Paperback 1085: Pocket Books 50078 (6th ptg, 1964)
Title: Frenchman's Creek
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Cover artist: [Mort Engle?] [Uncredited]
Condition: 7/10
Value: $5
[Riverow Books, Owego, NY, May 2024]
- When they're underpaying you for your artwork and you're like, "Fuck it, I'm making this one 65% white bedsheet. You want naked ladies and piratical finery, Pay Me!"
- Even the cover copy writer seems to be quiet-quitting: "Let's see. How 'bout: 'This is a novel about this kind of person and that kind of person'? ... yeah, that's good, lunchtime."
- What the hell is on her head. He's got the classic pirate kerchief, but she ... I don't know what she has. Some kind of feathered headdress. It's like she's on a Vegas showgirl on a quick break. "Ma chérie, can't you take off this silly h—" "Can it, Pierre, I've only got 15 minutes, let's do this!"
- I want this cover to be by Mort Engle, only because I can see a signature on the far left side, on the edge of the bed, that kinda looks like "Engle." It's not exactly his style, but it is his general era. Most of his stuff doesn't have a visible signature, though, so ... maybe not. [UPDATE: it’s probably the work of artist James Neil Boyle. (signatures match)]
Best things about this back cover:
- LOL "fat and stupid husband," yes, do not mince words, drag him!
- Mmm, lonely and mysterious Cornwall estate. Peak Gothic locale.
- Whoa, she actually becomes a pirate! Livin' outside the "bounds of convention and propriety!" Atta girl!
Page 123~
The foolish wager of the wig came to her mind, and she realized then that the Frenchman must have known that Godolphin would be staying with Philip Rashleigh in Fowey that night, and that side by side with the capture of the ship he had planned the seizing of Godolphin's wig.
OK, first of all, that "Godolphin" / "Philip Rashleigh" / "Fowey" trifecta had me howling with fanciful historical-romance name overload, and second of all, how is this novel not called The Seizing of Godolphin's Wig. Something should be called The Seizing of Godolphin's Wig. It's a Restoration-era sex farce at the very least.
~RP
4 comments:
The Seizing of Godolphin's Wig - my wife would read that.
The signature looks like Boyle and the style could be James Neil Boyle.
https://www.invaluable.com/artist/boyle-neil-zfsmttmd8r/sold-at-auction-prices/?page=2
George
I think that's just her hairdo on her head. It's like the artist made her a brunette, but then somebody pointed out she's blonde, so he slapped a couple of yellow blobs up there. That or there's that Randy Newman song that was a hit for Joe Cocker: You Can Leave Your Hat On.
Wow nice catch. The signatures are identical. ~RP
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