Monarch 344

The Rape of Lucia, by Peter W. Denzer.

Monarch Books may not have had the best literature ever published in paperback, but I have to say that they were one of the few that documented things like printing dates and artists' names on their title pages.

Of course, the more information you present, the more room there is for errors to crop up. And that's probably what happened in this case.

The title page clearly states: "Cover Painting by Lou Marchetti." Marchetti was a prolific artist that did many covers for Monarch.

Unfortunately, there is an artist's signature on the cover itself that says: "Barton." (Sorry my copy has a flaw along the bottom edge that slightly obscures it.) That refers to Harry Barton, who was just as prolific (and in my opinion, just as good).

In their defense, the two artists had similar techniques ... at least in their covers for Monarch.

(You can click the top and bottom images to view a larger size.)