Who illustrated this '57 cover of From Russia...?

kinglear · February 2007

I love how it looks. My version is from 1957. It's actually a worn, fragile paperback. I want to know the name of the cover's illustrator because it doesn't say it inside of the book. Can anyone help? ?:)

nokom · February 2007

I would like to know this too... From what it looks like the same person did all the 50s/60s paper backs... I have a full collection, however, my from Russia with love has the same picture, but rather than the back ground being white it is red..

00-Agent · February 2007

I checked my copies of old Signet paperbacks and could find no reference about who designed the cover. On the back of my copy of From Russia with Love on the very bottom of the cover there was a note that the cover was done in America. Nokom is probably right about the same person doing all the covers.

Scribe74 · February 2007

I love old paperbacks like this . . . the covers have so much character. It's a shame the artist has been banished into anonymity!

Willie Garvin · February 2007

I've been collecting the early Signet James Bond paperbacks for years and like kinglear often wondered who it was who painted the artwork on those covers.Looking at the covers for the Signet editions of Moonraker(1955) and For Your Eyes Only(1959),I've now noticed that the artist signed his paintings with the capital letter "B".On Moonraker it's at the extreme left of the picture(in white against a grey cloud),while on For Your Eyes Only,it's on the extreme lower right(dark brown against pale salmon strokes).

Judging by the distinctive short brushstrokes--in my opinion--"Mr.B" is probably the same man who painted the FRWL cover kinglear is asking about-his Gala Brand and Tatiana Romanova look identical,apart from their haircolor.Alas,I've lost my copy of the Signet FRWL kinglear uses to illustrate his post.However,after careful consideration of the image kinglear provides(and with the aid of a magnifying glass)it looks like there MIGHT be a light brown capital letter "B" slightly on it's side at the extreme left,of Tania-- directly beside Tania's coat at the base of the picture.

Looking at one of my few bookjacketed 007 hardcovers published in the early 1960s by the New American Library-(the people who also published the Signet paperback editions of the James Bond novels during the 1950s and early 1960s),the artwork for the You Only Live Twice dustjacket is credited to Paul Bacon.This particular artwork depicts a bleeding Red Sun within the Japanese flag, as opposed to that of the Signet YOLT paperback artwork with the samurai flying the skull balloon,which--with it's impressionistic style--looks very much like the work of the mysterious "Mr.B" of Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only,although there's no capital letter "B" to confirm this on that paperback-unless it's well hidden among the shadows on the skull.

Anyway,here's my educated guess...and it's only a guess.Based upon the assumption that the same "Mr.B" was the artist behind all of the early Signet editions of the James Bond novels and the NAL hardcover editions alike,then he could be Paul Bacon.

According to some articles I've come across on the net,Paul Bacon was one of the most prolific cover artists on both paperbacks and hardcover dustjackets in American publishing-- beginning in the early 1950s and continuing well into the 1990s,as both a cover artist/designer and interior illustrator.He'd have certainly been available to do the cover artwork for both the NAL hardcovers as well as the original Signet James Bond covers.

Loeffelholz · February 2007

These editions of the Fleming books---in paperback---were the ones with which I grew up :x

MR was the first one I got; although too young at the time to read it (9 or 10 years of age) I begged my mom to buy it for me at a garage sale for a dime...

Later, I picked up OHMSS at a thrift store, read it---at the impressionable age of 14---and everything changed. I snapped up the remaining books wherever I could find them...and the Signet editions were ubiquitous at the time...

I just gave my brother a 26th printing of FRWL in paperback for Christmas---complete with yellowed pages and that delicious, intoxicating 'old book smell' which I have always loved---and it looked exactly like this one...I wrote an inscription on the inside cover: 'For Your Eyes Only...Pre-Smelled for Your Convenience' B-)

There is no smell as good as that of an old book...

Great times. Great times. :007)

Willie Garvin · February 2007

I was 14 when Goldfinger first appeared in theatres and soon afterwards,I purchased all of the Signet James Bond paperbacks available at the time.Over the years I'd managed to collect them all,but through years of moving, I also lost track of many of them.As Loeffs says,at one time these particular books were almost everywhere--in practically every drugstore and bookstore alike.Eventually Berkeley and Jove took over the publishing of these books in the United States.

While researching the Signet/New American Library books, I was struck by the fact that Penguin--who recently published some very handsome looking paperback editions of Fleming's works,complete to retro cover art--owns what's left of Signet and publishes books under that name,along with other titles which they publish under the New American Library label.

Who illustrated this '57 cover of From Russia...?

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