Anyone who loves the art of the pulp covers should treat him- or herself with a copy of this book. It's a labor of love, and that's obvious on every page.
Frank M. Robinson and Lawrence Davidson have performed a tremendous job of introducing the pulp magazines to potential new fans and delighting existing pulp fans by presenting the marvelous art of the pulp cover in this coffee-table book. Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines earned the Pop Culture Book of the Year honor from the Independent Publishers Book Awards, and rightly so. This volume is big, bright, beautiful in a way that pulp fans and lovers of great illustration can really appreciate. Every page has a treasure for the eyes -- and many pages offer multiple delights. The resolution and colors on the pictured covers are excellent in almost every case.
And the text by Robinson and Davidson that accompanies the covers is both fun and informing. Between the covers are 204 pages of great pulp art organized to show the evolution of this particular illustrative form, from the first issue of The Argosy in October 1896 through the development of the hero and special-interest pulps.
I could rave about Pulp Culture for hundreds of more words, but the true joy of this book is surely in the eye of the beholder. Find a copy, buy a copy, borrow a copy. This is great candy for the mind's finer senses!
-submitted by Louis King Glass
Robinson and Davidson's Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines has already had two printings from Collectors Press, Inc. The graphic that kicks off this review is the cover art for the second printing. The cover art for the first edition -- a much more provocative sort of illustration -- leads off this paragraph. (You can click the graphic to view a larger pop-up version.)
You can learn more about Robinson and Davidson's Pulp Culture and purchase a copy of your very own from Amazon.com. To learn more, click here. (There's also a limited edition version of Pulp Culture -- 350 copies. You can also purchase it from Amazon.com by clicking here.)
Posted by ds at September 17, 2002 04:38 PM
