My last post, Book Art: Nine Coaches Waiting, kicked off some great discussion – for example, I heard for the first time of Trixie Belden! – and Jerri Chase kindly shared her Coaches book cover with us. Jerri went on to send me a series of book covers that I would like to share here today.
Jerri is sharing her US covers by illustrator and writer Charles Geer and I think they are absolutely gorgeous – despite the high postage charges (plus customs tax?) from the US to the UK, I really *really* would like these editions myself (*writes Christmas wishlist in February* *waves list under husband’s nose* *crosses fingers and toes*).
Wildfire at Midnight
I have seen and admired this cover before for its colours and its wildfires reflected in the colour of the river. The hotel looks spookily remote too. I’m interested to read on the book-flap that this novel was ‘long unavailable’ in the US, I wonder just how long it was out of print? As poised and elegant as one of her creations, Mary Stewart looks fabulous on the back cover (I wish we knew the photographer. This photo is used on several of her UK first editions but the photographer is uncredited).
Thunder on the Right
Aren’t we clever readers? The book flap informs us that this is:
A book for discriminating readers who find too few books well told.
This cover is lushly green and certainly demonstrates the isolation of the convent. By contrast, our heroine looks quite colourless – I wonder what shoes she wears to accessorise her dress and to walk up a steep and windy hillside? Again the photographer is uncredited. The photo is one I have used on this blog as it features on the back cover of my US copy of Madam, Will You Talk? which you can see here.
Nine Coaches Waiting
What an atmospheric cover, and I adore Linda’s red frock for running about on hillside and in forest! As for the back cover photograph, it is stunning, I wish we knew who the photographer was and where the picture was taken. I’d give this photo the caption ‘the glamorous life of novelist Mary Stewart’ for the car, for the backdrop, and for the post-war, post-rations yards of material in that coat.
My Brother Michael
Again we have our heroine outdoors in a red dress, and again this is a really evocative illustration, this time of Greece rather than France. I love the description of her writing given on the book-flap:
Smooth, polished prose combined with relentless pace
The Ivy Tree
This is a really dark, sinister cover which I think is really effective. I enjoyed reading the blurb too, which praises Mary Stewart’s writing nicely.
The Moon-Spinners
This cover is much more similar to the first UK book cover and accords well with Mary Stewart’s own design idea (apparently she sketched a Cretan windmill for her publisher herself, I don’t think she really wanted imperiled young women on her covers for fear of her work being pigeon-holed or dismissed). I love the sky – and Mary Stewart’s open smile on the back cover (photographer unknown. This photo is also used, uncredited, in Norah Smaridge’s book Famous British Women Novelists).
This Rough Magic
Again, no people feature on this lovely illustration. I love the blue shades here as well as the leap of the dolphin, this book cover makes me want to go swimming! (But not in Scottish seas, thank you, not even in summer and certainly not now in February when there is snow on the ground here.) It is good to see that the photographer name is given on the back cover: this photo of Mary Stewart looking stylish and bejewelled is by portrait photographer Bradford Bachrach.
Airs Above the Ground
Note that there are no young women in danger on this cover either, it is a Lipizzan horse that gives a sense of movement to this Geer illustration. The dark trees and shadowy buildings help give an air of menace in what is yet again a wonderful and atmospheric book cover. I like how the jacket praises Mary Stewart’s understanding of animals and the quality of her writing about them.
The Gabriel Hounds
Finally, Jerri has shared these images of the cover for The Gabriel Hounds. No damsels in distress, no animals: the building here is centre stage. I’m not sure that the lush grasses, the snow-covered mountains or the Lebanese palace of Dar Ibrahim as depicted here correspond in any way with my mental images of the location but it is a beautiful illustration. I am thrilled to read on the jacket that a new novel by Mary Stewart is
an international event
I wonder how many other Mary Stewart novels were illustrated by Charles Geer? He designed beautiful book covers, and seems to have well understood the central themes of these Mary Stewart novels.
I am sure everyone looking at the covers in this post would like to join me in thanking Jerri for taking the time and trouble to scan and share all these fabulous illustrations. Thank you, Jerri!
What do you think of these covers? I’d love to know your favourite Mary Stewart book art.
I have updated this post, adding Jerri’s scans of Wildfire, Thunder and Ivy Tree.
Mary Queen of Plots 
Those really are fabulous covers. Some of the best I think. They all seem to convey action in different ways and really capture the atmosphere of the places, as Mary Stewart’s writing did. Thanks for showing them to us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Helen, they really are lovely, aren’t they? I’m really grateful to Jerri for sharing these with us – I suspect that many of us (especially outwith the US where they were published) won’t have had the chance to admire these covers before.
LikeLike
I see that the cover for Wildfire at Midnight lists other Stewart novels, with My Brother Michael being the last published. So, since a quick look at Wikipedia says that Michael was published in 1959, and the Ivy Tree not till 1961, perhaps the publisher chose to fill in the empty year of 1960 with a reissue of this second published novel, which might not have had a large original print run? I must admit that my dust jacket isn’t the proper one for the copy of the book that I have, so I can’t give publication date for sure. But the $4.50 price says it must have been about then. I don’t know that I would say 1956 till 1960 is “long unavailable”, but then again, for a Mary Stewart novel, 3 or 4 years can be a long time if you can’t get a copy!
I asked my husband who knows a bit about old cars about the one we see in the photo on the back of Nine Coaches Waiting. He can’t identify it from the photo, not enough of the car is shown, but from the style of the grill and bumper and headlight pods, he thinks it probably dates back to the 1930’s, which makes it an interesting adjunct to a photo probably taken in 1958 or so. I agree with Allison, it is sad that so few of the photos we have of Mary Stewart from covers and publicity photos credit the photographer.
I hope you enjoy these covers by Charles Geer. I also like his dust jacket illustrations of some of the Ellis Peters inspector Felse series, and I think he did some paperback covers for Heyer’s romances in the 70’s or so.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Jerri, that is a great point about what ‘long unavailable’ means to a Mary Stewart fan, that would be about a week for me!
Great detective work on the car in the photo too, please thank your husband. I’d love to see more of the car, and I’d like to think it is an open-top Riley or something (although MS’s coat suggests it might have been too chilly for that!)
Thank you again for sharing your book cover collection.
LikeLike
Thanks Jerri and Allison for sharing all those fantastic covers. They are wonderful, and I think I have seen only one before, My Brother Michael, since most of my MS books are English.
Charles Geer, eh? I did a search online and — oh boy– was he busy! What popped up was a veritable catalogue of every haunting novel of romance and suspense I read back in my dewy youth. Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels plus many others that passed through my hands. (Plus, it appears, a whole bunch of Heyers I never before laid eyes on.) I remember his style, so I probably knew the name back then. In the historicals, all the women had lots of curly hair and plenty of lacy bits on their clothes. And yet, he could clearly do pure scenery and capture the mood entirely. Good thing MS preferred no people on her jackets.
What a treasure trove this is. Plus all your commentary, Allison.
(But I’m finding it hard to read the text on the covers. :^(( )
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Susan, I’m glad that you have enjoyed looking at the covers, I’ll have to see what I can do about the text (my fault – I got Jerri’s scans and made the files smaller so that I won’t run out of blog space too soon. I fear that at some point I’ll have to stop posting images or move to a new blog). From what you say, Charles Geer was prolific and talented at a range of book art styles, I must have a peek on google images. Thanks for your kind comments, Jerri’s images are such a treat to see.
LikeLike
I’ll add here, Allison, that my copy of The Wind Off the Small Isles and The Lost One arrived in my mailbox in record time. I settled down to reread WOTSI first, savouring the new one. I need to plan a date with my couch and a quilt and a glass of red to read the final story. Tonight, I hope.
Oddly, I realized that the day before I ordered this book, I tracked down a copy of The Winter’s Tale from my local second-hand bookshop, in order to read it before indulging in Jeanette Winterson’s The Gap of Time (her take on the play). Suddenly, it seems that all books featuring women named Perdita have just foregathered in my house.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wonder what the collective noun is for a group of Perditas?! I hope that you will enjoy The Lost One, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
LikeLike
A Loss of Perditas?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Perfect!
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing this. I’ve been a Charles Geer fan since childhood, and I’m just now learning the extent of his work.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Scott, his illustrations for Mary Stewart are really striking. I take it he is also famous for children’s book illustration, since that is when your admiration for his work began? Thanks for commenting.
LikeLike