Saturday 14 June 2014

Penguin Crime Time:
Gun Before Butter (1963)
& Because of the Cats (1963)
by Nicolas Freeling


Cover design and photograph by Denise York.


Cover design by Denise York, photographs by Resnais.*



Like the Arthur Upfield book featured here back in April, the words and imagery on Nicolas Freeling’s trilogy of Amsterdam-set crime books have an intriguing sort of vibe about them that encourages me to actually sit down and try reading them (and the gratuitous Simenon comparisons in the back cover blurb certainly don’t hurt either). I will report back, perhaps.

Those with frighteningly long memories may recall that I posted the cover for ‘Because of the Cats’ a few years back, but it’s always worth seeing again right?

Hopefully one day I’ll find a copy of ‘Love in Amsterdam’ to complete the trilogy (I trust it has a matching cover design utilising nifty red and blue target motif), and all will be right with the world.

(Oh, and as a final note, I like the look of the supremely disreputable looking ‘Rembrandt’ club captured on the front of ‘Gun Before Butter’...)

* Not THAT Resnais, surely…? [Yes, that Resnais -- see comments. - Ed.]

3 comments:

Elliot James said...

That cover of Because of the Cats does have an odd appeal. With used book stores vanishing, it's no longer a simple matter to stumble across unusual paperbacks like this.

Anonymous said...

Yes, shockingly enough, those photos are in fact by THAT Resnais. He and Chris Marker were also responsible for a lot of the original Penguin Simenon cover photos.

Ben said...

Thanks, anonymous!

Yes, I have some of the Simenon editions with Marker cover photos, but I was unaware that Resnais worked as a photographer - especially given that he was already a big-shot director when these books were published.

Post updated accordingly.