Y'know, I'm not sure he was.
Following on from our look at Grindhouse film covers, I present to you the Pulp book covers of the 60s and 70s.
Pulp books, getting their name from the lower quality paper they were printed on, were a way to get all manner of cheap, seedy and smutty stories into the hands of the growing American middle-class. In much the same way that Grindhouse cinema relied heavily on the draw of seedy subjects to Americans living in the final throws of nationwide conservatism, pulp books would aim for the most outrageous and salacious subjects, hyped up by their cover design and OTT taglines and blurbs.
Good grief! Not... FEMINISTS!
Many of these books would employ well known illustrators or photographers to create the main pull for the book. Combines with often amazing typography and font selections, you can see why these books were so prevalent.
It’s a style that has largely been lost to photoshop and a medium that has now become nothing more than self published pdfs in the depths of Amazon. But luckily there are losers fans out there like me to hoard and drool over the designs of yesteryear.
Not to put too fine a point on it.
I’ve included some prime examples of these designs for you to peruse. Marvel at the typographic choices, the hand painted illustrations, the weird titles and the wacky colour choices.
If you enjoy the style and humour found in the covers of pulp books, I'd recommend giving Paperback Paradise a follow on Instagram. They parody the genre so so well.
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