Throughout his career Warhol created numerous artist books based on his drawings. However, he also designed book covers for other authors. These drawings are a study for the front and back covers of a novel by Leslie Edgley called ‘The Runaway Pigeon’ (titled ‘Diamonds Spell Death’ outside America). The story involves a heist in a diamond merchants followed by a chase across several American states. The two illustrations combine marbleised paper, which Warhol was experimenting with at this time, and his blotted-line technique. There are also handwritten annotations and a rectangle marked around part of the drawing, indicating a selection that he would perhaps like to use as the cover.