Let's face it, many of us love vintage mystery covers. Can't get enough of them, in fact. I especially like running across yet another Agatha Christie title in vintage form. I just love the occasionally preposterous artwork and design. Don't you?
This is my entry in the monthly Agatha Christie Carnival hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise.
Yvette, your book cover round-ups are always a delight to look at, and your current Agatha Christie cover collection is no exception. They're such fun to look at, I wish I could make wallpaper out of them, but that would require me to tear off the covers, and I'd never forgive myself for mutilating a book, especially a vintage paperback! :-) I especially enjoy the Christie covers that look more like hard-boiled detective thrillers; I wonder what good Dame Agatha thought of those? :-) Fun post!
ReplyDeleteThe book covers are so much fun. A few are scary: the Hickery-Dickery Dock, and The Regatta.
ReplyDeleteI would imagine that artists were aiming for a bit of drama in these covers.
Even a bit of this would add some spice to today's covers. How could we not pick them up in the bookstores?
The Regatta is so much like pulp art. Love it.
ReplyDeleteWe have nearly all these titles but the only book with these amazing vintage covers in our collection is THE HOUND OF DEATH. The fact that there are so many covers to AG's books shows just how popular she was, and still is. Thanks for sharing these, Yvette. Do you hold on to books with vintage covers?
ReplyDeleteSome really interesting coves, even the one of a book I didn't care all that much for (The Big Four)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Dorian: You will think me a philistine, but most of my old Agatha Christie paperbacks were literally falling apart so I saved the covers and - gasp! - threw away the yellowed and crumbling insides.
ReplyDeleteI plan on constructing and framing a collage of the covers at some point.
P.S. My copy of SECRET OF CHIMNEYS is held together by a rubber band.
Kathy: You'd think they'd learn from the past. But maybe it's just me being old. :)
ReplyDeleteNeer: Oh wait until you see my post of pulp detective fiction covers. I love those pulp covers even if I never read the inside of the mags. :)
ReplyDeletePrashant: If I come across a vintage cover at a garage sale or whatnot, I grab onto it. But as I told Dorian, most of my old copies of Christie are falling apart, so I've done major surgery.
ReplyDeleteA lot of my Christies are contained in anthologies now. They're easier to stack on my bookshelves.
Ryan: That BIG FOUR cover knocked me out! :)
ReplyDeleteThat is not one of Chrisitie's best, for sure. It's more like four short stories. But we do get to meet (briefly) Hercule Poirot's 'brother' Achille. I've always loved the French version of Achilles.
Yvette, I'm in no position to label you a "Philistine" for discarding beloved old books and keeping the covers when the pages inside were disintegrating, as that's happened to me many times as well, alas! I'm as careful as possible when reading vintage paperbacks, but sometimes the ravages of time get the better of us; I've got a few vintage paperbacks held together by rubber bands or Ziploc bags myself. This is why, for example, I've typed up some of my favorite pieces from my ancient 1947 Pocket Book edition of Robert Benchley's MY TEN YEARS IN A QUANDARY AND HOW THEY GREW, in case some hard-hearted publisher decides they're not worth reissuing! Ah, the life of us dedicated readers! :-)
ReplyDeleteTime is the enemy of paper. Especially the sort of cheap paper used in paperbacks. But like you, I persevere, Dorian. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking you can probably find Benchley on e-books...Maybe? But I understand your zeal, kiddo.
We bookys are a strange lot. Ha!
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ReplyDeleteWeird covers these editions had. Some of these covers have nothing to do with the original story (i.e. the Cat among the Pigeons cover), some reveal a little too much about the plot and some were pretty scary like the The Hound of Death cover.
ReplyDeletewillow: Not so weird, really. Just in keeping with the times they were created in, I think.
ReplyDeleteActually, CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS has that scene in the very beginning when a prince and his pal, the pilot, are runnning away as a revolution breaks out in the country. They fly out and the plane crashes. But earlier while they had been talking about what to do with some jewels, a woman in the next room had overheard their chatter.
I'm assuming the cover os this particular edition is a take on that episode.
I agree that the skull cover is a bit gruesome. :)
willow: Not so weird, really. Just in keeping with the times they were created in, I think.
ReplyDeleteActually, CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS has that scene in the very beginning when a prince and his pal, the pilot, are runnning away as a revolution breaks out in the country. They fly out and the plane crashes. But earlier while they had been talking about what to do with some jewels, a woman in the next room had overheard their chatter.
I'm assuming the cover os this particular edition is a take on that episode.
I agree that the skull cover is a bit gruesome. :)