I remember my Grandmother reading us this book in the late 70’s, though the book looked much older. I really think it was called ‘The Spiderman’ but it was written way before the Marvel comic book character, and was actually about a man who could turn himself into a little spider. I remember it had black and white illustrations, which showed him as a tiny black spider with a strange man’s face. The pictures were actually pretty comical, but I don’t think that was the intention.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
It sounds like it could be The Adventures of Spider retold by Joyce Cooper Arkhurst and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It was republished so the newer cover may not match your memory. They are West African folktales about a trickster named Spider.
I think this might be Anansi the Spider Man by Philip M. Sherlock, originally published in 1954. The cover photo certainly sounds like what you have described!
Unfortunately, it’s neither of these…thank you for looking, though.