Dell Mapbacks: Wonderfully Gimmicky Infographics

Whenever I find an old paperback at a tag sale, I look first for Dell’s distinctive eye-in-keyhole logo on the spine and then excitedly flip to the back cover. If there’s a stylized map illustrating the scene of the crime, I can be counted on to squeal. (Poker is not my game.) As a fan of film noir, I’d be attracted to the “Dell Mystery” paperbacks from the 1940s, even if they didn’t have the graphics. Rex Stout and P.G. Wodehouse are favorite authors, and Carter Dickson (pseudonym of John Dickson Carr) scripted classic episodes of the radio program Suspense. Nevertheless, maps, some with legends and some without, are icing on my cake. The cover paintings (many by Gerald Gregg) are striking, but stylistically don’t match the back-cover art by Ruth Belew. Distilling content and illustrating it into a single graphic with minimal copy is a valuable skill used by designers today when they’re creating icons, art for social media, and infographics. Although none of the books I’ve accumulated are in “collector” condition, they still give me pleasure. Will you start looking at the back covers of vintage paperbacks, too?

The Mountain Cat Murders, by Rex Stout, 1944, #28

See You at the Morgue, by Lawrence G. Blochman, 1941, #7. Front cover painting to illustrate the difference in style between front and back cover art.

See You at the Morgue, by Lawrence G. Blochman, 1941, #7

The Dead Can Tell, by Helen Reilly, 1940, #17

The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux, 1943, #24

The Unicorn Murders, by Carter Dickson, 1940, #16

The Private Practice of Michael Shayne, by Brett Halliday, 1940, #23

Leave it to Psmith, by P.G. Wodehouse, 1948, #357. Not a murder mystery, but my favorite Wodehouse novel, and a gift from my best friend.

#Mapbacks #DellMystery