Hal Ellson is an author in his own right - one of those odd coincidences that happen in life - both of them were mistaken for the other at various points of their careers as their star shone and faded accordingly.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
That Too Hot To Handle cover looks as if it was designed for a bodice ripper. Simply appalling in terms of representing the text inside, but decent as an audience drawing illustration.
It's very nice, thanks for posting that (twice, so thanks X2). I have or have had all but the 4th and 5th of those at one time or another in 60 years of Bond fandom but alas, can't keep everything.
I have four of those soft covers... I didn't collect the Signet or Crime Book versions. Maybe it is time, but it isn't cheap collecting Bond books anymore. Thanks for the post.
More covers of paperbacks that filled the shelves in the “Sleaze” section of the shop - probably the most popular and best selling section for some reason.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,912Chief of Staff
Sex Avengers 😏 am I the only one hoping for an Emma Peel spinoff? 🤗
YNWA 97
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,865MI6 Agent
Those covers are "very sexiful". 😉
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
this picture reminds me of a sketch Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz used to do on Saturday Night Live. in its final iteration, they were on a seniors cruise ship trying to pick up little old ladies "our standards could not sink any lower!"
Hank Janson (Stephen Daniel Frances) was Britain’s most famous pulp author during the 40’s and 50’s. They were extremely popular and often had covers drawn by the legendary Reginald Heade. They followed the adventures of Hank Janson himself, a journalist and “Saint” like adventurer, but unlike The Saint these were rough, tough, racy pulp thrillers, so much that they were prosecuted under the obscene publications act in 1954, it subsequently failed due to legal technicalities. I can highly recommend this series but beware that after 1953 some of the books were continued by different authors and are not so good. The popularity can be seen by the sales made as stated on the later covers.
The most well known covers have the red and yellow stripes, and if not drawn by Heade they were copied in his style…
Reginald Heade was a superb artist and did not only do pulp fiction covers. He also did covers for the children’s series The Abbey Girls by Elsie J Oxhenham and they are well written schoolgirl adventures with good plots. The covers are beautifully illustrated as can be seen below…
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,912Chief of Staff
Thanks CHB for this great thread…I’m learning so much…and some of these book covers are very interesting 🤭
James Hadley Chase (René Lodge Brabazon Raymond) was a highly successful English thriller author, writing more than 90 novels, he was dubbed the “king of thriller writers”. His first published book was No Orchids For Miss Blandish, in 1939 an American gangster thriller of the type so popular in the UK during the 40s and 50s. After a lot of success in the sub-genre, Chase became a more mainstream crime/thriller writer. 50 movies were made from his novels but aside from MissBlandish they were mainly European features with little British or American distribution.
His books remain collectable, especially editions from the 1950’s.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I’ve looked for this on my streaming service and it’s not there 🥲 hopefully one day it will turn up - hundreds of oddities are added each month so it could be likely 🤞
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Comments
Hal Ellson is an author in his own right - one of those odd coincidences that happen in life - both of them were mistaken for the other at various points of their careers as their star shone and faded accordingly.
Ah, thanks!
That Too Hot To Handle cover looks as if it was designed for a bodice ripper. Simply appalling in terms of representing the text inside, but decent as an audience drawing illustration.
@CoolHandBond suggested I post this on the Book Covers thread so here it is - though of course it's not 'random' here!
It hails from Twitter/X to mark the anniversary of the book's publication recently.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
It's very nice, thanks for posting that (twice, so thanks X2). I have or have had all but the 4th and 5th of those at one time or another in 60 years of Bond fandom but alas, can't keep everything.
I have four of those soft covers... I didn't collect the Signet or Crime Book versions. Maybe it is time, but it isn't cheap collecting Bond books anymore. Thanks for the post.
And this wouldn’t happen here in Cebu City 😉
Some well-known authors there, CHB.
To compliment @chrisno1 ‘s wonderful Saint In The Sixties thread these are from 1960-1963…
And thank you @CoolHandBond
This weeks selection…
"Too Hot To Handle"..... sounds familiar....
And very interesting ☺️
More covers of paperbacks that filled the shelves in the “Sleaze” section of the shop - probably the most popular and best selling section for some reason.
Sex Avengers 😏 am I the only one hoping for an Emma Peel spinoff? 🤗
Those covers are "very sexiful". 😉
this picture reminds me of a sketch Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz used to do on Saturday Night Live. in its final iteration, they were on a seniors cruise ship trying to pick up little old ladies "our standards could not sink any lower!"
Hank Janson (Stephen Daniel Frances) was Britain’s most famous pulp author during the 40’s and 50’s. They were extremely popular and often had covers drawn by the legendary Reginald Heade. They followed the adventures of Hank Janson himself, a journalist and “Saint” like adventurer, but unlike The Saint these were rough, tough, racy pulp thrillers, so much that they were prosecuted under the obscene publications act in 1954, it subsequently failed due to legal technicalities. I can highly recommend this series but beware that after 1953 some of the books were continued by different authors and are not so good. The popularity can be seen by the sales made as stated on the later covers.
The most well known covers have the red and yellow stripes, and if not drawn by Heade they were copied in his style…
Reginald Heade was a superb artist and did not only do pulp fiction covers. He also did covers for the children’s series The Abbey Girls by Elsie J Oxhenham and they are well written schoolgirl adventures with good plots. The covers are beautifully illustrated as can be seen below…
Thanks CHB for this great thread…I’m learning so much…and some of these book covers are very interesting 🤭
James Hadley Chase (René Lodge Brabazon Raymond) was a highly successful English thriller author, writing more than 90 novels, he was dubbed the “king of thriller writers”. His first published book was No Orchids For Miss Blandish, in 1939 an American gangster thriller of the type so popular in the UK during the 40s and 50s. After a lot of success in the sub-genre, Chase became a more mainstream crime/thriller writer. 50 movies were made from his novels but aside from Miss Blandish they were mainly European features with little British or American distribution.
His books remain collectable, especially editions from the 1950’s.
Sax Rohmer was famous for his Fu Manchu creation, but another character, the sultry Sumuru, was also very popular…
Our own Shirley Eaton starred in a 60’s movie that I’ve never seen but would love to!
I posted a review of The Million Eyes... back in 2022... It's, well, let's just say it's interesting
I read some of the Fu Manchu books back in the day, but I haven't even heard of Sumuru.
A little bit of nostalgia tracking that one down.
Now, back to the book covers...
Very popular with my customers - Fu Manchu also, of course.
I’ve looked for this on my streaming service and it’s not there 🥲 hopefully one day it will turn up - hundreds of oddities are added each month so it could be likely 🤞
Forgive my aged memory- did that review come up while I was rambling on about the Fu Manchu box set I had just bought?
(And CHB, forgive me wandering off-topic. I'll keep it brief.)
You two go ahead - it’s interesting, and I’ve said before, I like seeing threads go off in different directions 😁
@Barbel Did it? I can't remember. I watched it because it's in Michael Robinson's book.
Thanks 🙂