About
My name is Chris Ogle and I have been reading John D MacDonald ever since the 1960s. My parents bought and read everything he wrote and I would stand behind their chairs and read over their shoulders until we reached one of “those” parts and I would be sent packing. What ever happened to all those first edition paperbacks, including Weep For Me, which was the first JDM I ever read straight through? I’m not sure I really want to know.
Around 2002, I wondered how many different MacDonald covers there might be and thought the internet might be a good tool to find out. The answer is: lots. And lots. And I aim to find them all and in the darkness bind them.
If you have an interesting JDM cover, or one that I don’t have, you can send me a scan at christopher dot w dot ogle at gmail dot com. I’ll even give you credit!
johndmacdonaldcovers.wordpress.com 
You will probably be interested in the 2 following websites. The first gives original publication information of each book and a list of editions.
http://goldmed.eddiestevenson.co.za/macdona/1.shtml
The second is an ever-more-complete collection of cover scans for softcovers (primarily from USA) prior to 1980.
http://www.bookscans.com/
I hope these prove useful.
Huge fan of the site… (and also a shameless JDM completist that’s in complete awe of your work). I just picked up an Icelandic (?!) Deep Blue Good-by… fairly unexceptional except it looks like they ‘redrew’ the cover art locally, which is entertaining. Want it?
Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
I have been looking for “Daudinn í djúpinu blaa” for years. It is apparently the only Icelandic JDM in existence and I have never seen it.
Yes. Please.
My grandfather loved mysteries, so he always had one or two MacDonalds sitting around. I loved to read, so I picked one up and got hooked.
By the late 80s I had one of nearly every JDM book. Then I moved. And moved, and moved.
MacDonald was an original. Reading similar stuff was like riding the bus, in the worst way you can think of. Reading a good JDM was like driving one of those finned V8 sedans in his books.
Thank you! I shall indeed keep track of this.
I have a FGM copy of The Deceivers, spine number 449-02290-075, priced at seventy-five cents. It is a reprint, but no indication in the front matter as to when or what edition. The Travis McGee promo page on the last sheet says “Coming Soon: The Long Lavender Look,” so that dates it somewhat around 1969. The cover is of a man in a blue dress shirt embracing a woman in a pink dress. The woman also wears dark silk stockings. They appear to be sitting on a bed. Unlike the strangely conceived McGinnis cover, this one conveys the theme of the book. Know who painted it?
Thanks for mentioning that cover. I just posted it as cover #0521. Hope you like it.
Just spotted this on eBay (I’m buying it and will send you a scan, if you like) – but definitely a weird one:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PLANET-OF-THE-DREAMERS-JOHN-D-MACDONALD-SCI-FI-CORGI-P-BACK-BOOK-/200786812108?pt=Fiction&hash=item2ebfd39ccc
Thank you so much Chris for putting this great JDM covers site together. As a huge JDM fan, it’s so great to see all of his books (well, almost all) together in one place. Love it! 🙂
I noticed you don’t have a pic of the hardback edition of Condominium on here, so I sent you a pic of my first edition copy (tape on the cover and all). You gotta have hardback Condo on here, the epitome of the big book “bestseller era” of JDM’s career. JDM wore many hats. Let’s not forget about big bestseller John D.! 🙂
Chris: Very interesting site. However, you don’t seem to address how you determine printings for the gold medal editions. I know some of the early ones have printing info available, I am also aware of the letter and numerical identifiers (R, T, M etc.) and I also know that some books have the 3 digits on the last page although no one seems to be sure how to interpret them. Year Month Day, Year Month Printing? How do you determine if there were reprintings of a specific number? For example I have 2 copies of an Asimov title that has the # T1453 and a price of .75. Both copies are identical except for the logo. On one it is in the upper left corner with a little crown and the # underneath. On the other it is in the top center with only lettering and the # underneath. On the title page it states printed in American August 1970 and on the other adds the address of Fawcett above that. I don’t know if any of the MacDonalds have this feature, are they different printings and how do you tell precedence if they are. If you have any thoughts on the above and are inclined to share them I would be very interested in what info you might have. Thanks for listening, hope to hear from you.
Best
Chris
I used Walter & Jean Shine’s book “A MacDonald Potpourri”. They used a combination of in-house numbers (what I call “collection #”), the number of dots printed on the copyright page, the end print numbers, Library of Congress numbers, SBNs, ISBNs, print edition information found on the copyright page, printing keys, author photo, mail advertisements, the list of other books by the author, back cover information (which I don’t address), and of course, the front cover art. They spent years collecting this information and I happily believe them, although there have been a few errors.
Regarding your Asimov title, I consider those to be a different covers, but that’s just me. To me two covers are different if they vary in cover art, art placement, author/title/logo placement or size or font or color or case, cover price, what other book is advertised, ISBN, or collection #. If you can tell them apart from the front covers, barring wear, they’re different! Other people have different standards.
I have the original cover art for “All These Condemned” by James Meese, oil on masonite, 1953. How do I send scan to you?
Holy cow! If you are still out there, please send it to christopher dot w ogle at gmail dot com. I’ll be happy to credit you.
Great website. Thanks for sharing.
Would be great to see all the covers of each book next to each other – all on one page.
Would love to read you comments on the changes and developments.
I’ve thought about doing this, but it won’t be until I’ve posted every cover I can find.