FRENCH COVERS
The “Un Mystère” series, published in paperback by Presses de la Cité in Paris, includes some of the best post-war mystery fiction.

Most of the books were translated into French from contemporary British and American authors, but the series also included some original French stories. The books all have fabulous cover designs, some completely original to the series, but most using the cover illustrations from the British or US editions, with the addition of some very creative typography, the series logo, a yellow stripe and the red postage-stamp author-name panel. The logo for the series is an elephant reading a book and the first editions of the early titles use the logo to make decorative endpapers.

There were a total of 769 numbered titles issued from 1949 to 1966, plus 9 titles with roman numerals. More than 30 Peter Cheyney titles appear, most in the first 100 of the series.

Incidentally, the first foreign book published in hardback by the Presses de la Cité was Cheyney’s Dark Duel as Duel dans l‘ombre.

click on the “Un Mystère” logo to view the whole list
No. 5 No. 10 No. 14 No. 21 No. 21 re-issue No. 36 No. 36 re-issue
No. 42 No. 43 No. 52 No. 56 No. 56 re-issue No. 62 No. 63
No. 64 No. 66 No. 68 No. 72 No. 74 No. 77 No. 78
No. 79 No. 79 re-issue No. 82 No. 83 No. 85 No. 85 re-issue No. 86
No. 86 re-issue No. 89 No. 94 No. 95 No. 106 No. 114 No. 114 re-issue
No. 130 No. 142 No. 154 No. 167
La môme vert de gris by Peter Cheyney, published in 1945, was the first title in the Série Noire. With a similar list to the Un Mystère series, the books have been published for 60 years with distictive yellow and black covers. (click on the logo to see more on the series)

More classic French cover art from hardback Presses de la Cité editions, and other publishers