TRASHY TUESDAY: SPANISH COVER-UP
When I was recently in Spain I came across a paperback in the Spanish Edisven Espionaje series (Calone Potencia 2 by Alain Page 1968), which had a cover by P. S. Albert (Albert Pujolar Soler).
Soler was one of the many Spanish artists whose illustrations were syndicated around the world on cheap paperback covers. In Australia, the Spanish syndicated art agency Nova Bossa provided a lot of covers for Cleveland Publishing from the late 1960s, particularly for the Larry Kent digests, but also for their various western series. These covers by Spanish artists, such as Rafael Cortiella and Enrich Torres, tended to be more violent and racier than the covers previously used. They were also very generalised in their approach and were not specific to the book which they were placed on. More information here: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/trashy-tuesday-larry-kent-covers/
The cover that Soler did for Calone Potencia 2 looked similar to a Larry Kent cover which I had seen on a listing, but with one difference. The Kent cover below (Murder Maze, 1971) is identical, except that the girl is wearing a bikini, instead of a dress. It is a poor quality copy below, but you can see that it is the same apart from the dress.
It would seem that the dress has been painted onto the original illustration to conform to Spanish publishing requirements of the time. It is poorly done and does not improve the appeal of what was a very average drawing in the first place. There is little style or grace to the dress and just looks like a blue blob.
I went back and looked through my collection of Larry Kent covers and found that another Soler (P. S. Albert) cover had received a similar treatment when used on an Edisven cover in Spain.
A dress has also been added to the illustration used on Nothing Counterfeit, although a bit more skillfully, and the sexy laced up shoes have been replaced by black boots. Overall, it is quite well done, although it lacks the impact of the original.
Modifying cover drawings to conform to censorship requirements is not uncommon, but this is the first time I have seen it done on Spanish illustrations.
Both of the Soler covers have the typical syndicated Spanish approach, with random pieces of vaguely criminal items: guns, poison, dollar notes and bullets, scattered across an illustration containing an attractive woman. The cover on Nothing Counterfeit is probably best one I have seen by Soler, as most of his are rather bland.
So while the Spanish were willing to send their raunchy covers around the world, publishers in Spain applied censorship to them on the local product. I assume that is reflective of the moralistic and conservative approach which existed under Franco at the time.