Search results 1 Found

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. NY: Signet, 1949 (August, #733). First Paperback Edition, first printing. SIGNED BY COVER ARTIST JAMES AVATI. A NEAR FINE copy, with just the tiniest, virtually invisible bit of lam lift and edgewear. James Avati (1912-2005) was often called "The Rembrandt" of 1940s and 1950s paperback illustration. He popularized authors such as William Faulkner and Erskine Caldwell, as well as classic authors like Dostoyevsky, for the average reader with alluring cover art which sported extraordinary emotional impact. His brilliance in capturing human feeling: tension or pain, suggestiveness or lust, avarice or suspicion, compassion or devotion was unrivaled during the golden age of paperback illustration. He created a visual narrative that brought characters' tragedies and yearnings to life with a tough-minded gritty realism that put Norman Rockwell to shame. We were fortunate to acquire a small cache of his famous Signet first printing covers which were signed by him at his home in Petaluma, California a half-dozen years before he passed away. To the best of our knowledge, he never signed any other books for which he provided illustrations other than the ones which were acquired on this one occasion. Please search the keywords James Avati to see if any other of his signed copies still remain in our stock.