Thursday, January 8, 2015

Paperback 849: Warrant for X / Philip MacDonald (Pocket Books 328)

Paperback 849: Pocket Books 328 (1st ptg, 1945)

Title: Warrant for X
Author: Philip MacDonald
Cover artist: Uncredited

Estimated value: $10-15

PB328

Best things about this cover:

  • "Light, damn you! Stupid modern, flame retardant bodies! I want s'mores now!"
  • By far the fanciest lamppost you're likely to see on any of my covers.
  • I genuinely love how the body spills out of frame. And the color scheme. And the "X".


PB328bc

Best things about this back cover:

  • "Kidnapping!" is pretty anti-climactic. "Cannibalism!" was about what I was expecting with that build-up.
  • They used to tell you how much it would cost to ship the book to a soldier overseas. Now it's just "Share it with anyone in a uniform, don't ask us what it costs, how should we know?" I hope people gave books to their diner waitresses.

Page 123~

He said: "I'm a busy man. Great matters hang upon my every word and action." He drank coffee. "I might justly be likened to the spider."

Though not lacking in confidence, Anthony was still working on his metaphor skills.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

1 comment:

Graham Powell said...

The contents of the book are as good as the cover. Macdonald was a very good writer.