Len Leone (1924 - 2013) was the Art Director at Bantam Books from 1955 - 1984. He was instrumental in bringing all manner of new approaches to paperback book design and illustration.
According to Lynn Munroe Books,
In 1965, Bantam art director Len Leone revolutionized the paperback publishing industry with THE TEMPLE OF GOLD by William Goldman. Before this book any blank white space on a mass market paperback cover was considered wasted space. Every inch of each cover had to be filled with color or text. Bantam started experimenting with white backgrounds, first with Mitchell Hooks, then James Bama. The concept really took off with THE TEMPLE OF GOLD. It was stark and riveting, with one figure in hyper-realistic detail and nothing else except a blank white background.
As Brian Kane noted in JAMES BAMA: AMERICAN REALIST, “THE TEMPLE OF GOLD eventually sold millions of copies.” One of those was my copy and I remember it very fondly. This was the first of the “Bama White Bantams”, a style we are celebrating here. Bama created more of them after THE TEMPLE OF GOLD and other artists were enlisted to copy his style. Soon others publishers, notably Dell, Fawcett and Lancer, were putting out copycat covers. It was a clean and dynamic look.
An interesting article about Leone can be found here.
An interesting article about Leone can be found here.
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