I was sorting through some old books when I found this wonderful little set of 1956 Ace duo paperbacks by Phillip K. Dick. It's hard to believe these cheap 35 cent novels are rare first editions.
The books are "duos" because they are two complete novels in one book. You flip them over and on the back there's an entirely different cover and a different novel. These cheap pulp paperbacks are so fragile I couldn't possibly read them, the binding would splinter into pieces if I just opened them up. But I do recall reading "The Man Who Japed" about 20 years ago when these books weren't so fragile, it's hilarious, and oh that cover art and tagline, "He undermined their world with mockery!"
The books are "duos" because they are two complete novels in one book. You flip them over and on the back there's an entirely different cover and a different novel. These cheap pulp paperbacks are so fragile I couldn't possibly read them, the binding would splinter into pieces if I just opened them up. But I do recall reading "The Man Who Japed" about 20 years ago when these books weren't so fragile, it's hilarious, and oh that cover art and tagline, "He undermined their world with mockery!"
HE WAS THE LAST REBEL ON EARTH — AND HE DIDN'T KNOW IT! is the tagline on my '56 The man who japed. Readable condition, but your cover's much better.
[That's an even better tagline. And what a great story from PKD's early pulp era. I'd like to read these stories again, but I'll have to find a modern edition that won't fall to pieces. --Charles]
Here is a neat blog I chanced on recently.
Part of the charm is that he doesn't try to find the most outrageous covers - it's more about stumbling on one and developing the commentary. I find it entertaining in small doses.
“Judge A Book By It’s Cover”
The author has a second blog dedicated to the daily New York Times crossword puzzle. That's fun too. It probably gets several thousand times as much traffic as the "book cover" blog.
[I am often harsh on comments that contain links, I assume they are attempts to drum up hits for a website, so I often reject them. But I decided to check out the link, and I was instantly converted, after I saw the entry about one of my favorite SF novels, "The Adolescence of P-1." How could anyone fail to love a book with an Altair 8800 computer on the cover? --Charles]