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]

Paperbacks 1047, 1048, and 1049: A Doc Savage trio (Bantam, 1969 (2) and 1976 (1))

Paperbacks 1047-49: Doc Savage 35, 38, and 83 (1969, 1969, 1976)

Titles: The Squeaking Goblin, Red Snow, The Red Terrors
Author: Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent, Lester Dent, Harold A. Davis)
Cover artists: James Bama, James Bama, Boris Vallejo

Condition: 7/10
Estimated value: $20 for the lot

[Gift to the collection from a Western NY Reader]

Best things about this cover:

• "It ain't me what's squeakin', it's me musket!" squeaked Goblin Davy Crockett

Best thing about this cover:

• It's like if Hawkman and Hulk had a pin-headed monster baby

Best thing about this cover:

• Doc Savage tried to start his life over as a crossing guard at Mystical Orb High School for Avian Cosplay, but it didn't take

Page 123~

One of the hired men pointed. "Red was a-meanderin' over thot way, last I seed a' him."

These books are all of astonishingly uniform length (~130pp.) and not at all badly written (at least on a basic grammatical level). They were originally published in the Doc Savage pulp magazine (in the '30s) and then were reprinted by Bantam roughly 30-40 years later, which puts them just before and toward the tail end of / just after the main time frame of my paperback collection (1939-69). Lester Dent (how wrote a ton of the "Kenneth Robeson" Doc Savage stories) was an accomplished crime fiction writer from the heydey of hardboild crime fiction. I covered one of his books back at Paperback 741.

Anyway, thanks to the lovely human who sent me these books in the mail today—individually wrapped! So thoughtful.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

Paperback 827: It Ain't Hay / David Dodge (Dell 380)

Paperback 827: Dell 380 (2nd ptg, 1949) (reprints Dell 270)

Title: It Ain't Hay
Author: David Dodge
Cover artist: [Gerald Gregg]

Estimated value: $30


Best things about this cover:

• Kind of a big deal.
• Not just the best Gerald Gregg cover, but one of the best covers of all time.
• The book that answers the question: why was Dartmouth always coming in last in crew?
• Also the book that answers the question: is it hay?
• It's hard out there for a ferryman. So Charon devised himself a backrest.
• The ferry is also a coffin that is at least partially powered by weed that creates smoke art of hot naked ladies. I dare you to find a weak link in this cover.

Best things about this back cover:

• Of course it's San Francisco. Would've been a real surprise to turn this book over and find a map of downtown Orem.
• "Mexican Waters" … which are somehow on land.
• This map is super awkward. Why is the "California Coastline" part even here? Do we really need all that coastline just to have a tiny number pointing to mysterious "Mexican Waters?" It's like the map designer was, I don't know, high or something.

Page 123~

The main building, perched at the tip of the spit, was surmounted by a huge painted sign: THE BREAKERS—Coca Cola, Beer, Mixed Drinks, Sandwiches, Chili Beans, Sea Food Dinners—DANCING—Cottages For Rent—Souvenirs—Fishing Tackle—SWIMMING.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

57 Books from the University Book Sale: Book 42

Title: Road to Folly (Popular Library 60-2158, 1st thus, [1967])
Author: Leslie Ford
Cover artist: uncredited

Yours for: $3

• Least sexy threesome of all time
• "Me and my pet hourglass and this photo of my mom gotta stay under this net on account of the tse-tses..."
• "Good telling!" — "I say, old chap, good telling, pip pip etc."

• Pardon my French, but Jennifer Reid sounds like a fucking idiot who deserves whatever she gets.

Page 123~

"She's better this morning, thanks, Boston. How are you?"
"Po'ly, miss, thank you. You lookin' mighty peaked yo'self, Miss Jenny."

Yeah, I don't want to read this.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]