How many titles do you suppose were published from the 50's-70's?

[Penfeather]

There were probably thousands of titles published during this period, but I'd wager a good third of them were mystery/horror/thrillers repackaged as "Gothics". There was such a craze during the 1970s that publishers couldn't keep up with demand, so they slapped Gothic-style covers on everything under the sun and hoped readers wouldn't notice. I have a hunch this was partly responsible for the decline of the genre; the quality slipped and the emphasis on sub-genres like "Satanic Gothics" drained the blood out of the field and into the rising tributary of modern horror fiction.

P.S. -- Not that some of these horror Gothics weren't good -- just that the genre broke up along faultlines and continental drift finished it off.

P.P.S. -- Excuse my bad metaphors . . . I've been reading Raymond Chandler lately.