Monday, June 10, 2024

Paperback 1088: Pale Horse, Pale Rider / Katherine Anne Porter (Signet CP137)

 Paperback 1088: Signet CP137 (1st Signet Classic, 1962)

Title: Pale Horse, Pale Rider
Author: Katherine Anne Porter
Cover artist: Milton Glaser

Condition: 7/10
Value: $5-10

[Autumn Leaves, Ithaca, NY, June 2024]


Best things about this cover: 
  • Sometimes the $1 shelves outside the bookstore cough up things of beauty
  • I bought this solely for the amazing Milton Glaser cover. I'd've bought it on his name alone (he's a distinctive and pioneering graphic designer); huge bonus that the cover image happens to be truly stunning
  • "We need to take some xrays" "Can I do it on horseback?" "Of course"
  • [Extreme Sugarloaf voice] "Green-haired lady, horse-ass lady..."


Best things about this back cover: 
  • I'm guessing this has nothing to do with the Clint Eastwood movie Pale Rider (1985). He was probably cool with the Pale Rider part, but the Pale Horse was a bridge too far. "I'll be damned if I'm gonna be upstaged by a damned horse. The horse is a regular horse color or I walk!"
  • Ooh, novellas (i.e. "short novels"). You don't these those much these days. Perfect size!
  • Noon wine? I'm more a 5 o'clock cocktail person. If you see me drinking noon wine, I am on Va-Ca-Tion or else I need help.
Page 123~

(from "Pale Horse, Pale Rider")
No, she did not find herself a pleasing sight, flushed and shiny, and even her hair felt as if it had decided to grow in the other direction.
Been there, sister.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and BlueSky]

2 comments:

DemetriosX said...

Yeah, this would make a great print to hang on the wall. A little Goth maybe, but that's not just commercial art.

Also, +1 for the Sugarloaf reference.

Anonymous said...

lol I left the word “hair” out of the p 123 quotation. Could not have dropped a more crucial word. Brilliant (fixed!) ~RP