Isaac Paul Rader Checklist
At Midwood | Other Artists | Other Publishers | Magazine Work


Other Publishers

We divide Rader’s non-Midwood paperbacks into two groups because of their dates. The first group (1957-1963) are covers he did for Balcourt Art Service (before Midwood hired him full time) for Ace, Beacon, Belmont, Berkley, Chariot, Gold Medal, Hillman, Pyramid and Tuxedo. (Some dealers have Gold Star IL7-14, A NICE WAY TO DIE by Hank Janson, listed as Rader. I don’t.)

The second group (1966-1970) are “adult” publishers that Rader did covers for after he became a freelance artist. Almost all of these covers are reused or reworked Midwood covers. These publishers include All Star, Bee-Line, Edka and Private Edition. The first time I saw one of these covers I wasn’t sure if the new publisher had swiped it, if Midwood had sold it, if Balcourt had resold it, or if Rader had redrawn and resold it. Edward Balcourt and Mrs. Rader independently confirmed the same story: Rader was the one redoing his cover art. Balcourt told me the rights to the cover art reverted to the artist, and Mrs. Rader remembered her husband learning he could recycle them. In 1970, at the end of his commercial career, some unsigned but “Rader-style” covers appeared on some Bee-Lines. By that date the sexual content of the books was much more explicit than the tame Midwoods. Edith Rader confirmed that Paul painted covers for Bee-Line. He was 63 in 1970, and some of us wonder if assignments to do covers like HORNY HOUSEWIFE and NYMPHO LIBRARIAN might have hastened Paul Rader’s decision to walk away from paperback work forever. He lived another 16 years, and painted a lot more paintings, but no more paperback covers.

As far as I can tell, Isaac Paul Rader’s first cover was for Gold Medal in 1957. Utilizing his 35 years of experience as a painter, portraitist, advertising and magazine illustrator, he created a series of indelible works of art disguised as cheap paperback covers. After he died, Rader’s family preferred that he be remembered for the paintings, not the sleazy adult paperbacks. Information on Rader gradually eroded away.

However, at the same time the paperback collecting hobby grew, and collectors held dear the select group of cover artists who rose above the pack. The signed Midwood covers identified one such artist as “Rader”. Not long ago a seller from Washington, listing a Midwood paperback for sale on eBay, referred to the artist as “the great Paul Rader.” He was right.

<Ace D333 STRANGLEHOLD –Creighton. 1959. Not signed. The other side of this Ace Double is SCREAM STREET, with a cover by Harry Barton, who did some early Midwoods. D349. KILL ME WITH KINDNESS – Bond. With GUILTY BYSTANDER. >

<D367 TILL DEATH DO US PART – Trimble. With NEGATIVE OF A NUDE, a superior cover by Maguire. At this time the same group of artists were doing Aces and Midwoods. D379 DRINK WITH THE DEAD – Flynn. With MISTRESS OF HORROR HOUSE. >

<D495 A MANIA FOR BLONDES – Krasney 1961. Signature is cut off at the spine. The book’s spine. Belmont 221 VICE COP – Deming. 1961> (See also LADY FROM LUST checklist.)

<As a researcher, I hate Beacon books because they almost never give artist credits. But PRIVATE CHAUFFEUR (B313) has long been recognized as a Rader. In fact, it looks like Midwood 26. B657F ONE KIND OF WOMAN – Ralph Dean. “Attributed to Rader” by Jaye Zimet, author of STRANGE SISTERS. I agree wholeheartedly. >

Berkley G98 PATTERN FOR PANIC – Prather. 3rd pr, 1958. The 1st pr had a photo cover, the 2nd a Maguire cover. G164 THREE DAY PASS TO KILL – Burke & Grace. 2nd pr with great new Rader cover. >

<G232 DEADLIER THAN THE MALE – Gunn. 1959. Not signed. G241 PATTERN FOR PANIC – 4th pr. not shown, reuses 3rd pr cover Chariot CB179 KEY CLUB GIRL – Adlon. 1961. The person looking at her from the artist’s viewpoint is reflected in the mirror on this brilliant cover. >

<CB1627 INSATIABLE DESIRE – Craig. 1963. When Rader reused some of his Midwoods for All Star in 1966, this cover showed up on NIGHTS OF FORBIDDEN FRUIT, All Star 74. The image was reversed and Rader’s signature is backwards. >

<Gold Medal 716 COME NIGHT, COME EVIL –J. Craig. 1957. Rader’s first paperback cover. s1147 COME NIGHT, COME EVIL – 2nd pr reuses cover from 716. Not shown. Hillman 107 THE TOR MENTORS – Payne. 1959 Back cover credit. Art is reminiscent of his men’s adventure magazine work.

<Pyramid R476 THE KING’S MISTRESS – Plaidy. 1960. G509 THE TIME OF DESIRE – Charbonneau. Back cover credit: “Paul Radar”. >

<G525 NITA’S PLACE – Whittington. One of the all time classic vintage pb covers. Pyramid almost always gave back cover credit to their artists Tuxedo 113 PASSION TRIP – Robinson 1962. For a short-lived publisher Tuxedo had some tremendous cover artists – including Elaine, Minney & Frace. Rader did at least 3 for Tuxedo. >

<114 SIN LENS – Koby 117 WARPED PASSIONS – Marmor. Art has been reduced and Rader’s signature is infinitesimal. >

In 1970, after his last Midwood cover had been published, Paul Rader did some final covers for Bee-Line. I know of 6, there may be more. (Like a great deal of the information on this catalog, I learned about them from the dean of paperback book dealers, Chris Eckhoff.) Of the 6, two are not shown here, two re-use Midwoods and appear with the Midwoods above. The final two are shown below. They may re-use Midwoods I’ve never seen, I don’t know. By 1970 Bee-Line, like most “adult” publishers, was putting out hardcore sex books. We do not know if these changes in the publishing business had any effect at all on Mr. Rader, but we do know that, in 1970, he retired.

ALL STAR 1967
AS74 NIGHTS OF FORBIDDEN FRUIT – de Naste
(reuses Chariot 1627)
AS135 MATERNITY WARD – Como (reuses Midwood 65)
AS137 THE PRICE OF PLEASURE - James (reuses Midwood 34)
AS138 AWAKE TO LOVE - Nemec (reuses Midwood 182)
AS139 THE FIRES OF AUTUMN - Sherman
(reuses Midwood Y128, attributed to Rader)
AS145 THE NIGHTWALKERS – Como (reuses Midwood F331)

BEE-LINE 1967, 1970
167 CINDY, VERY PRIVATE NURSE - Remington
(reuses Midwood 213)
178 BETWEEN TWO WOMEN – Harvey (reuses Midwood 32-436)
185 PRIVATE LESSONS - Spencer (reuses Midwood 248)
186 ALL THE GIRLS TOGETHER - Reed (reuses Midwood F376)
195 STRANGE SISTERS – Key (reuses Midwood F380)
202 PRIVATE SCREENING – Earle & Johnson
(reuses Midwood 32-426)
211 THE LOVE RACKET – Reed (reuses Midwood 32-464)
212 GRAND SLAM GIRL - Seran (reuses Midwood F192)
229 COME PLAY WITH ME - Normann
(reuses Midwood 236 & Midwood 32-478)
233 BACHELOR PAD – Houston (reuses Midwood 392)
235 FORBIDDEN WOMEN - James (reuses Midwood 55)
243 ONE FOR THE ROAD - Fredericks (reuses Midwood F240)
244 STAND-IN FOR SEX - Martin (reuses Midwood 273)
247 ANY WOMAN’S STUD - Towers (reuses Midwood 21)

1970
441 NYMPHO LIBRARIAN – Tucker (not shown)
445 STUD SERVICE - Blue (reuses Midwood 34-233)
448 CARNIVAL OF SEX - Fuchs
450 ORGY IN THE SKY - Vance
(reuses Midwood 34-108 & Midwood 34-117)
457 PARIS SEX CIRCUS - French
481 THE HORNY HOUSEWIFE – Mack (not shown)

EDKA (Lay-Awake Book) 1967
EK115 CALL-GIRL LOVE – Elnott (reuses Midwood 31)
EK116 TEEN INSATIABLES – Land (reuses Midwood F365)
EK119 ANATOMY OF A SWAP – Ernst (reuses Midwood 32-415)

PRIVATE EDITION 1966-67
PE396 CONNIE – Gavin (reuses Midwood F315)
PE397 THE GAY AND THE GUILTY – Gough
(reuses Midwood 32-417)
PE402 THE BITTER FLESH – Roberts (reuses Midwood 32-484)
PE406 THE WOMEN SHE HAD – Harris (reuses Midwood 32-411)
PE412 JOURNEY TO EROTICA – Fym (reuses Midwood F250)
PE437 THE WICKED NEVER SLEEP – Rogers note: copyright page says All Star Books (reuses Midwood F271)
PE457 THE SEXECUTIVES – Westermier (Edward D. Wood, Jr.)
(reuses Midwood F95)
PE467 ANGEL – Overstreet (reuses Midwood F378)

Bee-Line 448D CARNIVAL OF SEX – Fuchs (1970) 457Z PARIS SEX CIRCUS – French (1970) These 2 Bee-Lines are not signed and are attributed to Rader because he was doing other covers for them at this same time. There may well be more.

UK Rader covers are few & far between, but K&G did at least the first two LADY FROM LUST books in 1968. #1 is not shown here. This is #2, LAY ME ODDS. I don’t know how many of the books they reprinted. Rare. In 1973, Belmont reprinted THE LADY FROM LUST books. They renumbered and retitled some, and various art was used. 3 of Rader’s original Tower cover images were re-worked for SOCK IT TO ME, THE HOT MAHATMA, and TO RUSSIA WITH LUST.

The reprints have made the books hard to catalog because of confusion about which book belongs where. I have tried to end some of the confusion with a complete LADY FROM LUST checklist, below.

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