Novelas de Amor

I've been meaning to get these vintage Mexican novela covers up on our blog for a while now and since there's no time like the present, here we have it. These are the original, handmade and mostly anonymous collages using ads and other printed materials of the time (50's and 60's) highlighted and transformed by the artists painting. One of them even blatantly uses an old movie poster featuring Gina Lollobrigida in Solomon and Sheba. On the back of many of them is the information that would be printed on the cover of the small format books, such as the title, series number, and price.

We think they make great Valentine's Day presents - they're one of a kind and all seem to capture a moment right before someone's life changes forever: sideways glances, a confession wrapped up in a joke, one hand gently landing on another all delivered in the unintentionally hilarious language of mid-century advertisements.

These are just a few samples, it was hard to choose which ones to feature here and everyone finds a different favorite. And I realize now I didn't even scan Gina, guess you'll have to come in and see for yourself. Or email us if you can't make it here and we'll be glad to provide more images for you.


What does that cat know?


Girl has Valentine's Day locked down...


Girl with anime eyes...


A toast to us...