Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
This striking and tense dramatic painting by Norman Saunders was created as cover art for the the October, 1950 issue of the pulp magazine 15 Story Detective; a Popular Publications title. The scene is a classic example of menace art – a heroic uniformed pretty blonde WAC soldier attempts to disarm a poison wielding femme fatale in an airplane hangar, unaware […]
Artist: Norman Saunders
Stanley Borack created this striking, evocative and finely rendered painting for the cover of the 1954 Dell Books paperback Silver Doll by Blair Treynor. A lurid pulp fiction page turner set in Sin City; the back cover slug advertises “the story of a man in the rackets; of the doll who wanted to keep him there, and the woman […]
Artist: Stanley Borack
This oil on board painting by Samson Pollen was created as cover art for the 1955 paperback Mambo To Murder, one half of the double sided Ace Double Novel D-109. Private eye Joe Moran, who had his license revoked for extracting “two fisted justice” is shown in a bleak urban hotel room lit by an outside […]
Artist: Samson Pollen
This woman in peril, menace themed proposed spicy pulp oil painting by the American illustrator William Soare is a lurid and provocative example of the damsel in distress imagery which proliferated newsstands in the 1930s. To the best of our research, this pulp cover illustration appears to have never been published, which sometimes happened when the fly-by-night titles that commissioned these spicy […]
Artist: William Soare
An action packed 1965 oil and tempura painting by Harry Schaare, that appeared as the cover of the Pyramid paperback Harlem Underground written by the author known as Ed Lacy. Lacy was a pseudonym for Leonard S. Zinberg who explored themes of racial prejudices and injustices throughout his fiction. In this work, Lee Hayes, a rookie policeman with youthful looks and […]
Artist: Harry Schaare
In this large, dramatic and darkly twisted oil on canvas, Fred Pfeiffer perfectly captures the menace and seduction associated with the post-hippie /post Manson family druggie scene, as depicted in counter-culture books and films which proliferated in the 1970s. The work appeared as the cover for the 1975 Bantam paperback The Fear Dealers, written by Jack W. Thomas, who specialized in these […]
Artist: Fred Pfeiffer
This rare surviving original oil on canvas by H.J. Ward was created for the September, 1938 edition of Romantic Western. Only in the upside down, just plain evil world of the pulps would such a lurid and unchivalrous ultra-violent depiction exist on the same playing field with the word romantic. Painted with enough action to capture […]
Artist: H.J. Ward
An action packed, rough and tumble, large format illustration by Bruce Minney for the Michael Brett Book Bonus story The High Rollers, which graced the pages of Stag Magazine in August of 1967. A Las Vegas-based tale that promises to deliver “… motel shackups… Las Vegas goon-killers… girls with a top price on their bodies!…” […]
Artist: Bruce Minney
On offer is a lurid and provocative paperback book cover painting by Paul Rader for The Path Between. Dating to 1961, this Midwood Books title was a defining example of the highly popular, lesbian pulp genre. The 1st edition played up the taboo subject with the slug line “The Bizarre World Of The Outcast Sex – Women Who Seek […]
Artist: Paul Rader
A genre defining girl in peril, menace themed pulp cover painting by the prolific and gifted American illustrator Peter Driben, this appeared as the cover for the December 1941 issue of Expose Detective True Crime Cases. Illustrating the interior story The Scarlet Sinner’s Final Exit, this lurid, large and rare surviving pulp cover painting has it all. Beautifully framed and in a fine state of conservation.
Artist: Peter Driben
