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Sam Peffer was born in 1921. He was the
son of an interior decorator who had previously served
in the Royal Navy during World War I, who was wounded twice
in the line of duty. In his early days, Peffer made a living
painting front of house displays for cinemas in London's
West End.
When conflict broke out again in 1939,
Peffer followed in his father's footsteps during World
War II,
also serving in the Royal Navy.
Disaster struck when his
ship
was sunk by enemy action during whilst in convoy in
Malta. Peffer survived and after demobilisation, he decided
to follow a career in art despite being an promising
amateur
boxer
with agents interested taking him in to professionalism. |
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Above: Sam Peffer models himself
for a jacket he painted in 1958, during his tenure
as 007 cover artist. |
He joined a course at the Hornsey School of Art and worked for
Theatre Publicity, a company that created projection slides for
cinemas. Peffer moved up the ranks and then joined British cinema
advertising company Pearl and Dean, and by the mid-1950s had
taken charge
of the art department. It was there that Peffer met colleague
John Vernon, who would go on to create over a hundred covers
for Ace Books.
Above: Sam Peffer's visualisation
of James Bond on the Pan paperback "Casino Royale"
(3rd to 7th editions, 1958
- 1961)
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In 1955, Peffer started to work as a freelance illustrator, and
was quickly picked up by Panther Books. His talents were spotted
by Pan art buyer Tony Bowen-Davies, who visited Peffer at his
flat in Finsbury Park and recruited him to his agency John
Martin and
Artists.
 The
Art Of Sam Peffer
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The "Peff" era at Pan began in 1956,
with Peffer being paid up to £45 for each cover,
but no royalties or second-right sales. At the time of
publication,
few viewed the covers as art in its own right, with the
priority set on creating a "saleable" design. Much to the
chagrin of art editors, he signed all his covers "Peff",
a nickname his picked up during his Navy years.
Pan
held the rights to publish the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming
in paperback between the 1950s and the 1980s.
Artist Josh
Kirby created American style pulp covers for
Pan's first few 007 publications with varying depictions
of Bond, but Peffer created a consistent visualisation
of the popular hero when he took over the series in 1957,
basing the character's appearance on model Dick Orme.
During the swinging-sixties and the height of Bondmania,
the money being offered by Pan for his artwork was in decline
as film tie-in covers were cashed in with the launch of Sean
Connery as 007, and cheaper artwork flooded in from Italy.
Peffer also painted for Digit books and created some Hank
Janson covers for Compact.
Left: "From Russia With Love" British Pan paperback 1st-9th
editions (1959 onwards) |
By the 1970s, Peffer had
moved from book covers to more lucrative work on British
cinema quad posters, where he was paid up to £200
a time and created over 200 film posters for sex comedies,
sci-fi and adventure movies.
He produced a lot of his posters
for Stanley Long and was noted as a painter for "the
raincoat brigade".
Right: British quad poster for the 1978
sci-fi adventure "Prisoner of the Cannibal God" starring
Ursula Andress |
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Sam Peffer died on March 14th 2014 at the age of 92. He is survived
by his wife Kitty (Kit) who had modelled for many of his covers.
Related Articles
The
Art Of Sam Peffer
 James
Bond Literary Coverage
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