The pulp novel had it's roots with the "dime novels" of the late 19th century, named so after the cheap wood pulp paper that was used in the production process. They reached their peak of popularity from the the 1920s through the 1950s. They were more notable for their cover art than their literary content, which mainly consisted of westerns, adventure stories, science fiction, and especially lurid tales of vice. This latter group usually featured an illustration of a "bad girl" on the cover, the better to catch the buyer's eye. And since bad girls often smoked cigarettes, they became a staple for this genre's cover art. Here are a few examples of pulp art featuring smoking women.

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