(Earle Bergey’s cover for the February 1953 issue of Science Fiction Adventures, ed. Philip St. John — i.e. Lester del Rey)
Make sure to take a peek at Part I if you haven’t already.
Crashed spaceships! Our heroes forced to trek across desolate landscapes, fight giant robots, and evil aliens…. Or, aliens stumble from the wreckage of their flying saucers — unusual green matter emanates while the flames reach ever upward. I suspect that if I were a kid in the era of pulp SF magazines I would have snatched everyone with a crashed spaceship regardless of the often dubious contents.
I am generally no fan of Kelly Freas but his cover for the July 1957 issue of Science Fiction Stories, is one of my favorite action/adventure type SF covers. Unusual aliens on the back of a massive turtle alien swimming through lava towards the stricken form of a human who has just escaped from his sinking spaceship. Sheer wonder inducing…
Paul Lehr’s cover for the cover for the 1970 edition of The Stars My Destination (variant title: Tiger! Tiger!) (1956), Alfred Bester is easily one of his best. And Earle Bergey pulls out all the traditional pulp SF tropes for his delightful cover for the February 1953 issue of Science Fiction Adventures.
As always, what are your favorites?
Enjoy!
(Virgil Finlay’s cover for the June 1957 issue of Fantastic Universe Science Fiction, ed. Hans Stefan Santesson)
(Alex Schomburg’s cover for the July 1953 issue of Science Fiction Adventures, ed. Philip St. John — i.e. Lester del Rey)
(Ed Emshwiller’s cover for the January 1955 issue of Science Fiction Stories, ed. Robert A. W. Lowndes)
(Terry Maloney’s cover for the January 1957 issue of New Worlds Science Fiction, ed. John Carnell)
(Kelly Freas’ cover for the July 1957 issue of Science Fiction Stories, ed. Robert A. W. Lowndes)
(Kelly Freas’ cover for the 1967 edition of World Without Stars (magazine publication 1966), Poul Anderson)
(Paul Lehr’s cover for the 1970 edition of The Stars My Destination (variant title: Tiger! Tiger!) (1956), Alfred Bester)
(Hubert Rogers’ cover for the August 1942 issue of Super Science Stories, ed. Alden H. Norton)
(Ed Valigursy’s cover for the 1957 edition of Three To Conquer (magazine publication 1955), Erik Frank Russell)
(Uncredited cover for the 1967 edition of Marooned on Mars (1952), Lester del Rey)
(Mel Hunter’s cover for the July 1954 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction, ed. H. L. Gold)
(Milton Luros’ cover for the January 1952 issue of Future Science Fiction, ed. Robert W. Lowndes)
(E. L. Blandford’s cover for the June 1956 issue of Authentic Science Fiction, ed. E. C. Tubb)
(Edward Valigursky’s cover for the May 1956 issue of Amazing Stories, ed. Howard Browne)
(Van Dongen’s cover for the May 1953 issue of Science Fiction Adventures ed. Philip St. Joh — i.e. Lester del Rey)
For more cover art posts consult the INDEX
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 
Good selection!
1- Lehr
2 – Van Dongen
3 – I’m not a big fan of Freas, but that’s a good one
And so many lurid and laughable spacesuits for the women!
Thanks! All three of those covers are great. Although, I really love the first Bergey cover (the form of the robot, the angle of the spaceship, etc) — yes, despite the silly outfit for the woman in the sphere.
Nothing wrong with silly outfits, that’s what makes the old covers great!
Some great covers here Joachim, the Freas one is hilariously good. If you’re looking for a good LP cover featuring a crashed spaceship, check out Hawkwind’s rather excellent Hall Of The Mountain Grill from 1974.
Yes, I’ve listened to the album as well. My favorite album of theirs is easily Quark, Strangeness, and Charm.
Cool cover — I’ll put it on my next crashed spaceships post.
This strikes me as a really good collection of covers, better than the theme suggests, somehow. (Also I think stronger than the first collection.)
I’m also curious about the robot at the top, and whether it’s got four legs spread around its base or whether it’s built as a centauroid.
yeah, I do think, as Tom points out, that it’s rather more based on the placement predicament the artist found himself in — hehe.
@ Joseph Nebus, the answer is: the legs are placed where the artist could fit them. 😉
What are your thoughts on Alfred Bester? Is The Stars My Destination worth checking out?
The Stars My Destination was an intriguing take on pulp SF — and it was written with some true verb and vibe. I do enjoy some of Bester’s shorts — wrote a review of his collection The Dark Side of the Earth a while back if you’re curious.
https://sciencefictionruminations.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/book-review-the-dark-side-of-the-earth-alfred-bester-1964/
I used to notice that the covers didn’t always have a lot to do with the stories.
Have you ever been to Hunt To Read http://www.hunttoread.com ? It’s a book review site trying to get itself set up. People can rate covers on a star system. It’s just getting started so may not be very representative – but it seems to me the only sci fi covers that get good ratings are ones that look like a frame from a comic book.
I’m curious: what sorts of sci-fi covers are most attractive today? Do you feel cheated if the cover doesn’t match the book’s content well?
I read very little new SF and try to avoid looking at covers for newer editions of older works. Personal taste I guess. I also care very very little whether the art and the contents match (I just want good art! I want the artist to seem like he/she was inspired!)– my favorite artists are rather more on the surrealist side and thus rarely relate to the contents (well, perhaps they channel some of the emotion or harken to some theme of the text) — Richard Powers, Jerome Podwil, Paul Lehr….
No, I have not heard of that site.