Born on January 5, 1926, in Hammond, Indiana, Robert Kennedy Abbett was one of the leading magazine and paperback illustrators of the late 1950s, 60s, and 70s. He illustrated book covers for war novels, detective novels, thrillers, historical fiction, and science fiction. You’ll also find his work in digest magazines such as Dell’s All Western Magazine and Zane Grey’s Western Magazine, as well as men’s adventure magazines such as Popular’s Argosy and Fawcett’s Cavalier.
A graduate of Purdue University and the University of Missouri, Abbett also attended night and weekend classes at both the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the American Academy of Art. After moving to Connecticut in 1953 to be closer to the magazine and book markets, he began freelancing for Argosy, Reader’s Digest, Sports Afield, True, The Woman’s Home Companion, and other magazines. He also worked for several motion picture studios.
In popular culture circles, Bob Abbett is best known for his paperback covers for Ace Books, Avon, Ballantine Books, Bantam Books, Dell Books, Fawcett Gold Medal, Permabooks, Pocket Books, Pyramid, and other publishers. He developed a strong relationship with Ian and Betty Ballantine of Ballantine Books. “They were guests at our home, and we visited with them at theirs. For his position, Ian was a reachable person and would promptly answer my calls.”
When offered the chance to illustrate Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan and Mars series for Ballantine Books, Abbett jumped in wholeheartedly. He painted covers for all eleven of the’ Barsoom novels and twenty Tarzan books, including Fritz Leiber’s movie adaptation of Tarzan and the Valley of Gold. The artist would also paint the cover art for Ballantine’s 1966 edition of The Mucker.
Abbett’s cover paintings also graced works by crime novelists ranging from Agatha Christie, John Creasey, Richard Deming, Erle Stanley Gardner, William Campbell Gault, Jonathan Latimer, Ellery Queen, Sax Rohmer, Rex Stout, Jim Thompson, and others. He also contributed cover art for westerns by Louis L’Amour, Peter Dawson, and Max Brand; science fiction by Philip José Farmer, George R. Stewart, and H. G. Wells; bestsellers by Jacqueline Susann and Taylor Caldwell; and historical fiction by Eddison Marshall, Jeffrey K. Gardner, and Cécil Saint-Laurent.
In his later years, Robert Abbett became very well known for his paintings of wildlife, hunting, fishing, horses, and, in particular, sporting dogs. Named one of the top outdoor artists of America in Sports Afield‘s 100th Anniversary issue, Bob Abbett passed away at his home in Bridgewater, Connecticut, in 2015.
His paintings are in the permanent collections of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, the National Bird Dog Museum in Grand Junction, Tennessee, the Genesee Country Wildlife Museum in Mumford, New York, the American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog in St. Louis, and private collections.
Our featured image is excerpted from Robert K. Abbett’s cover for Wade Miller’s Deadly Weapon, published by the New American Library’s Signet Books in 1960.
Many thanks to PulpFest dealer Bob Deis for sharing with us Bob Abbett’s cover for the April 1968 issue of True, The Man’s Magazine. Published by Fawcett Publications from 1937 until 1974, True featured high adventure, sports profiles, humor pieces, “Strange But True” articles, and the like.
Synthetic Men of Mars is one of the 30+ Edgar Rice Burroughs covers that Robert Abbett painted for Ballantine Books. The D.A. Cooks a Goose — one of nine books featuring Erle Stanley Gardner’s crusading district attorney, Doug Selby — was published by Cardinal Books in 1959 with cover art by Abbett.
Our final image was adapted by William Lampkin from Robert K. Abbett’s original cover art for Philip José Farmer’s Dare, first published by Ballantine Books in 1965.
Norman Bean is an Edgar Rice Burroughs fan who joined our staff of volunteer post-writers in August 2023. Norm has written about conventions, “pulp paleontology,” our dealers, and, of course, ERBFest and the author himself. We look forward to his continued contributions to our website.
