Eugene Hastain Dustwrapper Artist
Eugene Hastain created some of the most evocative jacket artwork of the Golden Age period
We would like to bring you a lot of background information about this illustrator but sadly his past is not well documented - something we would very much like to redress.
Tantalizingly we were contacted some time ago through another one of our sites by a family member who had some fabulous information. Hopefully she will get back in touch with further details and permission to publish the information for posterity.
Currently I can say he had a very colourful life which appeared to start at a remarkably young age !
Given the nature of this site it’s his dust jacket artwork we tend to dwell on, such classics as this
Death Took a Publisher 1936
There are many others and picking favourites is a matter of some difficulty, though Murder Mars the Tour takes some beating. He had a unique style, quite unmistakable, though thankfully his work is generally signed and credited by the publisher, unlike so many other great artists who remain frustratingly anonymous.
He also worked as an artist outside our narrow window of view, we came across image this which was an oil on canvas painted in 1914 and commissioned by Princess Mary for a charitable project
Returning to his mystery work, he did jackets for the likes of Mary Fitt, Leslie Charteris, Anthony Berkeley, R Austin Freeman and Patricia Wentworth amongst others.
If you have any information please do let us know, or if you know of any book covers by this artist once again please leave a comment or question below.