BookScans

BookScans

About BookScans

Go to the Scans (Database Index)

Reference Library

Vintage Paperback Oddities

Links

Articles

Web Site Contributors

Scans Needed to Complete the Project

How to Contribute Scans

Legal Stuff

Vintage Paperbacks for Sale

Contact Bookscans

Graphically illustrating the evolution of Vintage American Paperbacks - 1939 through 1959 (and beyond)

BookScans is a free online reference site listing tens of thousands of .jpg images, arranged numerically, by publisher, displaying how cover images and graphics changed during the early years of paperbacks. Click "Go to the Scans" to see the Database Index Page for easy navigation to the various sections.

Trying to find a particular vintage paperback? There are plenty of resources to help you find a title (see "Reference Library"). BookScans is designed to let you see what the book looks like.

Back Covers

Included in the BookScans database are images of significant back-cover artwork. This technique was especially prevalent with early Dell and later Popular Library books, as well as Bantam, Lion, and other publishers.

Artistic Interpretations

Also included in BookScans is a section that is made up of different covers for the same title. There are more than 4,000 entries in the "Interpretations" folder.

TWINS

Thanks to contributors such as Tom Daniels and Bob Gaines, there are now more than 2,200 sets of "Twin" paperback and pulp magazine cover images.

Help!

I need collectors to help me fill in the blanks. Please help complete the BookScans Project by sending me scans of your vintage books. I'll be sure to give you credit for your contributions. Click the "About BookScans" link to learn more, and check out "Scans Needed to Complete the Project" to see which ones are needed most.

Sleaze!

BookScans is NOT an adult-oriented web site. However, the inclusion of these books is vital for an accurate study of vintage paperback history and marketing techniques. While the covers for the "60's Sleaze" and "Sexy Digests" sections are pretty tame compared to today's adult standards, some viewer discretion is advised. Together, those two sections include 6,300 scans of adult books published in the 1950's and 60's.

UPDATE!

There have been 1,624 paperback cover scans added to the database in the four months leading up to February!

Many thanks to contributors over the past four months:

Alan Moore, Andrew Finch, Anonymous, Bill Taylor, Bob Gaines, Brian Anderson, Doug Baker, Gary Masters, Gary Watson, Gunnar Olsen, Hans Dijkhuis, Jerry Yeager, Kenneth R. Johnson, Marv Morrison, Mick Cocksedge, PaperbackArt.com, Robert Wiener, Steve Ericson, Steve Wallace, Tom Daniels and Tony Severin.

Look for the new Update under Update 22.

The total number of unique images is now over 67,000*.

* That figure includes more than:

60,000 vintage paperback cover images

1,700 reference books & publications

5,500 pulp magazines, digest mags and dime novels

... plus, there are thousands of duplicated images in special groups, i.e., by authors, "twin covers," or other categories.

I will update the BookScans web site three times a year: in February, June and October.

Many thanks to vintage paperback enthusiasts who have pointed out errors on the web site. I strive to keep the information as accurate as possible. Please keep emailing me your comments and criticisms.

The Reference Library

I am reworking The BookScans Reference Library. Please check back often.

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Thanks for all your comments regarding the Updated Special Groups Folder. The section on "Ladies in Peril (Damsels in Distress)" was especially well received. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it.

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Free On-Line Reference Books:

BookScans is proud to host Kenneth R. Johnson's book Defunct Paperbacks, which joins his masterpiece The Digest Index as another definitive work on vintage paperback books. Click HERE.

Ken has added new sections in Defunct Paperbacks to include: Book Company of America, Pageant Books, Saint Books and Sports Magazine Library. Check it out! You'll be impressed, I promise.