Saturday, February 20, 2010

Picador Books – Part 1

In 1972 I was working in a bookshop in Melbourne when the first books in Picador were issued. Included among those first published was Heroes & Villains by Angela Carter, which was indeed my first introduction to her books. Picador was an imprint of Pan Books, now Pan Macmillan and its aim was to publish outstanding International fiction in paperback. They had wonderful cover art, which makes them ideal Eye Candy for Bibliophiles.

For many years I collected Picadors as they were released, so I have a fair collection of the early issued books.

For the purpose of this blog, I’ll present them as always in alphabetical, rather than chronological order.

So to start off Renata Adler’s Speedboat, and Fantomas by Marcel Allain & Pierre Souvestre

adler_speedboat allain_souvestre_fantomas

Then there’s Gazelle Boy by Jean-Claude Armen

armen_gazelleboy

And Julian Barnes wonderful A History of the World in 10½ Chapters and Flaubert’s Parrot.

barnes_history barnes_parrot

Murphy by Samuel Beckett

beckett_murphy

Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood - a short but great novel

blackwood_grannywebster
Jorge Luis Borges - A Personal Anthology with cover art by Hundertwasser

borges_anthology

Next entry will cover Richard Brautigan.

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