Books page 3

The evolution of Man Pinches Bottom from hardback comic novel (1962) to Corgi crime thriller (1964) to Savoy's 1980 edition. The Savoy cover by Harry Douthwaite reflects most accurately the book's tone and its subject matter; the tale of a children's comic artist who is mistaken for a child killer. The protagonist also works for a thinly-disguised Amalgamated Press, whose personnel and publishing ethos are gently satirised.

(Parts of Man Pinches Bottom also appeared in the Sexton Blake Library title Large Type Killer published in August 1960 >> .)

Penguin's editions of the Albert Argyle trilogy. Live Now, Pay Later is no. 1958 (1963), Something for Nothing no.2391 (1966 − 3 years after the hardback) and The Urban District Lover no.2651(1969 − 5 years after the hardback !) Covers by Martin Bassett, Christopher Radley and Alan Aldridge

Just what market did Sphere think they were selling these books into in 1972? Evidently a uniform edition (no swastika-related pun intended). Thanks to the two people who sent scans of One Last Mad Embrace. I used Roger Stanger's image.

<< "Genevieve Goes To Spain" seems to be the intended feel of this 1958 cover. (The car's name is actually Lucifer.)

Pinetop Jones rides again! A rare glimpse of Story's Western oeuvre, written under the nom de plume Bret Harding. This appears to be the 10th and last in the saga >> .

Dennis McLoughlin, a book illustrator of the 1940s and 50s renowned among collectors, had a long association with Boardman Books. He provides the cover illos to both the 1949 first hardback edition of Harry << See also >>

... and this 1955 paperback edition >> which lacks only the unfunny seaside postcard gag line... something involving the word stiff...? Still, it's the only edition with the sequel, The Trouble With Trudy.