Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: book covers

"Gas on Stomach for 20 Years. Exercies to help constipation (page 8). What to eat (page 12)." Constipated? Bloated? Nauseated by ads that discuss such topics? Then this small 1930s advertising booklet is for you! It discusses the benefits of Adlerika, a patent medicine that contained Epson salts and other ingredients with laxative properties. Do you suffer from other afflictions that you'd rather not discuss in mixed company? Then you only have to flip this reversible booklet over to read about the vitality of Vinol (see the cover on the other side below).

"No Man Loves a Tired Nervous Woman! Nor does a woman love a pepless man. How to get friends (page 9). How to hold your husband's love (page 12)." Are you tired, nervous, or--ahem!--pepless? If so, then you would surely benefit from reading this small 1930s advertising booklet. It extols the virtues of Vinol, a patent medicine that contained ingredients such as cod liver oil and beef peptones, plus alcohol (as much as 15 percent). Do you suffer from other unpleasant afflictions instead? Then you merely need to flip over this reversible booklet (similar to an upside-down book or a tête-bêche binding) to read about the wonders of Adlerika (see the cover on the other side below).

Oh no, Harry has an atom bomb in his closet! That's what we're told on the back cover (see below) of The Smuggled Atom Bomb , a 1951 novel by Philip Wylie . The front cover (above) warns us about "an atomic plot against America" and poses the question, "Is the fate of America ticking away?"

The back cover (above) of The Smuggled Atom Bomb (see below for the front cover ). Here's the dramatic back-cover blurb that sets the scene: The fate of America is ticking away. Your friend Harry is above suspicion--you think. He's an everyday Joe--likable, respectable, good at bridge, average with the women. He wouldn't hurt a fly--you think. Yet in his room is a closet. On the closet door is a lock. You're a sucker for gadgets and so, just for a gag, you jimmy it. Inside is a box--heavy, lined with lead. And inside that-- IS AN ATOM BOMB!

Marie Schubert illustrated the Halloween-themed cover of Honey Bunch: Her First Costume Party , which was published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1943. The Stratemeyer Syndicate produced a number of Honey Bunch books along with other popular children's series, which included Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, and the Bobbsey Twins.

Advertisement on the back cover of this small children's tracing/coloring book: "The U.S. Fleet goes first through the Big Ditch. Red Rose of Lancaster brand coffee stands first in flavor with all coffee users. It's as 'Fragrant as Its Name.' Roasted, blended, and packed by M. S. Miller Co., Lancaster, Pa....1914, Kaufmann & Strauss Co." This booklet is an advertising giveaway that commemorated the opening of the Panama Canal (also referred to as the "Big Ditch") in 1914. See also Santa in an Airship High Over the Panama Canal :

"Skating Skills, featuring Secrets of Roller Skating, presented by Chicago Roller Skates. 10¢." The cover of a 1957 advertising comic book for roller skates.

Front cover of Space Ship To The Moon , a 1952 Rand McNally Elf Book, authored by Edwin Clark Reichert with illustrations by Arthur K Bilder.

The eye-catching cover of Escape the Night , a 1944 murder mystery by Mignon G. Eberhart .

"Behind the Flying Saucers. Frank Scully. The book everyone is talking about. Popular Library. Earle Bergey." Earle K. Bergey 's wonderfully frightening cover illustration of saucers in the sky and panic in the streets certainly helped to make this "the book everyone is talking about" when it appeared in 1950. But author Frank Scully 's account of flying saucer crashes and dead extraterrestrials in Arizona and New Mexico was probably enough to get people talking even without the cover. Scully wasn't the only one writing about such scary topics in 1950. Author Donald Keyhoe also argued that The Flying Saucers Are Real :

"The Flying Saucers Are Real. Donald Keyhoe. True story behind the strangest phenomena in history! Gold Medal Book. 107. Frank Tinsley '50." The Flying Saucers Are Real , written by Donald Keyhoe , first appeared in 1950. Frank Tinsley's dramatic cover illustration helped to convey the startling news that flying saucers (or UFOs aka unidentified flying objects) are actually extraterrestrial spacecraft. For another book from 1950 on the same topic, see Behind the Flying Saucers :

Cover of a small booklet containing information about the set of miniature presidential figures that was issued by toy manufacturer Louis Marx and Company in the 1950s and 1960s.

Cover of the booklet Men from the Moon in America: Did They Come in a Russian Satellite? , by the evangelist Walter V. Grant, first published sometime in the 1950s. For another out-of-this-world booklet from the 1950s, see We Met the Space People: The Story of the Mitchell Sisters :

For more information, see the full cover of this booklet:

Cover of a short booklet: We Met the Space People: The Story of the Mitchell Sisters , by Helen and Betty Mitchell. Clarksburg, W.Va.: Saucerian Publications. Mouse over the image above to see a close-up of part of the illustration . Two sisters encounter space aliens in a coffee shop in the 1950s! Read all about it at the Internet Archive: We Met The Space People (1959) .

"Transfer Picture Book. Made in Japan." Cover of a small booklet containing a few pages of decals or stamps. The creature on the cover is Mogera , a robot with laser beam eyes that first appeared in Earth Defense Force , a 1957 Japanese science fiction film that was released two years later in the United States as The Mysterians (yes, that's where the music group Question Mark and the Mysterians got its name). The Mysterian Space Station, a ringed planet, a Sputnik -like satellite, and a couple of rockets are visible in the sky above Mogera (did his laser beams miss that rocket or are they going right through it?).

The cover of this small die-cut cookbook, Old Pennsylvania Recipes , by Mrs. T. Roberts Appel and Mrs. Calvin N. Wenrich, published in 1933, shows an Amish girl standing in front of a gate.

"Herb Shriner's New Easy Method to Harmonica Playing. Herb Shriner, Hoosier Boy. 35¢." Cover of a 1955 instructional booklet by comedian Herb Shriner (1918-1970).