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collectingromance.bsky.social

@collectingromance.bsky.social
1.3K followers 165 following 625 posts

At the intersection of rare books & romance; vintage romance covers; elsewhere known as Art Of The Clinch. collectingromance.com

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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
A winner was chosen the old-fashioned way! I wrote individual entrants on individual slips of paper & drew the winner from the bag in photo. Thank you to all who entered! The winner has been contacted 📚🙌 By subscribing to the newsletter, you'll be among the first to know when I do another giveaway
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Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
There was also a Maysie Greig and a Faith Baldwin I may go back for, but in the meantime enjoy this copy of Johanna Lindsey's SILVER ANGEL, which was on the 50¢ rack. Gorgeous art by Elaine Duillo, but a yikes-tactic cover copy. 🙃 #romance #romancelandia #secretwhite @collectingromance.bsky.social
The front cover (the 1988 release).  A shirtless, ostensibly Middle Eastern man (lies; he's actually a Secret White™) leans sexily over a scantily-clad young white woman whose long white hair cascades over a pillow.  It's all very Orientalist, yet also gloriously royal blue, purple, and magenta.The back cover.  The cover copy reads: 

SILVER ANGEL
Kidnapped and sold into slavery, Chantelle Burke was led into the Pasha's scented chambers swearing she'd never surrender to this ruthless master.  But she was stunned by the magnificently handsome man who awaited her amid the silk and splendor.  His piercing emerald eyes held her in their power; his muscular embrace made her weak with desire even as she defied him.  She was his to do with as he would.  Yet this mysterious stranger—whose eastern garb concealed his true identity—touched her only with tenderness, driving her wild with new sensation, his scorching kisses igniting the fires of her very soul…and sweeping her beyond the harem walls into a palace of love's eternal dream.

EVERYONE LOVES A LINDSEY!
After sixteen national bestselling romantic novels, Johanna Lindsey has written her most compelling yet—the breathtakingly beautiful love story of a proud young Englishwoman who finds soul-searing love in a forbidden paradise.
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
I'm giving away this hardcover copy of Tender Is The Storm, by Johanna Lindsey! Winner will be chosen on March 22. Directions for how to enter are at the link in bio 📚🧡
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Stepback for Fairest Of Them All, by Theresa Medeiros Bantam, 1995 Illustrated by Pino Daeni This is set during the Middle Ages Historical romance is currently on the outs, sadly, but if you enjoy it, what do you think of this era as a romance setting?
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
A lenticular cover! There are at least two other vintage romances that I know of with lenticular covers -- one featuring time travel & the other I'm not sure, but it has a giant disappearing orchid on the cover 😂 Everlastin', by Mickee Madden Pinnacle, 1995 Illustrator unknown (at least by me)
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
I feel like the woman disguised as a boy trope was a relatively common thing in historical romance back in the day - am I right? When did it stop being a thing? What are some other titles that have this trope? Callista, by Cordia Byers Fawcett, 1983 Illustrated by James Griffin
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
For reasons I don't know, this romance is scarce on the secondary market: Nicole LaBelle, by Cordia Byers Fawcett, 1984 Illustrated by James Griffin
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Happy Valentine's Day! ❤️ A Valentine's Day Fancy, by Julie Caille Zebra, 1992 Illustrator uncredited
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Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
I've been practically bursting at the seams, sitting on this, but it's finally here: I'm honored to have a piece featured on @smartbitches.bsky.social today, talking about the #romance pulps, my personal journey with them, and my anthology, THE BEST OF ALL-STORY LOVE: 1929! #pulp #romancelandia
smartbitchestrashybooks.com
The Best of All-Story Love: 1929 Stuff - Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Secret Splendor, by Gina Robins Zebra, 1988 Illustrated by Franco Accornero
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Wishing each of you a very LUCKY 2026! 🥂 Lucky, by Sharon Sala Harper, 1995 Illustrated by Jean Monti
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
❄️Happy Winter Solstice❄️ When Love Commands, by Jennifer Wilde (aka Tom Huff) Avon, 1984 Illustrated by Robert McGinnis
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Moonflower, by Lynne Lowery Bantam, 1983 Illustrated by Max Ginsburg This book is relatively scarce, which is why I picked it up at the thrift store despite the corner issues, likely caused by --> 😽
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Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
We always talk about the female model's hair when it comes to classic clinch covers, but I REALLY think we need to talk about the male model's hair this time around. #romance #romancelandia @collectingromance.bsky.social
The original cover for Linda Needham's EVER HIS BRIDE (1997).  A white man and a white woman embrace passionately on a windswept moor.  She wears a white (wedding?) dress (sexily falling off her shoulders, of course), and has long, very curly blonde hair.  He wears black pants and a black, poofy shirt (unbuttoned yet still tucked in and ALSO sexily falling off his shoulders, of course), and his straight dark hair is…something else.  It would appear to be about shoulder-length, and the wind is blowing the top into some sort of cockscomb/faux-hawk.  He definitely wins the Ridiculous Hair Competition this time.
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
The first three editions of A Rose In Winter, by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. Avon book club & trade pb eds, 1982, 1st mass market printing, 1983. Which rolled off the press first, the book club or trade pb ed? Does anyone know, for us 1st printing purists? 😄 Illus. by Tom Hall
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
Romance in ancient Egypt! 🌴 Heart Of The Falcon, by Suzanne Robinson Bantam, 1989 Illustrated by Ken Otsuka Desert Nights, by Susan Stern Diamond, 1991 Illustrated by Franco Accornero
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Stepback for Paper Roses, by Patricia Rice Topaz, 1995 Illustrated by Heidi Oberheide
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Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Never forget the March 31, 1934 cover of ALL-STORY LOVE STORIES, AKA the one I like to refer to as "vintage furry." Artist officially unknown, but probably Mary Frances Morgan. #pulp #romance #romancelandia #sorrynotsorry @collectingromance.bsky.social? 😹
The cover in question.  A white man and woman are seemingly about to kiss.  He's dressed in white-tie evening wear, one hand to her face.  She's dressed in a full-body cat costume (grey tabby), her eyes closed and her hands against his chest.  Leonore Arnott's "Belated Honeymoon" is advertised at the bottom, but I have no idea if the cover is related to it in any way.
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Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
@collectingromance.bsky.social, is this a good enough clinch to share? 😉 #pulp #romance #romancelandia www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXBH8LR1
The front cover of THE BEST OF ALL-STORY LOVE: 1929.  The painting (by Paul Stahr) shows a dark-haired white man in a rowboat, saving a blonde white woman from a river.  They're in a nice, classic clinch, with their arms around each other.
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The Smut Report @smutreport.com · 25/10/2025
@collectingromance.bsky.social (and anyone else who might know), is it possible that I found a copy of Skye O'Malley with the original cover art???
Back cover of Skye O'Malley

"There has never been a woman like…Skye O'Malley"

with smaller images of her on the beach in fancy clothes and her in harem garbFront cover of Skye O'Malley by Bertrice Small

A black-haired couple embrace surrounded by roses with a castle in the background
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
A thread of all 12 gothics in Catherine Darby's historical romance Falcon Saga series 🖤 Published in the mid 70s by Popular Library, but no illustrator is credited, unfortunately
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EuroHackie @eurohackie.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
New review: Nurse at Moorcroft Manor (1967). Slim, fast-paced novel with a competent nurse heroine, which unfortunately shows its age because nobody believes her when she says her patient is in trouble 😒 📚 #romancelandia vintageromancereader.dreamwidth.org/23797.html
Nurse at Moorcroft Manor by Sharon Heath. A brunette-haired nurse in a white uniform is embraced by a slightly taller, dark haired man in a black suit. Both have pensive expressions. They are standing behind a vintage Tiffany lamp in the foyer of a manor house.
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
A Gothtober montage of covers by my favorite illustrator of gothics, George Ziel 🦇🖤 He was born in Poland in 1914, survived the Warsaw Ghetto & Dachau concentration camp, then came to the US where he had a highly successful mid-century career as a pulp illustrator
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
When did Signet do it better - 1966 first printing (left) or undated 3rd printing (right)? I'm pretty sure George Ziel illustrated the 1st. 3rd has a signature at lower left, but I can't make it out -- can you? I don't know what cover the 2nd printing has, but possibly the same as the 1st
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Three books in the 1975 Birthstone Gothic series. They are not easy to find on the secondary market for reasonable prices! Do any of you have the entire series? If so I will be filled with admiration, & envy! 💚😄
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
More Gothtober! When did Ace do it better -- 1967 (left) or 1973 (right) Robert Maguire did the 1973 illustration. Not sure about the one on the left.
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Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
It's now October, so time to share this ~spooky~(?) cover. I believe it's referencing the legend that if a gal looks into a mirror at midnight on Halloween, she'll see an image of her future love. 🪞🎃🦇 ALL-STORY LOVE (STORIES OF THE AMERICAN GIRL), Oct. 18, 1930. Art by Madge Geyer. #pulp #romance
A young white woman with black hair looks into a long-handled hand mirror as it reflects an image of a young white man.  She wears a billowy gown (nightgown?) with red roses decorating it, and behind her looms a huge jack o' lantern.  Two bats and a black owl are perched on the top of it, and a third bat flies in the foreground, near her.  The overall background is white.  (The vibe is more whimsical than spooky, if we're being honest.)

The stories "True Lovers' Night" ("A Thrilling Hallowe'en Love Story") and Madeleine Sharps Buchanan's "The Love Island" are advertised in the bottom right corner.
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Happy Gothtober! Here's a vintage gothic romance thread 👻
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
Every so often it's good to pause & remember that this book cover actually exists, in mass market pb & book club hardcover. It'll be a long time before we see the likes of such book covers again Tender Is The Storm, by Johanna Lindsey Avon, 1985 Illustrated by Robert McGinnis
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
🍂🍃🍁 Tempting Fate, by JoAnn Ross Harlequin (Temptation line), 1987 Illustrator uncredited
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
The Harlequin Superromance line is hit or miss in terms of illustration quality, but this 1994 copy's a hit, thanks to Pino Daeni 😍
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Today's thrift store find: gothics! 🖤 Consider this a preview of October content 😁
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Today's thrift store find: gothics! 🖤 Consider this a preview of October content 😁
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Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Happy Labor Day! The perfect day to bring back one of my favorite romance pulp covers: ALL-STORY LOVE STORIES, September 21, 1935. Artist probably Mary Frances Morgan. #romancelandia @collectingromance.bsky.social
A white woman in a pink trench coat looks directly at the viewer and holds a sign around her neck that says, "ON STRIKE — THIS COMPANY UNFAIR TO GIRLS of [rest unreadable]."  A white man stands behind her in a beige trench coat, holding an unopened umbrella, looking at her in what I'm hoping/assuming is admiration.  The whole scene is rainy.
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Wild Texas Rose, by Catherine Creel Fawcett, 1993 Illustrator unidentified, but I think it might be Steve Assel I'm including a photo of the book tipped toward the light in the second post so you can appreciate the heavy embossing
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Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
A unusually lurid story and cover for one of the female-aimed romance pulps (even if ALL-STORY LOVE seems to have been one of the "wilder" ones out there). #pulp #romance? Serialized across 3 issues, it was written by Pauline Kohler, who only has 2 credits listed on The FictionMags Index—this, and…
The cover of the September 1942 issue of ALL-STORY LOVE, advertising "Upstairs In Hitler's House," "a story of a wife's love so great she yielded to the Nazis to save her husband's life."  The photographed cover shows a white, blonde woman in a "Spirit Halloween"-esque French maid costume, looking over her shoulder in horror/offense as she's being manhandled from behind by dollar-store Hitler (AKA, a white man who doesn't at all look like Hitler, except for his hair and little mustache).  He's sitting up in a bed that has a cheaply-crafted swastika adhered to the headboard, and he himself is dressed in black and white stripey pajamas that look like a Spirit Halloween old-timey convict costume.  Going back to the woman, she has her hands full, carrying a tea/coffee tray and one dress strap is falling down her shoulder.  The background is dark blue, and the whole thing reads as fairly campy and comical, despite itself.
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
My Enemy, My Love, by Mary Ann Taylor Pageant, 1988 Illustrated by Ted Sizemore I'm always happy to find a Pageant book, likely because it was a joint venture between Crown & WaldenBooks & WaldenBooks was the happy place of my youth
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
Most of us know about nurse romances, but "lady" doctor romances were a mid-century thing, too! Here are five from an epic vintage paperback (mostly nurse romance) haul I made yesterday at the Bouckville Antiques Show in central NY. These are '60s reprints of earlier hardcovers
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
The Incredible Year, by Faith Baldwin Dell, (pub year not identified in this ed, likely a reprint) Illustrated by S.B. Jones I don't know a lot about Baldwin except that she was hugely prolific in the mid 20th century -- sort of like a mid-century Nora Roberts
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
Hostage Nurse, by Jane Converse Signet, 1973 Illustrator unidentified Nurse romance illustrations from this era are generally chaste, so the shoulder slip here is sorta fun. Do you think it's due to interrupted amorous activity or hostage-related violence?
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
Hostage Nurse, by Jane Converse Signet, 1973 Illustrator unidentified Nurse romance illustrations from this era are generally chaste, so the shoulder slip here is sorta fun. Do you think it's due to interrupted amorous activity or hostage-related violence?
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
The Incredible Year, by Faith Baldwin Dell, (pub year not identified in this ed, likely a reprint) Illustrated by S.B. Jones I don't know a lot about Baldwin except that she was hugely prolific in the mid 20th century -- sort of like a mid-century Nora Roberts
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
Most of us know about nurse romances, but "lady" doctor romances were a mid-century thing, too! Here are five from an epic vintage paperback (mostly nurse romance) haul I made yesterday at the Bouckville Antiques Show in central NY. These are '60s reprints of earlier hardcovers
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Highland Ecstasy, by Mary Burkhardt Zebra, 1993 Illustrated by Renato Aime
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
The Braeswood Tapestry, by Robyn Carr Pocket Books, 1987 (reprint of 1984 original) Illustrated by Sharon Spiak
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Highland Ecstasy, by Mary Burkhardt Zebra, 1993 Illustrated by Renato Aime
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collectingromance.bsky.social @collectingromance.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
The Braeswood Tapestry, by Robyn Carr Pocket Books, 1987 (reprint of 1984 original) Illustrated by Sharon Spiak
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Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
No idea who Mildred Van Inwegen is/was, no idea what "Ten Minutes to One" is about, but damn if that isn't a nice early example of the Gothic romance trope of a woman running away from a spooky house, at night, in a filmy dress. ALL-STORY WEEKLY, July 29, 1916. #pulp
The cover of the magazine (illustrator almost guaranteed to be Frederick Charles William Small), showing, well, a white woman anxiously running away from a house at night.  She wears a white dress that could just be the Edwardian fashion of the time, or could indeed be night-wear—hard to tell.  In a variation from later, stereotypical Gothic covers, the house is not looming (it's a ground floor window that shines sinisterly), but everything else is pretty bang on.  Van Inwegen is also advertised as the "author of 'Bluebeard's Bower.' "
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Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
I've made a blog post about it; I guess I'm officially committed to the project now. 😅 Pulp romance anthology (the best of ALL-STORY LOVE, 1929) in the works! 💕 #romancelandia #booksky 📚💙
lucynka.wordpress.com
Announcement: All-Story Love anthology! (And other sundry things.)
If you follow me on Bluesky, you’ve no doubt already heard the buzz, but for everyone else, I figured it’s about time I made an official post about it.  But yes, I’m getting a pulp romance antholog…
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