Pulp Fiction Treasures

A square-jawed detective stares grimly into a shadowed hallway filled with lurking menace. A bug-eyed alien monster threatens a female astronaut. A clean-cut cowboy grips the handle of his revolver and eyes his adversary with steely resolve. These images and many more populate the pages of Pulp Culture, Frank Robinson and Lawrence Davidson’s wonderful tribute to the golden age of fiction magazines. This is not the first book to explore the literary and artistic heritage of the pulps, but it is one of the best. Boasting a beautiful design, clear and concise commentary, and (most importantly) hundreds of gorgeous full-color reproductions of pulp magazine covers—most in pristine condition—Robinson, Davidson, and Collectors Press have gotten it right.

During the 1930s, readers could find a wide variety of pulp magazines specializing in science fiction, fantasy and horror, westerns, mysteries, romances, and much more. Robinson and Davidson cover all of these, as well as bizarre niche titles such as Wall Street Stories, Marriage Stories, Pirate Stories, and even—for all you zeppelin enthusiasts—Zeppelin Stories. Although the authors keep the commentary to a minimum, they manage to provide a reasonably comprehensive introduction to what is a dauntingly diverse field. Their coverage of pulp writers is more cursory, but even readers who’ve never heard of the pulps will recognize a list of writers who got their start there, including Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler. 

Pulp Culture
Frank M. Robinson & Lawrence Davidson
Collectors Press

The real focus, however, is on the art, and it is here that Pulp Culture really shines. The book reproduces hundreds of magazine covers of a variety and quality that is simply staggering. Some covers don’t reproduce well at small sizes, but most of what is included here is impeccable. There is artwork ranging from the lurid to the jaw-droppingly brilliant, and much of the finest work included here was done for legendary titles such as Astounding Science Fiction, Weird Tales, and Black Mask. Other titles boasted artwork that was perhaps less sophisticated but just as much fun. Haven’t you always wondered what kind of artwork a magazine called Strange Detective Mysteries or Saucy Movie Tales would place on its front cover?

Many of these publications, unfortunately, have not survived. Printed on the cheapest grade of paper available, pulp magazines were meant to be read and then discarded. Prone to disintegration, they are now increasingly scarce and highly collectible, all of which makes Pulp Culture even more remarkable in its depth and quality. By the 1950s, most of the pulps had vanished, the victims of wartime paper shortages and the rise of another publishing phenomenon: the paperback novel.

The rise of the paperback is chronicled in Richard Lupoff’s The Great American Paperback, which is both more and less than its predecessor. Lupoff’s commentary serves as far more than an introduction, and separate chapters document the histories of major paperback publishers such as Pocket, Ballantine, Bantam, and Fawcett in some detail. Long-time paperback readers will find Lupoff’s text bringing back fond memories of such publishing oddities as Dell mapbacks (whose back covers pictorially summarized the novel’s plot) and Ace doubles (which offered two novels printed back to back, essentially presenting the reader with a book with two front covers). Fortunately, the added text doesn’t mean that the cover reproductions are given short shrift, although it does result in a longer (and correspondingly more expensive) book. The design is not quite on par with Pulp Culture, and the brightly-colored page backgrounds can sometimes distract from text and art alike. These, however, are just quibbles about a book that is in most respects quite marvelous.

The Great American Paperback
Richard A. Lupoff
Collectors Press

Once again, the real attraction here is the artwork: 600 full-color reproductions of vintage paperback covers. The variety and quality of the art Lupoff has assembled here is impressive, encompassing both subtly evocative masterpieces and the decidedly campy art adorning titles such as The Brass Cupcake and Horizontal Secretary. Perhaps the best thing about this book is that it provides the only look most of us will ever get of such rare and highly collectible first editions as James Hilton’s Lost Horizon, Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me, Philip José Farmer’s notorious science fiction porno novel Blown, and William Lee’s Junkie (William S. Burroughs’ first, pseudonymously published novel).

Both of these titles are a treasure, and unless you’ve got a great deal of time and money, this is your best opportunity to see all these increasingly scarce (and expensive) titles assembled in the same place. Either one would look great on your coffee table.

Published in Louisville Eccentric Observer