Sunday, May 17, 2015

Gravetapping: Thrift Shop Book Covers: "Montana Bad Man"

Thrift Shop Book Covers: "Montana Bad Man"

Montana Bad Man was a paperback original published by 
Pocket Books’ imprint Perma Books in 1957, which is the 
very edition that caught my eye. The artwork is starkly 
creepy as it washes from the muted color of a face to 
an ink drawing of a crumpling gun hand. A splash of red 
bandanna crosses both elements, and adds an intriguing 
abstraction of violence. The artist: Jerry Allison.
































The opening paragraph:

“The big Schuttler freight wagon rocked along the 
ungraded road in the thickening gloom, creaking 
and rumbling ponderously behind the six-mule team.”

Roe Richmond was a pseudonym for Roaldus Frederick 
Richmond (1910 – 1986). He spent his life in New England; 
Vermont and New Hampshire, specifically. He started 
as a pulp writer—writing sports stories—and moved 
to paperbacks in the 1950s. His novels were primarily
 westerns. Contemporary Authors, in its brief biography of 
Mr Richmond, quotes the following—

“I have loved writing from boyhood. I cared for 
no other career once I learned I couldn’t make 
the Biggies in baseball, but most of my life I’ve had t
o work at other jobs in order to support myself and family.”   

This is the fifteenth in a series of posts featuring the 
cover art and miscellany of books I find at thrift 
stores and used bookshops. It is reserved for books 
I purchase as much for the cover art as the story or author.

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