Signing Off on Stanley

The Groom Lay Dead, by George Harmon Coxe (Dell, 1951).
Cover illustration by Robert Stanley.

Amid a veritable landslide of book scans, the blog Killer Covers this morning brought to a conclusion its 10-day salute to American paperback artist Robert Stanley (1918-1996).

The site explains this venture was conceived a full year ago, but was ultimately brought to fruition in a mad rush at the end of March. It commenced with the roll-out of “[Randal S.] Brandt’s excellent summation of the artist’s career; slid from there into a series of posts showcasing the range of Stanley’s attractive and frequently innovative book-façade illustrations; and led to a selection of the painter’s Western-fiction fronts and a remembrance of his work for men’s adventure magazines.” Today’s final display of Stanley’s efforts should cement in readers’ minds the fact that Stanley created some of the most recognizable paperback fronts of the mid-20th century.

If you weren’t keeping up with Killer Covers’ series, you can go back now and discover what the fuss was all about. Simply click here.