Mapback is a term used by

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, le ...

collectors to refer to the earliest paperback books published by

Dell Books Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and s ...

, beginning in 1943. The books are known as mapbacks because the back cover of the book contains a map that illustrates the location of the action. Dell books were numbered in series. Mapbacks extend from #5 to at least #550; then maps became less of a fixed feature of the books and disappeared entirely in 1951. (Numbers 1 through 4 had no map, although a later re-publication of #4, '' The American Gun Mystery'' by

Ellery Queen Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...

, added a map.) The occasional number in the series between #5 and #550 contains no map, but some sort of full-page graphic or text connected with the book's contents. The artwork of the maps began with quite detailed maps, and later numbers contain more stylized ones. "The back cover map was very popular with readers and remains popular with collectors ... the Dell 'mapbacks' are among the most well known vintage paperbacks." "Dell's most memorable design innovation was not on the front but on the back covers ... the entire back covers given over to maps, or variously charts, blueprints, or what have you to represent story locale or scene of the crime: a stretch of California highway, the interior of an apartment, a sheik's 'city of stones.' It was an enjoyable if slightly goofy gimmick and, amazingly, managed to last nearly ten years."

Other features

"Besides distinctive front covers and back-cover maps, Dell paperbacks also had a number of other interesting features, including an "eye-in-keyhole" logo, front-cover blurbs, character lists, lists of key items or events in the book ("tantalizer-pages"), crowded title pages, and special chapter titles." Some publishers, including Dell, thoughtfully included brief lists of the main characters in their books -- especially in mysteries -- to allow readers to keep the characters straight. In mapbacks, "Persons this Mystery is about" followed the inside flyleaf, and gave a short descriptive paragraph. For instance, the protagonist of the mapback shown at right is described as follows: :"Rogan Kincaid, a gambler, tall, lean, enigmatic and attractive to women, believes there is a logical explanation for everything, but is ready to change his mind after witnessing some of the goings-on at Cabrioun, an isolated hunting lodge near the Canadian border." The "tantalizer-pages" contained two features meant to entice the browsing reader. "What this Mystery is about" gives a list of clues and events that are found within. Those from '' Rim of the Pit'' include: :"A dead man's VOICE floating on the wind across a lonely, frozen lake ... An encased ACCORDION playing a dead man's favorite song ... A SEANCE in an isolated lodge at which a medium is forced by her second husband to summon the spirit of her first husband ... A terrifying THING which seems to take possession of a man ... FOOTPRINTS which seem to begin nowhere; end nowhere ... A weird, flying, manlike CREATURE ... A SILVER BULLET molded by a half-crazed man ... Horrible MURDER, apparently unsolvable, of a supernatural origin." And the enticing section, "Wouldn't you like to Know --" * What made a Great Dane suddenly leap to his feet during the seance, growl and quiver in fear? * Why the appearance of the hideous apparition caused such obvious terror in the medium? * How a man escaped from a strongly barricaded room? * What a windigo is? * The significance of the words "net" and "emit" on the inside of an envelope? * Why all the mirrors in the dead woman's room were smashed? Of course, non-mysteries had somewhat less tantalizing clues and questions, but the same format was kept. The "List of Exciting Chapters" featured chapter titles which were frequently added or changed by Dell editors.

Types of mapbacks

Mapbacks were primarily mysteries, but many different sorts of books found their way into this inclusive line. A few oddities were published without a map on the back cover. Dell "War Books" such as #26, ''The Raft'' and #32, ''This Time For Keeps'', had back covers which exhorted the reader to "Buy War Bonds and Stamps", as did books of jokes and cartoons such as #38, ''Liberty Laughs'' and #77, ''G.I. Jokes''. The rarest mapback of all is #278, ''Second Dell Book of Crossword Puzzles'' edited by Kathleen Rafferty, also map-less. Two other genres which had a number of entries in the mapback line were romances and Westerns. Romances were not frequent, and were by "name" authors such as Faith Baldwin (#116, ''Honor Bound'') and

Mary Renault Eileen Mary Challans (4 September 1905 – 13 December 1983), known by her pen name Mary Renault ("She always pronounced it 'Ren-olt', though almost everyone would come to speak of her as if she were a French car." ), was an English writer best ...

(#189, ''Kind Are Her Answers''), only occasionally descending to the level of the "nurse romance". The quality of Westerns was also generally high, including authors such as

William MacLeod Raine William MacLeod Raine (June 22, 1871 – July 25, 1954), was a British-born American novelist who wrote fictional adventure stories about the American Old West. In 1959, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Co ...

(#179, ''Trail's End'') and Bliss Lomax (Harry Sinclair Drago) (#271, ''Gunsmoke and Trail Dust''). There are a number of

movie tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prope ...

novels in the series. One of the most significant is Dell #262, ''Rope'' as by

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

-- actually written by Don Ward -- with a cover art featuring James Stewart. Gerald Butler's novel ''Kiss the Blood Off My Hands'' was also published with a mapback (Dell #242) in December 1948, under the title ''The Unafraid

iss the Blood Off My Hands The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAX ...

', featuring a cover art illustration of

Joan Fontaine Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the " Golden Age". Fontaine appeared ...

and

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...

, tying in with Norma Productions' film '' Kiss the Blood Off My Hands''."New Agency Promotion for Kiss the Blood", ''Showmen's Trade Review'', December 25 1948, p14
/ref> Other novels in the series are those upon which well-known films were based, although without movie tie-in covers -- these include ''Tugboat Annie'', ''The Sheik'', ''Now, Voyager'', ''The Harvey Girls'' and Mary Roberts Rinehart's ''The Bat''. But by far the largest number of mapbacks is made up of mysteries. The mapback series contains some significant first editions ("first as such") by famous authors such as

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade (' ...

, and interesting editions of such authors as

Rex Stout Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...

('' Too Many Cooks'' #45; '' The Red Bull'' #70),

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

Cornell Woolrich Cornell George Hopley Woolrich ( ; December 4, 1903 – September 25, 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer. He sometimes used the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley. His biographer, Francis Nevins Jr., rated Woolrich th ...

, Erle Stanley Gardner writing as A. A. Fair,

John Dickson Carr John Dickson Carr (November 30, 1906 – February 27, 1977) was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn. He lived in England for a number of years, and i ...

and his alter ego Carter Dickson, and

. There are editions of other mysteries which have stood the test of time and are still considered moderately significant today, such as the works of Phoebe Atwood Taylor (under her own name and as Alice Tilton),

Patricia Wentworth Dora Amy Turnbull (formerly Dillon, née Elles; 15 October 1877 – 28 January 1961), known by pen name Patricia Wentworth, was a British crime fiction writer. Early life and education She was born in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India (then the Bri ...

Stuart Palmer Stuart Palmer (June 21, 1905 – February 4, 1968) was a mystery novel writer and screenwriter best known for his character Hildegarde Withers. He also wrote under the names Theodore Orchards

, Clayton Rawson,

Earl Derr Biggers Earl Derr Biggers (August 26, 1884 – April 5, 1933) was an American novelist and playwright. His novels featuring the fictional Chinese American detective Charlie Chan were adapted into popular films made in the United States and China. Biog ...

, Patricia McGerr,

Baynard Kendrick Baynard Hardwick Kendrick (April 8, 1894 – March 22, 1977) was an American mystery novelist. He wrote whodunit novels about Duncan Maclain, a blind private investigator who worked with his two German shepherds and his household of assistants ...

, Margaret Millar,

Mary Roberts Rinehart Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876September 22, 1958) was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie.Keating, H.R.F., ''The Bedside Companion to Crime''. New York: Mysterious Press, 1989, p. 170. Rinehart published her fir ...

, C. W. Grafton (father of Sue Grafton) and many others. The Dell mapback line also contains a number of mysteries by writers who have fallen out of favor over the years -- or who were never popular. Collectors cherish the camp value of such mysteries as ''Murder Wears Mukluks'' by Eunice Mays Boyd, ''The Body That Wasn't Uncle'' by George Worthing Yates, and ''Death Wears a White Gardenia'' by Zelda Popkin. The mapback line is also notable for what it does not contain -- mapbacks never partook of two popular trends in the 1950s that flourished at other paperback houses, namely the "lesbian confession" novel and the "juvenile delinquent" or "juvie" novel.

References

{{Reflist

External links

A site showing the covers and maps of almost all early Dell titles
* Pierce, J. Kingston
“Dell Mapbacks: A History”
''CrimeReads'', August 2, 2018. Books by type Book series introduced in 1943

Other features

Types of mapbacks

See also

References

External links