Thursday 1 January 2015

Two of a Kind - A Hearse of Another Colour.

After the Christmas break, the Art of Diving is back to kick-off 2015 with three new posts.

Martini-drinking, poetry-quoting insurance investigator Milo March appeared in a series of books from 1952 - 1973. M.E. Chaber (from the Hebrew word mechaber, meaning author) was one of a number of pseudonyms used by Kendell Foster Crossen.

A Hearse of Another Colour was written in 1958 and the Corgi edition below was published in 1961. James E. McConnell (1903-1995) was one of the UK's leading artists in the field of paperback covers and was well known for his westerns. He was also a cover artist for the children's magazine Look and Learn.


When the book was published in paperback in the USA it came with a cover by the prolific Robert McGinnis (b1926). As ever, the Art of Diving does not recommend drinking and diving! And can also spell colour correctly! (Just kidding US readers).



Starting as an apprentice at Walt Disney Studios, McGinnis went on to study fine art at Ohio State University. Initially working in advertising, he began painting book covers in 1958. He has also painted a number of famous film posters starting with the iconic Breakfast at Tiffany's and including Barbarella and various James Bond films. He was the main title designer on the 1965 film The Hallelujah Trail.

You can find a nice selection of his work here and here.
 

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