The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction – Fifth Series, Edited by Anthony Boucher – 1954 (1955, 1956) [Artist unknown!] [Updated post…]

I purchased this one – in rather bedraggled shape – some time (a few decades) ago, at a small-town flea market, probably my first acquisition in my collection of Ace’s The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction series.  In a perhaps symbolic way, it featured in the creation of this – one-of-my-first- blog posts, which was created in June of 2017, a near-infinity ago in Internet terms.  

I’ve now acquired a copy in vastly better condition than my original, which displays the cover art to much better and intact effect than my “original”, which is visible at the very “bottom” of this post.  Interestingly, the artist is unknown: The cover illustration bears neither signature nor initials, and the Internet Speculative Fiction Database is absent of information about the man’s (or woman’s) identity.  While the composition has elements of the works of both Richard Powers and Edmund Emshwiller, the latter having created five mid-50s covers for this Ace series, it’s not actually the work of either.  

On a more important level, what about the book’s content?

Though I have read every story in this anthology, the writings that specifically stand out in memory are those by Zenna Henderson (a wonderfully skilled writer; I’ve never read a story by her that I’ve not appreciated and been moved by), Shirley Jackson (author of “The Lottery” … had to read that one as a freshman in college, though I’d read it previously!), and inevitably, Walter M. Miller, Jr., for “A Canticle for Leibowitz”.

So, enjoy this (qualifiedly) “new arrival”!

 So, what’s in the book?

You’re Another, by Damon Knight (June, 1955)

The Earth of Majesty, by Arthur C. Clarke (July, 1955)

Birds Can’t Count, by Mildred Clingerman (February, 1955)

The Golem, by Avram Davidson (March, 1955)

Pottage, by Zenna Henderson (September, 1955)

The Vanishing American, by Charles Beaumont (August, 1955)

Created He Them, by Alison Eleanor Jones (June, 1955)

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Four Vignettes

Too Far, by Frederic Brown (September, 1955)

A Matter of Energy, by James Blish (…from this volume…)

Nelithu, by Anthony Boucher (August, 1955)

Dreamworld, by Isaac Asimov (November, 1955)

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One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts, by Shirley Jackson (January, 1955)

The Short Ones, by Raymond E. Banks (March, 1955)

The Last Prophet, by Mildred Clingerman (August, 1955)

Botany Bay, by P.M. Hubbard (February, 1955)

A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (April, 1955)

Lament by a Maker, by L. Sprague de Camp (January, 1955)

Pattern For Survival, by Richard Matheson (May, 1955)

The Singing Bell, by Isaac Asimov (January, 1955)

The Last Word, by Chad Oliver and Charles Beaumont (April, 1955)

Simple, simple rear cover…

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My “original” of 2017…

A. Reference.

The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction, Fifth Series, at…

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

126 6/19/17

Marks of the Trade: Pocket Books – A Pocketful ‘o Literature

It’s time for more trademarks!

Now that I’ve presented the logos of publishers Alfred A. Knopf (bounding borzois), Bantam Books (roosters), and, Little, Brown (a stately and silent column), here are more literary emblems inspired by the animal kingdom.  Both of Pocket Books, they are Gertrude the Kangaroo, and, the anonymous cardinal of the company’s Cardinal Editions.  Though the “sample” here is small, what it does reveal is the consistency in design of the Cardinal Editions emblem through the 1950s, as opposed to the charming way that Gertrude’s appearance has changed before and through that decade.  Note especially how the 1946 imprint of The Sea Wolf depicts Gertrude’s joey holding a book before her, while other depictions of her reveal that her pouch has another use: a “built in” book bag!

The Boyd is the Woyd

The Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy – June, 1952 (November, 1939) ((1878))

The Cruel Sea, by Nicholas J.T. Monsarrat – 1953

Yorktown, by Burke Davis – January, 1954 (October, 1952)

Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C. Douglas – November, 1962 (1929)

A Boyd on the Spine

The Cruel Sea, by Nicholas J.T. Monsarrat – 1953

Contemplative Kangaroo

Very studious:  Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift – March, 1940 (December, 1939)

“Share this book with someone in uniform”

The Sea Wolf, by Jack London – 1946 (1904)

The Night Life of The Gods, by Thorne Smith – January, 1948 (March, 1931)

Mister Roberts, by Thomas Heggen – 1958

Rambling Roo

Gertrude is “spectacular”!

Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift – March, 1940 (December, 1939) ((1726))

The Sea Wolf, by Jack London – 1946 (1904)

Red and blue books for you: Two variations on a colorful them of Gertrude.

Perry Mason Solves The Case of the Lucky Legs, by Erle Stanley Gardner – 1951 (1934)

Mister Roberts, by Thomas Heggen – 1958

Marsupials Marching en Masse (Oh my!)

Talk about branding!

The Pocket Book of O. Henry, edited by Harry Hansen – 1948

(Sort of frontispiece one…)

(…sort of frontispiece two.)