DELIVER ME FROM EVA by Paul Bailey

DELIVER ME FROM EVA is a dark-thriller that was first published in 1946 by Murray & Gee Incorporated of Hollywood, California. It has since gone on to gain considerable cult status within the horror genre. To begin with, it found a permanent place in Stephen Jones' & Kim Newman's influential, annotated reading list, Horror: 100 Best Books (Carroll & Graf, 1988), with a conveying essay by genre aficionado Forrest J. Ackerman. Then in 2007 it was republished as a high quality, limited edition hardback by Centipede Press, a unique specialty publisher out of Lakewood, Colorado.

In Centipede's newly commissioned introduction, Ackerman, once again, states his admiration for the novel and his still ardent desire to see a film made of it. Regrettably, a film was never opted, nor has the novel been published in convenient mass-market paperback format. Though in 2011, at long last, Paul Bailey's novel was republished in an affordable trade softcover edition by Bruin Books, a highly commendable Golden Age Fiction revival house.

The original Murray & Gee dustjacket art, with its severed head served on a silver platter, was produced by Jack Lynch, on whom I could find no information about beyond the fact that he provided additional cover art for the publisher during their post WWII height (see further examples below).

The author, Paul Dayton Bailey (1906-1987), was an American typographer, journalist, editor, publisher, and reputed writer of historical novels. This, apparently, was his first and only attempt at writing this type of fiction. 

 

Here's a brief excerpt from the Murray & Gee preface:

"When he'd (the publisher) finished the last gripping line his blood was running as cold as a lizard's belly, and for a week he dared not turn off his lights at night... we swear it's the most gosh-awful, horrific spine-tingler imaginable, but we're not revealing any of its awesome secrets."

That type of prelude may seem a tad old fashioned today, but it certainly evokes, or at least promotes, an anticipation of mystery, suspense, and the preternatural to follow---and follow it does! Bailey's unique plot centers around complications ensuing from experiments to increase intelligence artificially. This scientific aspect allows for some unpredictable turns and grotesqueries to develop, and Bailey delivers them all in Grand Guignol style. I was enthralled by every aspect of his story; the whirlwind romance, the majestic manor-house setting, the increasingly bizarre revelations, the madcap science, the black humor---but also by the beguiling, femme fatale Eva Craner, possessor of amazing intellectual abilities and astounding musical capabilities, who is strangely obligated to the weird demands of her arcane family. One of those family members suffers a fateful introspection that quickly becomes the catalyst for the story's shocking finish.

And yes, Ackerman was right---it's ideal B-movie material.

Bailey has crafted a tremendously lurid, atmospheric horror novel that can also double as a weird mystery or even a unique science-fiction novel. It's a remarkable achievement for a writer with no previous experience in the realm of the fantastic.

 

The 2007 Centipede cloth edition has a stunning, pasted down image on its cover from Swiss symbolist painter and printmaker Carlos Schwabe (1866-1926). Schwabe routinely explored mythological, allegorical and social themes in his paintings; women also featured heavily in his work, sometimes representing suffering and death, other times inspiration and guidance. He was also an important book illustrator, representing the works of Emile Zola, Charles Baudelaire, Maurice Maeterlinck, Albert Samain, and many other notable fin de siècle writers.

The 2011 Bruin softcover featured an anatomical drawing of the human body by Sixteenth-Century Dutch engraver and artist Jan Wandelaar (1690-1759), one of forty incredibly detailed drawings of the human body that he produced over an eight year period in collaboration with his friend, the Dutch physician and anatomist Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (1697-1770). These were originally published in 1747, in a volume titled Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis humani (Tables of the skeleton and muscles of the human body). Click on the image below to see the original drawing in large format.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

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BELOW: BONUS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM Lynch, Schwabe and Wandelaar/Albinus:

Nobody Loves A Dead Man was published in hardcover by Murray & Gee Inc., in 1945, with dustjacket art by Jack Lynch.  The author, Milton M. Raison (1903-1982), wrote six mystery novels: The Phantom of Forty-Second Street (Macaulay, 1936), No Weeds for the Widow (Murray, 1947), Murder in a Lighter Vein (Murray, 1947), Tunnel 13 (Murray, 1948), the above title and also the below title, in addition to his first published work, Spindrift (Doran, 1922), a book of verse. Mysteries aside, Raison was primarily a screenwriter in Hollywood for both film and television, with 59 total credits, largely for B programmers. He was also a special feature writer for the Sunday World, a reviewer for the Herald Tribune and the New York Record, a magazine writer for popular slicks, a radio writer and a publicity agent for many of Broadway's shows and producers.

 

The Gay Mortician by Milton M. Raison was published in hardcover by Murray & Gee in 1946, with dustjacket art by Jack Lynch.

Say Uncle was published in hardcover by Murray & Gee in 1944, with dustjacket art by Jack Lynch.  The author, Dorothy Burgess (1907-1961), was an American actress with 47 film credits to her name. She turned to writing after her acting career stalled, but only managed to complete one novel, the above title, a thriller purportedly about vampires. "I worked six hours a day for eight months on Say Uncle," she told the Hollywood Citizen News. "You work on what you write until you think it is perfect, and then you write some more." Boy, can I ever relate to that!

Jack Lynch also produced the cover art and interior illustrations for the children's book The Quinducklets, The Adventures of Five Little Ducks, by Ruth & Helen Rames. It was published in hardcover by Murray & Gee in 1945.  Helen Rames Briggs (1908-2010) was a longtime resident of Glendale, California, and for many years she owned and operated a bookstore there, but she was also a determined writer, publishing more than 50 articles, poems and children's stories. She is the author of just this one book though, co-written with her sister Ruth Rames Munson (1907-1994).

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An illustration by Carlos Schwabe from Les Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil), a book of lyric poetry by Charles Baudelaire. It was published by Auguste Poulet-Malassis in 1857. Medium: pencil, watercolor and gouache.

La Mort Du Fossoyeur (Death and the Gravedigger) by Carlos Schwabe, ca. 1895. Medium: pencil, watercolor and gouache.

Les Champs-Elysees (Elysian Fields) by Carlos Schwabe, ca. 1903. Medium: pencil, watercolor and gouache.

La Vague (The Wave) by Carlos Schwabe, ca. 1907. Medium: oil on canvas.

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Set of four anatomical drawings of the human body by Jan Wandelaar and Bernhard Siegried Albinus, ca. 1747. The rhinoceros was modeled after an Asian one named Clara, who resided in the Amsterdam Zoo, and was at the time the most famous creature of its kind in Europe.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

[October, 2019, © Jeffersen]