The Top Notch Covers of Top-Notch Magazine!


Top-Notch Magazine was a pulp magazine that ran from 1910 to 1937.  It was published by Smith & Street and, like most pulp magazines of the time, it was full of stories of crime, adventure, and sports.  The magazine featured early work from writers like Jack London, Robert E. Howard, Lester Dent, and L. Ron Hubbard before he tried to warn the world about evil lord Xenu.

Below are a few of the covers of Top-Notch Magazine!  Where known, the artist have been credited.

by Robert G. Harris

by Rafael De Soto

by Emery Clarke

Artist Unknown

Artist Unknown

Artist Unknown

Artist Unknown

Artist Unknown

Artist Unknown

Artist Unknown

Artist Unknown

Artist Unknown

Artist Unknown

 

Artist Profile: Robert G. Harris (1911 — 2007)


A prolific pulp illustrator, Robert G. Harris was born in Kansas City, Missouri and began studying for his career as an artist while still in high school, attending night school at the Kansas City Art Institute.  He also studied at both Grand Central Art School in New York City and at the Arts Student League.  Over the course of his education, he was taught by renowned illustrators like Monte Crews, Harvey Dunn, and George Bridgeman.

His education paid off when Harris opened his own New York-based studio in 1933 and he quickly found success doing covers for both the pulps and for the leading “women’s magazines” of the time.  In 1953, he relocated to Arizona, where he spent the rest of his life.  After retiring from commercial illustration in 1961, Harris continued to be renowned for his portraits and his paintings of life in the old west.

Below is just a small sampling of his work.