Sunday, April 24, 2016

JACKET REQUIRED: I Can Dream Can't I?

I have a built in mechanism that leads me to take screen captures of DJs I admire when I stumble across them on the bookselling websites. Most of the time it's because my brain goes, "Hey I have that book! Cool DJ. I should blog about that sometime soon." **CLICK!** And the photo promptly goes into the huge folder on my MacBook Pro labeled "TBR Scans". I also tend to come across lots of books I wish I could buy and read yet can only take photos of.

So once again here's a sampling from my enormous collection of photographs of DJ artwork from books I wish I could own, but reside only on my hard drive as I lust after them and dream that they were in my library.

This is the 18th "Jacket Required" post.  I hope to have this feature return every Sunday for the rest of the year. I'm planning on a new feature called "Impressive Imprints" tracing the history of the US mystery imprints from their heydey during the 1930s to the mid 1950s. I've previously written about the short-lived Scarlet Thread Mysteries and Doubleday's much more successful Crime Club (here, here and here). There are about twenty more imprints from publishers who helped make mystery and detective fiction popular and I own several examples of DJs from all of them.


















12 comments:

  1. I have precisely one of these in jacket!

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    1. Most of them are by unrecognizable writers. I didn't expect anyone to admit owning any of them. That's partly why I chose showing these particular titles. I do know which one you have. It's the Mary Collins, right? I learned of her from your blog and bought a slew of her books (all Bantam paperbacks) a few days later. This particular copy was for sale on eBay. I was intending to buy it, but foolishly waited a few days until I got paid. By then it was too late and it had been sold.

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  2. I simply must get a copy of The Golden Wang-Ho! How could you lose with a title like that?

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    1. I saw that title and roared. Had to have a photo of it. One of my favorite mystery book titles ever!

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  3. You know how much I love vintage book covers so I will enjoy this feature very much. If I were rich, that would be what I spent my money on. And more room to display them in.

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    1. Sorry no skull or skeleton artwork on this post, Tracy, which I know you collect. But look to tomorrow's post. A veritable explosion of skeletons on one DJ!

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  4. Lovely to see the cover for the Chronicles of Martin Hewitt- Morrison is one of my favourite authors and I only have the ebook edition. One area where proper books will always be better!

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    1. The Morrison book is actually a cheat. It's from a paperback cover and not a DJ from a hardcover. Don't know the exact date or publisher. My guess is it's a 1920s edition, perhaps the 30s. No matter. I still wish all my Martin Hewitt books had DJs. Some have attractive illustrated boards which is always a good substitute for no DJ.

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  5. Absolutely wonderful (the Roan is especially lovely and evocative)

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    1. My tastes lean to the lurid and garish when it comes to crime fiction artwork. I also chose some strictly for the titles --like the Fergus Hume book-- and not so much the illustration.

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  6. Love, love, love these John! Glad this will be a regular feature again. I have a Virginia Perdue title, but, alas, not this one and not near as nice an edition.

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  7. I've known a Wang Ho or two in my life, but don't call them that to their faces. :-)

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