarely found in this type of work. Nor are these stories merely good science fiction – they are unusually good stories by any standard, ingenious tales of romance and adventure written for the Atomic Age.
The title story, “Beyond Infinity,” deals with a quest as old as the human race, and the first flight into space, a flight into realms “beyond infinity.”. . . In “Those Men From Mars,” Mr. Carr tells what happens when Martians visit the Earth, one group landing on the White House lawn, and the other at the Kremlin in Moscow! . . . “Morning Star” begins with a meeting of the greatest living scientists, assembled to discuss the world’s most dangerous weapon. An intruder slips in – a woman who is as baffling as she is beautiful – of whom it can truthfully be said that she is “out of this world.” . . . “Mutation” presents a fascinating answer to the question prodding the mind of every thinking person: “What about the effects of radiation after an atomic war?”
Here is writing of an unusually high order. At one and the same time “Beyond Infinity” will enthrall the dyed-in-the-wool science fiction fan, and will charm and delight the reader for whom science fiction is a strange and fearsome realm.
A favourite book on my shelves is a hardback copy of The Kon-Tiki Expedition, by the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and published by Unwin in 1950. Ever since I was a boy, I’ve been fascinated by this extraordinary expedition, in which Heyerdahl and his crew crossed the Pacific from Peru to Polynesia on a balsa wood raft in 1947. The 3,247 nautical mile journey took them 101 days.
In 1962 as an 18-year-old, I visited the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo – and there I bought myself a pair of silver cufflinks commemorating the voyage. On the occasions it’s been necessary to wear a shirt and tie, I’ve worn those cufflinks ever since; I’ve never had need of another pair.
Here they are, treasured possessions, with the book’s cover acting as a backdrop.
From the blurb on the dust jacket:
On the planet Mars, when the waters of the melting polar ice caps begin to flow, bringing new life to the ancient dying cities, Spring Night is celebrated. During this time of revelry and unrestrained emotions, Masters and Blood-givers are equal, and there is no law. In earlier ages when Mars was young there was only one race on the Red Planet, but thousands of centuries of inbreeding have changed the Masters to a stunted, atrophied race whose thin blood needs periodic renewing from the virile veins of the Blood-givers.
Against the strange background of an old, old world, with a social system which has no earthly counterpart, P. Schuyler Miller has developed a fascinating story of intrigue and adventure. Rebellion stirs among the Blood-givers, complicated by a romance which develops between Korul, leader of the servant race, and Thorana, daughter of the First Master.
A new factor enters the tale in the person of a great, bearded creature in a Martian Zoo – a being who is called the “Star-Beast” because of his gesturing and screaming to the stars at the time of his capture twenty years earlier. He becomes “The Titan” when he finally makes himself known as a man from Earth.
This unusual novella is a story of Martians with the man from Earth as the strange, alien being – and Miller handles his theme with his customary skill.
The remainder of the book contains a selection of the best of Miller’s shorter science fiction published in magazine form during the past fifteen years. Here are such masterpieces as “Spawn,” which tells what happens when pure life falls to earth, landing in the ocean, in a mountain peak of gold, and in the body of a dead dictator – animating each! . . . Here is “Old Man Mulligan,” a queer old guy with delusions of age – a hundred thousand years of age. Odd how his memory of cave men days on Earth helps out on Venus . . . Then there’s “Gleeps” – who spells trouble in the star lanes. He can be anything or anyone. Bad luck with a personality.
There are other stories, equally entertaining – as much entertainment and as much length as two average science novels.