Book Covers

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  • The Red KindThe Red Kind EnglandPosts: 3,330MI6 Agent

    I had the Three Investigators story tapes as a child and loved them. Very well produced and atmospheric. Still not sure of Hitchcock's involvement. Probably as suggested, just licenced his name. From memory there was an introduction from Hitchcock at the start of each story on the cassette, much like his 'Presents' TV series, but obviously just a voice actor and not the great man himself, given they were recorded in 1984.


    "Any of the opposition around..?"
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    @The Red Kind I don’t remember seeing those story tapes before, thanks for posting!

    John Creasey wrote 600+ books in his time (using a couple of dozen pen names as well as his own) and the Inspector West series was popular…



    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,542MI6 Agent

    In my defence, I have a pretty fair selection of low brow fiction myself including these delightful babies:


    and my personal bizarre favourite, chiefly because the cover has absolutely nothing - I mean really nothing - to do with the story:


  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    Those are all new to me, and as I’ve said before, I’m not keen on photo covers, I would not have put these on my shelves, not because of the content, but because the covers would not sell the book. Is that Jimmy Sangster of Hammer script fame?

    One of the most popular series of books in the kids section was Goosebumps by R L Stine. I have to say that the covers were excellent…



    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 4,064MI6 Agent

    nice sunset photo @chrisno1 !


    some of those GooseBumps covers scare me and I'm a grownup! Dont Go to Sleep and Stay Out of the Basement especially evoke the phobias I had as a wee lad. Funny children are so attracted to the very things they find scary.

  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,542MI6 Agent

    It is indeed Jimmy Sangster of Hammer Productions. He wrote two thrillers featuring John Smith, Private I and Foreign Exchange. Both were adapted into television movies by Thames TV. I can't remember the actor off the cuff, but Jill St John played his girlfriend. I think the first was retitled The Spy Killer. I saw them some years ago and they were okay without being anything brilliant. Sangster also wrote the Katy Touchfeatehr series. All the novels are a well written and I enjoyed them.

  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    Ive never heard of these @chrisno1 so thanks for the information, strange how none of them ever came my way, but then again, that must apply to hundreds of thousands of books.

    The legend of the Wandering Jew has fascinated me since I read this…


    It’s the story of the man who taunted Christ on his way to the crucifixion and who was cursed to walk the Earth until the Second Coming. The character appears, or is mentioned, in many other books and is also a central character in the movie The Seventh Sign, with Demi Moore.

    A popular pulp series called Casca followed, with two of the books being withdrawn over plagiarism allegations.



    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    The TV series Dallas was huge in the 80’s and a tie-in series old very well throughout that decade. There were also a couple of UK annuals…



    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    Book series were the mainstay of my business, once someone was hooked on a series they wanted every single one. The higher numbers were always the harder to obtain as less were printed (and henceforth more expensive). Lots of series were from successful TV shows but some surprisingly failed at the first hurdle and the series ended at #1. As far as I know all the following only had one book published…



    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,542MI6 Agent

    Wow, The Chinese Detective, a great show, David Yip as a sensitive cop in a prejudiced police force, very of its time and very good.

    I've searched for a copy of The Protectors paperback for years. Never found one. [I expect some bright spark will track it down now and post me a link...]

  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    @chrisno1 I sold a few copies of The Protecters over the years, and there is one for sale on abebooks (smart a* that I am) 😂 £20 which is about right.

    Batman in 1966 was huge, the TV seres was at it’s height in popularity and the movie was coining it in at the cinemas. Four Square released 3 paperbacks which reprinted comic strips and two novels, one of the movie adaption. They were very sought after during my time selling books, gaining high prices, although these dropped with advent of the internet.



    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    The World Adventure Library published some popular books with interesting covers. They were text stories with illustrations.



    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • Trigger_MortisTrigger_Mortis Posts: 100MI6 Agent

    Just when you thought nothing could get more manly than Christopher Lee.



  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    I hadn’t seen that one before @Trigger_Mortis and actually had to check if it wasn’t a photoshopped cover, and it isn’t!!

    Secret agent Mark Hood tried to out-Bond Bond in 14 adventures. The Swords Of Genghis Khan has a cover that the movie Octopussy would copy.



    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • Trigger_MortisTrigger_Mortis Posts: 100MI6 Agent

    @CoolHandBond You can buy a copy on eBay, should you feel inclined - but the quality of the item is shabby, sadly.

    But, I think the book is old enough to have been a new release when I grandfather was in his youth while my parents weren't even born.

  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    Many authors publish under pen names as well as their own, and back in the day they would write for book series and do movie/tv tie-ins as well to boost their income. Manning Lee Stokes was one of those authors and his books have some nice covers…

    Under his own name…



    Book series…



    And pen names…


    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    It’s been a while since I’ve outdone some of the glorious Pan paperback covers, so here is a random bunch…and yes…the last one is an actual publication not a fake!




    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,445MI6 Agent

    Not seen this one before, has a ring of 'Le Big Mac' described in Pulp Fiction.

    Nothing distinguished about it, don't now why they didn't go with the usual movie tie-in design. It's on eBay, anyway, at the moment, if anyone wants to brush up on their French.

    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    Just a random selection of covers…The Girl In 304 is an e-book but the cover is evocatively of the period.



    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,614Chief of Staff

    Glad to see these back, thanks CHB! 👍

  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    A few more…


    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,542MI6 Agent

    Excellent covers. William Ard - what a name!

  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    It’s his real name, too!! He also wrote under a handful of other names.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    Any British person would have almost certainly received a UK Annual at some point during childhood as a Christmas present. These hardback books were published in the autumn of each year and were a staple present for grandparents and uncles and aunts to gift to the younger members of the family. The subjects were wide, most popular were the annuals of the weekly comics such as The Beano, then there were annuals based on television series or movies, and then annuals for pop stars and sport - usually football. I’ve posted a few annuals below from the comics of the day - how many did you get?


    Collecting annuals has become big business, many early Beano and Dandy annuals have sold for thousands of pounds each - time to check those attics!!!

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 22,200MI6 Agent

    I like this cover of Gardner's "Icebreaker". It's Swedish and the title is "ice cold for 007"



    I think the Norwegian cover is more generic, but at least the title is changed to "The death machine".




  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,013MI6 Agent

    A quick roundup of some interesting covers I’ve seen over the past few weeks.


    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,542MI6 Agent

    Nice to see this thread back. Those Cherry Delight covers are, hmm, a delight

    The whole series can get viewed here:

    https://www.gardnerfrancisfoxlibrary.com/cherry-delight-novels-read-entire-stories-library

  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 22,200MI6 Agent

    "Menace of the saucers" is a memorable title. 😀

  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,832MI6 Agent
    edited March 2023

    Sounds like what happens when you give the wife bad news.

    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,903Chief of Staff

    "Tong in Cheek." A pun so bad it's great.

    Vox clamantis in deserto
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