Harold McCauley created this tense, action-packed, gritty, and dramatic illustration for an-as-of-yet unidentified pulp title, circa 1940s.
Artist: Harold McCauley
Price: $1,650.00
Paperback & Pulp Art
Publishers of depression-era pulp magazines, post war men’s adventure and girlie magazines, and lurid paperback titles all used risqué, action-packed illustrations to make their offerings jump off the newsstands in the highly competitive market for readers attention. Cover art pushed the boundaries of what was allowable in a heavily-censored era, coming up with increasingly deviant and outlandish portrayals of sex, violence, and perilous escapes from danger. Today, these works—which provide an intriguing peek into the shadow side of 20th century American culture—are studied by historians and coveted by collectors.
Pulp and paperback artist Edward Mortiz created this femme fatale artwork as the cover of the 1961 Beacon Books title House Party by Dominique Napier.
Artist: Edward Moritz
Price: $4,500.00
An important and technically masterful large format cover oil painting by James Avati, for the 1950 Signet books release of Love Knows No Barriers written by Will Thomas
Artist: James Avati
Price: $15,000.00
This cover painting by Tom Beecham for True Strange magazine is comprised of a montage of Marilyn Monroe imagery.
Artist: Tom Beecham
Price: $6,500.00
A large format, lurid and iconic paperback cover painting by Verne Tossey that was used as the cover for the 1955 Ace paperback Left Bank Of Desire.
Artist: Verne Tossey
Price: $5,500.00
Joseph Pignone created this haunting and just mesmerizing gouache illustration painting for the July 1934 cover of Radio-Craft magazine. In this visually commanding original cover illustration from the machine age era of science and industry and modernist design aesthetics, a blind flapper girl with short bobbed hair holds a radio device that was created to guide the blind. Includes a printers proof tear sheet of the published magazine.
Artist: Joseph Pignone
Price: $4,500.00
Futuristic, detailed, and very precise, we believe this science-fiction inspired imagination of cosmos exploration to have been created for cover use in the British magazine Understanding Science, a Sampson Low Publication.
Artist: Unknown British Illustrator
Price: $1,500.00
Two squared jaw toughs slug it out as a pretty redhead damsel in distress looks on in this classic pulp cover painting for sale at Grapefruit Moon Gallery.
Artist: Melville A. Phillips
Price: $3,500.00
Harry Barton painted this steamy gouache illustration for use as the cover of 1952's Tender Hearted Harlot by Val Munroe. Published as a pulp digest, novella length story that takes place on the San Francisco waterfront and follows the proclivities of the young, bold and beautiful Ginny Parrish who... "is a gambler to the core - but the one thing she won't bet on is love..." Sounds like a real page turner! The painting is in pristine condition and has been nicely matted and framed under glass, a copy of the published digest is included in the sale.
Artist: Harry Barton
Price: $3,950.00
This deliriously posed nude original artwork is by Earle K. Bergey and was created for a 1933 cover of La Paree Stories.
Artist: Earle K. Bergey
Price: $17,500.00
