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Sunday, December 2, 2018

Vintage Science Fiction Covers


One of my favorite things is book cover art- especially art that tells a story or has a sense of wonder. It's probably no surprise then that SF and fantasy covers are some of my favorites. I've decided to start a semi- regular feature where I showcase vintage or retro SF/F covers - some will be great, some will not be, but they'll all be retro! Do you like retro covers? Let me know which ones are your favorites- and enjoy! 

Star Born

This one for me is amazing just for the details as well as the otherwordly feel. I love all the windows that hint at multiple deck levels inside the ship. 
  
Related image



Planet Of No Return


This one has that otherwordly feel as well, with the moons in the background and the alien landscape. The retro weapon and tech are kinda fun too?   

Image result for planet of no return art

One Against Herculum 

Okay there's definitely a story here- dude is jumping for his life. I love the retro futuristic city and the guys inside the building chasing him.

Image result for one against herculum

Image result for one against herculum

Dune

This cover has always appealed to me. Something about two hooded figures in the desert, heading for a city or outpost amidst the wasteland.  



The Snows of Ganymede 

This looks ominous, and I love the evocative title as well as the snow they're apparently trudging through and the moon (or is it Jupiter?) in the background.   

The Snows of Ganymede

The Mysterious Planet

Something about this one- the frozen landscape, the planet in the background- it just has that sense of wonder.  

Mysterious Planet - Lester del Rey

Attack From Atlantis

I LOVE the domed city

Attack from Atlantis

Lord of Thunder

I have NO idea

Image result for lord of thunder book cover

Dome Around America

This one either 

Dome Around America

Daybreak 2250 AD

Daybreak 2250 A.D. by Andre Norton

War Of The Wing-Men

Ace Double D-303 War of the Wing-Men by Poul Anderson. Cover art by Ed Emshwiller 1958

The Chessmen Of Mars

A living chess match?  

The Chessmen of Mars (Barsoom, #5) 

20 comments:

  1. These book covers look so cool. It's always fun to see what older book covers looked like.

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  2. Vintage scifi covers are so interesting to me!

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  3. Such cool covers. I really like the one for Dune.

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  4. These are all really good! I think my favorite is One Against Herculum, because you can SEE that the guy is like "oh shit this is a bad scene" hahah. Also I cannot say Ganymede in my head unless it is in Gunny's accent. So that's a problem. And Planet Of No Return
    is just plain appealing- pretty, while being sci-fi.

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  5. That Star Born cover has to be one of my all time favorites. And of course the classic Dune covers. 😍

    Baz found a hardcover bind-up of the the first Dune trilogy when we were in B&N, but I waited for Cyber Monday and ordered it online with the discount and saved $9. Then I added a stocking stuffer for Baz and got free shipping. You can't beat that. There is no way my 80s paperbacks can ever be read again. I should buy a little display box for them. Ha ha. 📚

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  6. Great old covers, where did you source the original paintings from (just curious).

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  7. These vintage covers are the COOLEST!

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  8. I love old book covers. These Sci-Fi ones are super cool. Thanks for sharing them.

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  9. oh I'll go with Dune again :) There is something about it :)

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  10. Lord of Thunder and Daybreak are awesome. Vintage sci-fi can be so fun sometimes.

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  11. All of these are great, but that Dune cover sure attracts me the most!

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  12. These are so great! I especially love One Against Herculum and The Mysterious Planet. And who could resist War of the Wing-Men? Awesome post. :)

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  13. These posts always make me so sad that we have such generic covers these days. An I love when they're artwork rather than photos.

    Karen @ For What It's Worth

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  14. With some of these I'm already familiar with from your previous post, and even though I am not a huge fan of vintage covers, I agree with you that they are important. I, as a reader, notice them first.

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  15. I love vintage covers and you've found some amazing ones here.
    Lovely post.
    Lynn :D

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  16. These are so much fun and so detailed!

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  17. Fun idea for a post. I love that rocket ship. The dolphins (?) are pretty neat, too.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  18. Love it! I was just viewing vintage horror books from a booktuber. He mentioned that they were a bit silly. I have a feeling the same thing applies to these sci-fi reads. All I could think of when viewing was the original Star Trek series.

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  19. Retro covers do seem very hit or miss. That first one is great! I'm really confused about the green guy though because the detail in the shading of his muscles seems to suggest he's not wearing clothing, only boots lol.

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