Customer Reviews

The Great American Paperback : An Illustrated Tribute to Legends of the Book

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I received "The Great American Paperback" as a Christmas gift and hardly a week goes by that I don't dip into it. It's an overwhelmingly great book about a fascinating era of American publishing. Lupoff covers artists and writers well-known and unknown. There's a surprise on every page and visual treasure upon treasure. The text is equally interesting as Lupoff tells the stories behind the publishers, but it's clearly the book covers themselves that take center stage here. The layout (which sometimes presents covers slightly overlapping other covers) might have been improved, but overall the images are bright, sharp and big. Very few thumbnail views here. I for one hope we'll one day get to see a "Great American Paperback Volume 2" because as good as this one is, there's enough stuff out there to easily fill a second volume. Buy this book without reservation. If you have any love of Americana in general and pulp/paperbacks in particular, you'll fall in love with this book.

We've been waiting for this book from writer and fan Dick Lupoff since we first heard of it. The main complaint we have is "it's not big enough" but then, readers would need a forklift to look at it.
This is a major undertaking; the Collectors Press folks have once again done a fine job here. The colors and layout work very well. I can't imagine how Lupoff or anyone could have chosen from all the material available. With the information offered by someone who clearly appreciates the genres, who knows his stuff and wants to share it with others, this is a book to be savored and enjoyed over and over. We have Frank Robinson's gorgeous s.f. appreciation by this same company and it's a favorite in our house. We're fans of mystery and s.f., and while we recognized many of the covers show in this book, we loved learning about the others. This book is a must for folks who appreciate and love books, especially paperbacks with their rich and fascinating history.

Great American Paperback covers the history and rise of pulp fiction, from its experimental appearance in 1938 to the growth of an industry which reached its heyday from the 1940s-1960s. Beautiful covers from all genres of pulp paperbacks are reproduced in full color in a title which presents the history and archives of the best of these paperbacks. An outstanding, beautiful coverage in a keepsake collector's edition.

This is an awesome book that combines the scholarship of essential but out-of-print references such as Kenneth Davis' "Two-Bit Culture" and Piet Schreuders' "Paperbacks, U.S.A." with the coffee-table art book quality of Lee Server's "Over My Dead Body." In the latter category especially, "The Great American Paperback" reigns supreme. No other book on vintage paperbacks comes close to this level of production values; the nearest comparisons in quality would be books like Frank Robinson's "Science Fiction of the 20th Century" or Vincent Di Fate's "Infinite Worlds."

A few minor quibbles: Sometimes the saturated colors of the backgrounds interfere with the readability of the text; groupings of cover art within sections should have been more carefully thought out; the index is weak. But these complaints are miniscule indeed compared to the overall value. Collectors Press has produced a 320-page, full color, oversized feast of great paperback art from the modest beginnings in the 1930s through the sleaze and cheese of the mid-1960s. Just about all of the best vintage paperback artists are represented.

Author Richard Lupoff draws upon the expertise of well-known luminaries such as Gary Lovisi, Rose Idlet, Bill Pronzini, Charles Brown and others. He also brings into play his considerable personal history of working with some of the top publishers in the field, including Ian Ballantine and Donald Wollheim. Lupoff reaches back to the pre-Pocket Books beginnings of paperback publishing, tracing the history of the industry through its trends, its artists, and its major houses. Avon, Dell, Bantam, Gold Medal, Popular Library, Ballantine, and Ace all merit special sections.

"The Great American Paperback" is a must-buy for any serious paperback collector or student of popular culture. The rarity of many of the paperbacks pictured here guarantee that, in most cases, you'll never see the real thing and certainly not in the condition pictured. Well worth the price of admission!

This wonderfully illustrated, beautifully designed massive hardback is a excellent resource for anyone interested in the history of the mass market paperback in America. Mr. Lupoff knows his stuff! He has written a great book with many details about cover artists, the importance of cover art on books, different publishing companies, the various genres, and the writers and designers involved, as well as a history of how mass market paperbacks got started, etc.. It is interesting for anyone who is interested in this particulair form of popular culture. The book has tons of awesome photos of some of the best and most coveted vintage paperbacks in existence. The lurid cover artwork alone in this book provides plenty of eye candy. With over 600 great covers shown, this book is a must have for anyone interested in art! To a vintage paperback dealer/collector, like myself, this book is a godsend. I think it is the best illustrated book on the market on mass market paperbacks. A beautiful book on books that any bibliophile will appreciate!

One big, big book and as beautiful an edition as possible, here are covers from countless paperbacks: an illustrator's dream reference book and for collectors of old paperbacks, a goldmine of great junk. OK, so there ARE features by noted writers: I loved the detective covers and the trash!
These were the days of GREAT design, and you don't have to be a snooty art director to love this stuff.
Very, very cool!!!

This is a seminal book about paperbacks--one that will never be equaled. A must for collectors; in fact, a must for anyone interested in popular culture and American publishing. Considering the size of the book, the quality of the reproductions, and the knowledge shown by its author/editor Richard A. Lupoff, this book is one terrific bargain. It took me back to when I was a kid and had graduated from the school library to the wire racks of paperbacks at the local drugstore. The choice of books was a trip down Memory Lane, and one for which I'm grateful to Mr. Lupoff. (Others may argue with the choice of images but then they're free to publish their own book.) All the books are here--from the important and the significant down to the merely entertaining and sometimes unabashedly trashy. But it's amazing how with the passage of time, trash has morphed into treasure. The choice of images is terrific, their presentation and reproduction impeccable. Not to be overlooked is the insightful and entertaining commentary by the author--one who was on the scene and personally contributed to one of the greatest fields of popular entertainment in America.

Yes,"PAPERBACKS,U.S.A.,A Graphic History,1939-1959"(Blue Dolphin Enterprises,Inc.San Diego,CA,1981)by Piet Schreuders(not Schruders),remains the best book on american paperbacks from the 'Golden Age'(published between 1939 and the early 1960's) .But,as a modest collector myself of these precious 'little books',I'm a fan of this work,penned by Richard A. Lupoff who is a comics connoisseur, a good short story writer,an interesting science fiction novelist and an outstanding non-fiction writer(author,for instance, of "EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS:MASTER OF ADVENTURE" an excellent biography of the creator of Tarzan).
"THE GREAT AMERICAN PAPERBACK" as all the other titles published by Collectors Press is a "coffee&table book",with the advantages and disadvantages of its kind.I'm really not interested to list its disavantages.For me,Lupoff wrote an useful book,one of the best works about paperbacks,second only to Schreuders' "PAPERBACKS U.S.A." The selection of titles reproduced is almost perfect.The history of the american paperback is written with clarity,the chapters(covering the publishing houses) include all genera of paperbacks,the images(covers)are selected with generosity and the captions are opportune.
Lupoff clearly knows the important paperback cover artists(almost all of them are represented).So,we have a large gallery of amazingly attractive cover paintings reproduced.Created by unique artists like LEO MANSO,STANLEY MELTZOFF,JAMES AVATI,ROBERT SCHULZ,STANLEY ZUCKERBERG,ROBERT JONAS,JAMES BAMA,ANN CANTOR,H.LAWRENCE HOFFMAN,EARLE K. BERGEY,RUDOLPH BELARSKI,GERALD GREGG,ROBERT STANLEY,RICHARD POWERS,NORMAN SAUNDERS,FRANK FRAZETTA,BARYE PHILLIPS,ED EMSH,ROBERT MAGUIRE and GEORGE SALTER.
I highly recommend this very good book.

Love this book. Informative and full of wonderful paperback art-eye candy. A must have for any lover of old 20th Century paperback and their art.

Note: I made some immature person angry by giving negative reviews to books attempting to "prove the Book of Mormon." Rather than answer my criticisms, this person, who feels threatened by the facts, gives my reviews negative votes. Oh, well.

Your helpful votes are appreciated, and please remember that a short review (or recommendation) can still be good if it leads you to a good book.

I've enjoyed thumbing through this book many times. It has a bunch of scantily clad females (racy in the old days, but quaint today), and they are either in crimes stories or characters in science-fiction stories.

I'll just list some great covers:
Page 26: "Dracula"--this cover shows Dracula creeping up to a sleeping blond woman--amusing.
Page 113: "Revolt of the Triffids" has a city scene with a strange green plant attacking a woman, whose blouse revealing.
Page 208: "Beyond the Farthest Star." This cover by an Edgar Rice Burroughs story shows a cat-like creature looking through an opening in a jungle at some astronauts who have crashed in their strange airplane.
Page 135: This cover is over the top. It shows a green-faced man smoking a "Marihuana" cigarette. Under the cigarette is a woman lying down in her purple dress. "A cheap and evil girl sets a hopped-up killer against a city."

Oh, for the good-old days of paperback covers!
I would recommend buying a used copy. You'll enjoy it.