APICTORIALHISTORYOF

STORIES

TWO HUNDRED
YEARS OF
ILLUSTRATIONS
FROMTHEPULP
MAGAZINES
PETERHAINING
APICTORIALHISTORYOF
APICTORIALHISTORYOF

STORIES
200 Years of Spine-Chilling Illustrations
from the Pulp Magazines

PETER RAINING
Designed by Christopher Scott

TREASURE
PRESS
FOR WINDY AND WOOF —
WHO CLEARED THE AIR!

First published in Great Britain in 1976 by

Souvenir Press Ltd under the title Terror!

This edition published in 1985 by

Treasure Press
59 Grosvenor Street
London W1
Copyright © 1976 by Peter Haining and Pictorial
Presentations

ISBN 1 85051 059 8

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the Copyright owner.

Printed in Portugal by EDIQOES ASA

ContentsIntroduction
1 .

2. Gothic Chapbooks and Shilling Shockers

3. Penny Bloods and Penny Dreadfuls
4. Victorian Sensational Fiction
5. The Pulp Explosion
6. The Legendary 'Weird Tales'
7. The Masters of Horror
8. A Dying Tradition ?
Acknowledgements

5
 The Magician's End' — a frontispiece by an
unknown artist for the Gothic chapbook.
The Devil's Wager (1 806).

1. Introchic^tion
The easily-accessible medium of television has been bringing
horror — real horror, that is, the horror of death, destruction
—
and war into our homes for over a quarter of a century:
while the cinema just a street or two away has made much
the same available for perhaps three times that period. It is
a fact of life that most people are now almost immune, able A famous Gothic 'blood'. 'The Black
Monk, or. The Secret of the Grey Turret'
to watch unmoved while film cameramen bring back pictures by James Malcolm Rymer (1844).
from the very centre of some nationalistic war, or view at
first hand rampaging terrorism in the heart of so-called
civilised cities. The very word horror now has so many
connotations that they have virtually obscured its original
meaning.
It was not always the case, of course —
before the port-
able camera and moving cine film, the harsh realities of
conflict could be disguised and the heroics and bravery
glamourised out of all proportion. War and death were what
writers and reporters wanted them to be, or thought they
ought to be not the savage, bloody and ultimately degrading
:

experience they in fact are.

This is just one aspect of horror in our lives, however,
though certainly the one which most widely impinges on our
consciousness. There are plenty more, and it is with one
particular element that we are concerned here: with horror
as entertainment. In the light of what have
I just been saying.
6
 Gruesome murder picture by Mary Byfield
for the 'Penny Dreadful' magazine The
Ghost (1833).

itis perhaps not immediately easy to see any pleasure to be

—
had from horror but that is to deny a very basic human
instinct; the instinct of fear.
Fearis an essential part of the human psychie, something

we possess, even though we hear from time to time of a

all

person being 'absolutely fearless'. It just isn't true, of course,

for somewhere in everyone there is a demon that lurks
waiting to stir up unease under the right circumstances. It is
no bad thing to admit to either, for in a world of stress and
tension we all need an outlet, a safety valve of some kind,
to release that tension. And for quite a considerable number
of us — —
and admit to belonging the thrill of terror is one.
I

By terror, let me hasten to add, mean the artificial creation

I

of mysterious events just beyond the horizon of everyday

life, but closely enough linked to reality to carry the right Paul Hardy illustration for Fred White's
sensational story. 'The Purple Terror' from
atmosphere of conviction. In other words a passport to the the Strand. August 1 899.
dark side of man's nature: not his cruel or animal instincts,
but his age-old inheritance of being afraid of what lurks, or
might lurk, in the shadows.
That is what the kind of terror have in mind is ail about.
I

And if we turn to literature, and even folk-lore and legends

before that, we find that the story of the strange and the
mysterious is almost as old as man himself. Art, too, from
the earliest cave drawings right through to the present time,
reflects man's fascination with the inexplicable and the
mysterious that he senses all around him. These, indeed,
have often gone hand in hand, each in its own way throwing
light on man's absorption with the unknown.
To attempt any kind of history of such an enormous topic
would be quite impossible: certainly to do it anything like
justice. Those who have studied man and the mysteries have
usually confined themselves to specific periods or particular
elements, and used the written word rather than the picture
to argue their case. In this book, I have attempted something
7
 One of Maurice Greiffenhagen's superb
pictures for Rider-Haggard's fantasy novel.
'Ayesha' serialised in The Windsor
Magazine (1 905).

rather different: a history of terror through the illustrations

from two centuries of popular magazines.
The reason for my selecting such a time period is two-
fold. Firstly, it coincides with the emergence of the Gothic
horror story, the evolution of the old folk tradition of telling Ronald Clyne drawing for 'The Highway-
man' by Lord Dunsany from Famous
grim legends into a properly constructed tale aimed at Fantastic Mysteries. December 1944.
thrilling the reader. Coincidental with this new genre came
the first attempts at widespread education, at making the
simple attributes of reading and writing available to every-
one. And with the success of this enormous step, came,
naturally enough, the publication of the first inexpensive
'magazines' aimed at an artisan readership. And the publishers
of such material were quickly alert to the appeal of the
unknown, of the public's fascination with ghosts, monsters
and all the many elements of the supernatural. They
realised, too, the impact illustrations could have on the
reader: consequently beginning the tradition which forms
the subject matter of this book.
Since that time, the turn of the nineteenth century, terror
illustration in magazines has continued as an unbroken
tradition to the present day. While for much of this time it
has been an accompaniment to stories, it has of late taken
on a new role in comic-books and strip-cartoon form where
the drawings alone tell the story. But this is a separate
development which cannot be embraced in a work such as
8
 !

this.Also here we are dealing with magazines rather than Alex Schomburg illustrating The Dead
Who Walk' by Ray Cummings from
comics, and placing especial emphasis on the 'pulp' Thrilling Mystery. March 1940,
magazines of the first half of this century.
These 'pulp' magazines have recently enjoyed an enor-
mous renaissance of interest, and while much has already
been written on their contents and extracts have been taken
for reprinting in anthologies, this book represents the first
attempt to present some of the best illustrative material from
the terror and horror magazines in book form. am well I

aware of the several compilations from the Science Fiction

publications which have been made available but here — I

have drawn a line between the two genres, although on

occasions it has to be admitted the dividing line is exceedingly Perhaps the most striking of the modern
Lee Brown Coye. drew this heading
artists.
thin
Warner's story in Fantastic.
for J. G.
Our journey down the by-ways of terror illustrations, then, February 1 963.
will take us from Gothic chapbooks of the early nineteenth
century, through the famous 'Penny Dreadfuls', Victorian
sensational fiction, the enormously prolific 'pulps' and from
thence into the sadly declining number of similar publica-
tions today. Where once the illustrated magazine reigned
supreme, now photography, television and the cinema have
stolen the public's fickle attention.
But for those of us who remember even a part of this
panorama of pictorial thrills, here is a reminder of what used
to excite and intrigue us month by month. For those lately
come, the book will undoubtedly prove a revelation for —
there is something about the superbly executed artistry of the
best terror pictures that none of the modern mediums can
quite equal.
So prepare for a trip down memory lane. But remember
this particular lane is a dark one, peopled from the recesses
of the human mind . . . and do go along it when the lights
are still burning brightly.
9
2. Gothic
Chapbooks
& Shilling
Shockers
 The modern interest in terror or horror
fiction owes its origins almost entirely to
one work. The Monk by Matthew Lewis
which was first published in 1796 and
called by one critic, 'a mass of murder,
outrage, diablerie and indecency'. The
success of this work, despite several
attempts to have it banned as obscene,
focused attention on the whole world of
horrors which awaited writers, and its
theme of a young monk who becomes
obsessed with sex and demonology and
eventually sells his soul to the devil, has
been endlessly drawn on ever since. This
anonymous illustration is from an edition
of 1801.

Another book to enjoy great notoriety

was 'Melmoth The Wanderer' written by
an eccentric Irish curate, Charles Robert
Maturin. and published in 1820. Again
the theme is of a man who signs a pact
with the devil in return for eternal youth.
But as the years pass, the man, Melmoth.
realises the frightful implications of
living for ever, and he travels the world
seeking an antidote —
which takes him
from the pagan rites of India to the
horrors of the Spanish Inquisition. Here he
is confronted by a vengeful group of

night spectres (from an edition of 1 826).

12
Who does not know what b/uebooks mean ? (Page 10) Confrontation with the
spirits of the dead was the most popular
If there should be anyone, these volumes, of all themes in Gothic novels and chap-

so designated from their covers, embodied books. These spirits were usually the
ghosts of those who had been wronged
stories of haunted castles, bandits, murderers
—
during their lifetime perhaps even
—
and other grim personages a most exciting —
murdered and had returned to exact
retribution. Occasionally the writers of the
and interesting food! chapbooks could be a little more imagina-
tive. as in the case of the anonymous
THOMAS MEDWIN
sixpenny 'blue book' published by Ann
Shilling Shockers of the Gothic School
Lemoine entitled The Black Forest: or The
Cavern of Horrors! (1802). The caption to
the picture by S. Sharpe tells all. "The
terror ofHenry at the appearance of a
The Gothic novels of the turn of the nineteenth century burst skeleton waving a Bloody Sword.'
on the reading public like an explosion. Beginning in 1764
with the publication —
appropriately on Christmas Eve — of
Horace Walpole's eerie novel. The Castle of Otranto, English
literature saw the development of a whole new genre of
books and short stories. Such was the impact of this material,
that the essayist Leigh Hunt was noting in 1821 that all
contemporary fiction seemed to be full of 'Haunting Old
Women and Knocking Ghosts, and Solitary Lean Hands, and
Empusas on one leg, and Ladies Growing Longer and
Longer, and Horrid Eyes meeting us through Keyholes: and
Plaintive Heads and Shrieking Statues and Shocking
Anomalies of Shape and Things which, when seen, drove
people mad'.
Gothic novels fell conveniently into two categories — the
Gothic 'Romance' in which the luckless heroine had to face
all manner of dark perils but invariably triumphed (a formula

still hard-worked today!) and the Gothic 'Tales of Terror'

which opened the floodgates of imagination to a variety of

Still among the most widely read of all
horrors and saw the production of such now-classic works
horror novels. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
as M. G. Lewis's The Monk (1796), The Mysteries of (1818) was the product of a nightmare the
Udolpho (1794), by the reclusive Mrs Ann Radcliffe, the youftg authoress (she was only nineteen at
the time) suffered while staying with her
eccentric Reverend Charles Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer lover, the poet Shelley, in Switzerland.

(1820) and the fabulously-wealthy William Beckford's The work drew on the current scientific
interest in the creation of life, and has
oriental mystery, Vathek (1786). Both types were mercilessly subsequently proved endlessly popular as
pirated by unscrupulous publishers to feed the appetites a source of inspiration in all the branches
of literature and entertainment- This
of newly-educated readers who could not cope with the illustration by T, Holst was the frontispiece
long, two- and three-volume originals but delighted in the to the 1 831 edition.

inexpensive chapbook versions with their simple plain-blue

covers and sensational engravings inside. Many of these,
not surprisingly, have come to be known as 'Shilling
Shockers'.
Commenting on this development, Edith Birkhead has
written in The Tale of Terror (1921): 'Ingenious authors
realised that it was possible to compress into the five pages
of a short story as much sensation as was contained in the
five volumes of a Gothic romance. For the brevity of the
tales, which were issued in chapbooks, readers were com-
pensated by gaudily coloured illustrations and double-
barrelled titles ... It is in these brief, blood-curdling romances
that we may find the origin of the short tales of terror which
became so popular a form of literature in the nineteenth
century.

13
 '

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Tales of Terror!
OR, 1

MORE GHOSTS.
miH rotutvo t couriiTi 1

PHANTASMAGORIA.

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(Left) Four of the now almost impossibly
nineteenth-century Gothic 'blue
rare early
books' —
or ’Shilling Shockers' as they are
sometimes called —
which were the cheap
equivalents of the Gothic novels. These
publications, which varied in size from 36
pages to 72 (and in price from sixpence to
one shilling), were often little more than
extensively cut and pirated versions of
The Monk and other best selling three-
volume works. They earned their name of
'blue books' because of the plain blue
wrapper into which the text pages were
bound. These pages were printed on
rough paper of the king which clearly
shows them to have been the first 'pulp'
publications.

(Right) A feature of some of the 'blue

books’— and, doubtless, a sales factor as
far as the publishers were concerned
were folding illustrations tucked into the
book facing the title page. These en-
gravings opened to about double the size
of the book and invariably depicted some
highly dramatic moment from the text; like
this example 'The Victim of Monkish
Cruelty' from one of the many plagiarisms
of Lewis's The Monk.

(Above) Just two examples of the plights

women found themselves confronted with
in Gothic fiction as a sacrifice to the
:

Devil in 'The Spectre Bride' and at the

mercy of a dog-headed creature in 'The
Field of Terror'. Both illustrations are from
a popular weekly publication. Tates of
Terror published in the 1820’s and illu-
by the evocative and
strated skilful John
Seymour.
3. Penny
Bloods
& Penny
Dreadfuls
Perhaps the best remembered of all the isa rambling, but often exciting and always
'Penny Bloods' has been ‘Varney the bloodthirsty story of a vampire and his
Vampire' which enjoyed enormous success victims, and is thought to be based on an
during the years (1845-7), when it actual occurrence, though this has never
appeared in eight-page weekly penny been substantiated. The appeal of the
parts. The authorship of this work which penny publication was undoubtedly
eventually ran to 220 chapters and nearly enhanced by the vivid engravings which
a thousand pages has been much disputed appeared on the first page of each issue.
between two of the best-known 'hacks' Such illustrations were a feature of all
of their day, James Malcolm Rymer and the publications from the firm of Edward
Thomas Peckett Prest, although Rymer Lloyd in London.
now seems the most likely choice. 'Varney'

VARNEY, THE YAMPYRE;

THE FEAST OF BLOOD
(Top) Villagers seeking the body of the
undead vampire, and (below) when
Varney arises from his coffin as night
falls he sends two body snatchers running
for their lives I

(Left) The front page of the first issue of

'Varney the Vampire' was enough to chill
the blood of any Victorian reader, and
while the vampire did make a savage
attack on a young girl in the opening
chapter, the depiction of him as almost a
skeleton was a bit of artistic licence!

Opposite
(Top) Varney is about to seize on a young

maiden to satisfy his blood lust, but

(middle) he remains calm when con-
fronted by a mob convinced he is behind
the attacks and out to destroy him.

(Below) Although all those who had

been turned into vampires by Varney had
to be put to their final rest in the tradi-
tionalmanner by having a wooden stake
driven through their hearts, the master of
the undead had to bring about his own
end when his interest in blood-letting (and
that of the public) finally ran out — by
jumping into a volcano!

18
It was thought at the time that 'Penny Dreadfuls' were the
origin of all youthful crimes and parents not only
banned them, but. when discovered, burned them
without mercy.
JOHN JAMES WILSON
Penny Dreadfuls and Penny Bloods
The inventionof the rotary steam printing press early in the
nineteenth century turned the rapidly increasing tide of
cheap publications into a flood. Aided by this high-speed
machinery, and equipment capable of making huge quantities
of rough paper, publishers were able to turn out weekly
serials and short story magazines which soon rejoiced in the
title of 'Penny Bloods'. In these publications, luridly illu-

strated with woodcuts which put the previous Gothic

school to shame, the tradition of ghosts and ghouls was taken
still further into the worlds of demonology, occultism,
torture and unbridled lust.
If the publishers of the Gothic chapbooks had been
unscrupulous men, the 'Penny Blood' merchants were still
more so, for they not only pirated material but often put it
out under a name so close to the original author's as to be
virtually indistinguishable. Charles Dickens was one of the
worst sufferers, his Pickwick being stolen for the Penny
Pickwick and a whole host of tales appeared bearing the by-
line 'Bos'. That the writers and publishers were successful —
and the law amazingly protected them from prosecution! —
can be judged by C. A. Stonehill's comment that, 'It is highly
probable that in its day more people read Thomas Brest's
First False Step or The Maniac Father than had ever heard
of a book published in the same decade, entitled Jane Eyre.
Thomas Brest was just one of an army of hack writers who
turned out stories and serials for publishers such as the
notorious Edward Lloyd —
receiving a pittance for their
labours and not a few dying in penury and broken health.
The work was intensely demanding for if a particular 'Penny
Blood' was selling well the excitement and inventiveness
had to be stepped up each week —
if not, an expansive and

complicated plot might have to be wound up in a single

issue But then the readership was hardly sophisticated, and
!

it has been maintained with justification that it was the

illustrations which actually attracted the readers.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, the 'Penny
Blood' was being aimed more at a juvenile market as the
overall standard of literacy improved. This lead to the 'Penny
Dreadful' which usually featured a young hero who was
pitched into the most alarming situations on land or water.
The almost legendary Jack Harkaway was by far the most
popular such character, but he had to fight a long running
circulation war with other such favourites as Dick Turpin,
Robin Hood, et af The era of these publications was cer-
tainly a remarkable one in Britain, Europe and America for,
as the printer Charles Knight has noted, 'The penny magazine
produced a revolution in popular art throughout the world.'
19
20
Perhaps the most remarkable of all the
illustrators of penny publications was
Mary Byfield, whose terrifying engravings
can still chill even the hardest viewer
today. This quiet and secretive woman
who lived in London was much in demand
by publishers, but appears to have enjoyed
her longest association with the Holborn
publisher. Richardson, who issued the
enormously popular and now extremely
rare Terrific Register for many years. The
SIX examples of her work here are taken
from issues in the middle 1820s-

(Opposite) Two
Miss Byfield's best
of
supernatural illustrations: at the top The
Midnight Assassination' concerning a
young Irish couple haunted by the ghost
of their murder victim; and (below) 'There
is a Skeleton in Every House' which

decorated an essay on family jealousy and

murder.

(Top) Like her readers. Miss Byfield was

fascinated by stories in far-off locations.-
Here she gruesomely illustrates Morlachian
robbers roasting alive two Turkish prisoners,
while (above) she depicts the punishment
meted out to Russian pirates caught on
the Volga. The middle illustration shows
the unfortunate Lord Balmerino whose
head needed two blows of the axe to
sever it at his execution on Tower Hill in
1746. (This is one of the few illustrations
on which Mary Byfield signed her name in
full). Finally (bottom) one of her many

illustrations of torture —
another favourite
subject with readers— depicting a female
criminal being broken on the wheel in
Brussels.

21
 THE OLD HOUSE OF WEST STREET. •»25

tivs^ed Ly constant disappointments, that he chance of the discovery, so important^ to'them,

knew not how to roninie her. Indeed, he began being made, seemed utlerly at an end. It was
to despair al'nost as much as herself. It now not easily that they could persuade themselves,
appeared that the vilialn^Haggeity had Indeed alter the lapse of so many years, that Mrs. Wal-
spoken the truth, when he asserted that there was ton was still living, and, consequently, they could
no other person but himself who was acquainted see no probability of the mystery being unra-
with the secret of Marian’s birth, and thus all velled.

Slid self-reproach constantly tortured her to a

degree almost tey'iul eiidiirauce.
Mrs. Selby remained in th? same melancholy
slate of mind, and although the dliclosure the
had made of her errors had somewhat relieved
her conscience, and she was sincerely penitent,
yet she felt that she h.H'I so greatly sinned, that
she could scarcely ho[ c for paidor. and her heart
revolted at the idea of continuing a burthen upon
those on whom she had no claim, although they
did all they could to make her mind easy upon
that subject, and behaved with the utmost kind
ness and consideration towards her. Rose also
freely pardoned her for the injuries she had In-
flicted upon her, and behaved to her with the
greatest respect; greatly indebted as she felt
to her for having been the means of revealing the
Many a pang did this cost Valentine and our mystery of her birth, which, but foriter, might
beroioe; all the bright hopes they had formed of never have been penetrated.
being united together in the indissoluble bonds of The circumstance of the unexpected meeting
matrimony, appeared fated never to be realized, with Clarrington frequently occupied their
and, without that consummation of their wishes, thoughts, and while Hose regretted that she had
the world would in future present no charms for inadvertently made known to him who she really
them. Their love daily iocreased, even as their was, she could not but feel satisfied that she bad
hopes diminished, and when alone, and in each been the means of saving his life; for although
others society, they could not but deplore, in the he was the assassin of her father, and no one
most bitter terms, the untowardneis of their could entertain a greater disgust and horror
destiny. towards him than she did, at the same time
I
Deeply did Mrs. Mslvin feel (or them, but she could not forget that be was also the bro-
alas! what relief could she alTord them! And ther of her mother. Sincerely she hoped that he
this,coupled with her own painful secret, ren- might not be apprehended, for she shuddered at
dered her truly miserable. Could she but have the idea of the ignorohiious fate he would then
bund courage to nnburthen her mind of the meet with and^he trusted that he might yet live
;

heavy weight which had for so many years op- to repent of his atrocious crimes, and ultimately
pressed it, she might have found some amelio- die a natural death in a foreign land, and his
tetioii of her anguish ;
but she could not, she offences be buried in oblivion.
dared not ;
and the gloomy retrospection «f the The pursuit after him was still continued with
past filled her bosom with the bitterest remorse, unabated vigilance, but, as has been shown, with-

(Opposite) Perhaps Lloyd's most

Edward Lloyd, as the most prolific and outstretched arms' from his stable of enduring claim to fame is as the first
successful of the publishers of Penny anonymous artists. Thomas Peckett Prest publisher of the Sweeney Todd story.
Bloods, knew only too well the importance was one of Lloyd's most popular writers The legend of the 'Demon Barber' of Fleet
of the illustration on the front page of each and produced many stories of terror, such Street was first recounted by Thomas
issue. Though little attention was given to as 'The Old House of West Street' (1846) Prest in a story rather mundanely titled

noting 'what had gone before' — stories and 'The Smuggler King' (1844) where 'The String of Pearls' in Lloyd's publica-
could carry on in mid-sentence from the the villain finally reveals himself to be of tion The People's Periodical (1846-7).
previous number —
Lloyd made sure all the royal blood! Prest's 'Newgate' (1846—7) This was subsequently republished in
pictures had plenty of drama and excite- ran almost as long as 'Varney' (800 pages) penny parts (from which the smaller
ment. This was particularly true of those and cashed in on 'the enormous public engraving is taken) and thereafter became

stories with any hint of the macabre about interest in crime which had been catered part of folklore: to this day the puzzle as to
them: for these Lloyd would demand to for generations by the famous Newgate whether Sweeney Todd was a real person
plenty of blood, gore, staring eyes and Calendar. or merely imaginary remains unsolved.

22
 . ,

nii;

PEOPLE’S PERIODICAL
F A M I L ^ LIBRA R Y.
EDITED BY E. LLOYD.
[Price One f‘Ks:;Y.
Nr,, l.i, V„t. II FOR THE WKRK ENDING JANUARY ?, 1347.

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•'vir noirvou .lo Ri.
tome. Ob. tbai fatal suing
_^f
'
friRtidsbii. for <>'«
nunli.i..re probable
r douliej YOur “"r'';''
p.i'
I’";,

''u' ’
lit I il.J iuiloeJ jbriiik iV'iii _
Mark Iiiiresl.le and Thorn-
aul wlu-' I i-. *’"'lVtiil. indeed 1 for if
-omw^ over «lat sUuI.l b,*. po-st-Moii ol
y
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the -ame pci-.n. the
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-miisliiDP ol' vour Wart. lUii-
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hifli Joterri'd
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‘"-fuU-a I'"".’''"- •
T m-nr.M « JouM «|.'i. Uni V"”!'U
Iial 1 tl" I.’'-
.Ifbaiuia. !.- «--t,lI bfltovo „.,1 .« VO. mill tiu.l ill .11
sVnoi ill-ral-a.
jo.vlouvy ..J vyool'U In--'
cm«" ml..", f 'vill I-' M' 101H.V11C0; lt.-vt
O"; 7m.' mill eviK wbieli fonJ -ma
.11
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"irii'j. vm.
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It is so ; I believe, it i. «. Arabe la ;
but a lyse

pu" Ciu vou gatlier truo' V'

truly I am myself
JuUaui.a. •-'> >'a^c if, rci- me wbat to do. for
^ j
• ALusdaDi-c «r Lopn, you think it is posuLk to ,

log'i’tK-'' aetioa. Tell me wliat

amtvofilic .WatU of
 If Prest was The King of the Penny Bloods'

as many people called him. the man who

subsequently took over his role was
undoubtedly George W. M, Reynolds.
Indeed, so prolific was his writing and so
popular the penny parts in which Reynold's
work appeared, that on his death in 1879
it was said that he had been more widely-

read in his lifetime than either of his

contemporaries Thackeray and Dickens.
Reynolds introduced supernatural themes
into'several of his works, but three stories
stand out above the rest, and illustrations
from them are reproduced on these pages.
'Wagner the Were-Wolf (1846—7) is
probably only slightly less famous than
'Varney the Vampire', and it is certainly
one of the earliest stories, if not the very
first novel in English, to deal with the
were-wolf theme
(Top) Wagner is an adventurous young
man. able to change into a wolf, who
undergoes a series of supernatural adven-
tures in sixteenth-century Italy. Accom-
panied by his mistress, a beautiful
murderess named Nisida, Wagner becomes
involved with Italian bandits, Rosicrucians.
Turkish invaders and many others during
the course of his exploits.

(Bottom) In human form or as a were-

wolf he fears neither man nor devil and
eventually meets a well-deserved end. The
illustrations are the work of an artist who
specialised in this field, Henry Anelay.

24
The character of Wagner had already been
introduced to Reynolds' readers in a
previous work, 'Faust' (1 845-6). in which
the two confronted each other just before
Faust's horrible death, (In the Faust
legend, on which Reynolds drew for his
material, the magician actually had a
servant called Wagner,) One of Faust's
many encounters following his pact with
the devil one with the infamous Lucretia
is

Borgia. However, he fails to keep all the

parts of his bargain with the devil and
meets a similar fate to Varney —
he is
thrown into Vesuvius! During the course
of its publication, 'Faust' was illustrated by

two artists. Henry Anelay (top), who took

the story to episode 1 6, and a virtually
unknown painter, John Gilbert (middle),
who succeeded him. After this 'apprentice-
ship' and other similar work, Gilbert was to
go on to become a member of the Royal
Academy and to receive a knighthood.

(Right) The third of Reynolds' excellent

supernatural stories. 'The Necromancer'
(1 852). is once more about a pact with

the devil in which a certain Lord Danvers

receives an elixir of youth and total
imperviousness to weapons. Danvers can
escape from his bargain only if he can find
six virgins to sacrifice to the devil —
he
manages five, but the sixth defeats him. In
the illustration here by E. Hooper the evil
Lord stands calmly unaffected by a point-
blank pistol shot-

25
 THE MAGAZINE OF
CURIOSITY AND WONDER,
THE GHOST.

n!i: ni-.voi iii-.i* i;v mik

TALES OF ALL NATIONS ;

Some of the excesses of blood and torture

which typified the 'Penny Bloods' caused
outcries from the authorities and the
church — but the fortune-hunting pub-
lishers were adept at finding ways of
avoiding direct confrontation without
losing their readership. Often the titles of
serials were kept deliberately low-key. and
the illustrations were used to provide the
stimulus for sales; in the field of maga-
zines the very names of the publications
were made as inoffensive as possible. On
this page are three typical examples from
the middle of the nineteenth century:
'Curiosity and Wonder', 'The Ghost' and
'Tales of All Nations'. On closer examina-
tion the first dealt with a pig-faced lady,
the second with human cannibalism and
the third with madness, incest and suicide!

26
 —

!•

In America, cheap periodicals like those

in Britain were finding a huge readership
— with those featuring the War of
Independence and frontier life enjoying
greatest popularity. Many American pub-
lishers shamelessly pirated the works of
English publishers (as. in turn, did the
English American stories) but two local
authors proved far and away the most
\ successful with readers —
J. H. Ingraham
and E. C. Z. Judson. better known as Ned
Buntline. Ingraham, who was described as
'one of the most prolific writers of his time
and second only to Fennimore Cooper'
wrote on virtually every subject: the
illustration by C. M. Corway (top) is taken
from his very successful and bloodthirsty
'The Slave King' (1844). Ned Buntline
lived a life as eventful as his fiction
actually escaping being lynched on one
occasion, when he was cut down from the
gallows — but found international fame
i when he began recounting the adventures
of his friend, William Frederick Cody,
No. 155] I2ci.
COMPANY. 'Buffalo Bill'. (Left) The illustration by
London: ALDINE PUBLISHING
Menzies is from one of his more bizarre
exploits.

27
PRESEOTED GRATIS WITH Nos. 1 AND OR, THE SHADOW OF DEATH

THE SKELETOJf HORSEMAN, RED HAND AND PAUL PERIL DEFEND AND RESCUE LADA^ ALICE,
See an Early Number of Skeleton Horseman .
—
 Tales of highwaymen were perhaps the
most popular of all subjects with the
youthful readers of 'Penny Dreadfuls', and
no hero was busier than Dick Turpin, The
most successful penny-part to feature him
was 'Black Bess, or The Night of the
Road' by Edward Viles (1863) which
lasted for 254 weeks and consisted of two
and a half million words. Turpin's fictitious
adventures took him to many locations and
into the company of various other famous
highwaymen. In the illustrations above by
J. Thompson (left) Turpin and Tom King
discover the skeletons of two lovers, and
(right) 'Turpin claims the reward for the
Pretender's* Head' from episode 39. Robin
Hood was also a great favourite and the
most popular version was 'Robin Hood
and Little John' by Pierce Egan (1840)
which, like the Turpin stories, plunged
Robin into all kinds of imaginary adven-
tures. H. W. Thwaites is the illustrator of
the man from Sherwood Forest's ghostly
encounter.

30
Illustrations from three other works which (Bottom left) An evil monster carries the most astonishing exploits, all illus-

demonstrate that these publications did off a —

young woman a situation that later woodcuts such as this
trated with lurid
not earn thetr description of 'Penny became characteristic of the genre in — one captioned. 'They tied the skeleton
Dreadfuls' without good reason. 'The Blue Dwarf by Lady Esther Hope tightly to his waist.'
(1861 ). This work was quite different from
'The Blue Dwarf by Percy B. St. John
(Top) Torturing a Witch' and 'The Boy (1870) illustrated on page 17. Finally
Savages' from Percival Wolfe's notorious 'Penny Dreadfuls' began to develop young
Red Ralph, or The Daughter of the Night' heroes like 'The Boy Detective' (1860)
(1860). whose anonymous author took him through

31
4. Victorian
Sensational
Fiction
 (Above left) 'The Bronze Monster struck
him dead', a superb engraving by Sidney
Paget, the most famous illustrator of
Sherlock Holmes, for 'The Rosemonde'. a
story translated from the French of Julian
Sermet and published in The Strand.
November 1 894.

(Right) Three of the often gruesome and

always bloody publications from the Aldine
Publishing Co. of New York and London.
(Previous page) 'He uttered a low moan,
which became a resounding shriek, as he (Opposite) The outstanding Victorian
felt the shining steel cut his flesh.' An H. Sime. also ventured into the
artist, S.

horrific illustration by Piffard for Max magazines as with this dramatic picture for
Pemberton's 'Signor's of the Night' from 'The King's Taster' by Phoebe Hart in The
Pearson's Magazine. October 1 898. Pall Mall Magazine. April 1 899

34
The Strand Magazine and the mass of imitators
ushered in a golden age of magazines Never . . .

before had the middle class and even the working

class had such an incredible selection of
superb magazines at a reasonable price, and
probably they never will again.
SAM MOSKOWITZ
Science Fiction By Gaslight

In the later years of the nineteenth century, the success of

the penny illustrated magazines was evident on both sides
of the Atlantic. With the general increase in the standard of
education, many of these publications evolved into news-
papers or weekly journals, improving the standard of their
editorial content beyond recognition but clinging to the
tried and tested maxim that it was dramatic illustration
which pulled in the readers.
British publishers held on to the penny price tag as long
as they could, while their American counterparts promoted
the 'dime novel' —
which though a convenient term was
actually a misnomer: for these publications containing a
complete novel or several short stories more often than not
sold for a nickel. The majority of these were aimed at the
juvenile market, but publishers were aware that many adults
bought them too and there was never any deliberate attempt
to write down to the reader.
The last years of the century also saw the rise of the
'slick' magazine —
monthly publications printed on art paper
containing the work of excellent artists and top-name
writers. The first such magazine was the English Tit-Bits
(still running today) which continued the principle of some

of the 'Penny Dreadfuls' by including a variety of stories,

extracts, bizarre crimes and thrilling episodes, all dramati-
cally illustrated. It was launched in October 1881, and its
success led publisher George Newnes to create the now-
legendary Strand Magazine which appeared in 1891 and
later first gave the world Sherlock Holmes.
The Strand was an instant success, and imitators were soon
appearing such as The Windsor Magazine (profusely
illustrated with superb artwork), Pall Mall Magazine (which
boasted Rudyard Kipling among its contributors), Pearson's
Magazine (which played a major part in promoting science
fiction and H. G. Wells in particular) and Chapman's
Magazine (running ghost and horror stories, but all un-
illustrated). Several of these magazines ran American
editions, just as the American 'slicks' exported copies to
Britain. Among the most distinguished products from the
United States were Harper's Monthly, The Century and
Scribner's Magazine, which contained stories and articles of
the highest quality and excellent illustrations — sometimes
in full colour.
And, unfailingly, through all these magazines ran the
popular thread of terror tales and illustrations as these pages
demonstrate . . .

35
Bram Stoker’s 'Dracula' was perhaps the
most famous horror novel to be written
during the Victorian era. but vampires by
and large did not crop up in stories as
often as werewolves, which appear to
have been very popular.

(Opposite) A superb illustration by the

outstanding American magazine artist.
Howard Pyle, for a story he also wrote.
’The Salem Wolf'. This tale of witchcraft
at Salem appeared in Harper's Monthly
Magazine (December 1909). The picture
(bottom left) is by Henry Sandham, also
from an American publication. The Century
of August 1898. and illustrated H.
Beaugrand’s story. The Werewolves’
Dudley Tennant's picture (top) was for
’Loup Garou’ by Alan Sullivan in the
English periodical The Windsor Magazine
July 1905.

37
 Investigators in the Sherlock Holmes
mould were popular with the Victorian
readers, but there was probably no more
bizarre figure then Victor Colonna, a
Professor of Science who conducted a
number of 'Experiments in the Lost Art of
Poisoning' in Pearson's Magazine in the
1 890s. The series was called 'The Last of

the Borgias' and written by Fred M. White,

and although readers were aware that
drug-taking was going on at the time, it

was quite a surprise when the artist for the

series, D. Murray Smith, actually portrayed
it taking place.

Monsters of one kind or another also

crowded the pages of the inexpensive
turn-of-the-century magazines, some, like
'The Monster of Lake LaMetrie' by Warden
Allan Curtis, based on alleged sightings.
This story, which appeared in Pearson's
Magazine (September 1899). dealt with a
large creature terrorising a lake in Wyoming
which eventually required the US cavalry
to put paid to its activities. The artist is
Stanley L. Wood.

38
"The TORTURE of

Stories of torture featured extensively in

Victorian illustrated publications as these
four typical examples show.

(Top) Alan Wright's heading design for a

story of the Spanish Inquisition on which
no author's name appeared (Strand, June
1897). (Bottom right) A young girl
about to have her eyes burned out in
H, C. Bailey's story, 'Sir Bertram's Tryst'
illustrated for the Windsor Magazine
(September 1905) by the brilliant Cyrus
Cuneo. (Left) 'William Prynne in the
Pillory' by Claude A, Shepperson for
Scribner's Magazine (January, 1900).
And. finally(below) the loser will
experience the deadly clasp of 'The
Iron Maiden' in Max Pemberton's story
frtim The Strand (September 1 903).
E. S. Hodgson drew the claustrophobic
picture.
 magazines — ghost stories werereaders
very (Top) Two pictures by H. H. Flere from
Ghosts were once again a topic that
popular. The artists, and their for The Harmsworth Magazine which pub-
fascinated people on both sides of the
that matter, had a rather fixed idea of what lished numerous such tales; The Figure
Atlantic around the turn of the century.
Research societies and spiritualist mediums ghosts were like —
ephemeral-looking came nearer and nearer, then the long
flourished everywhere and this enthus- human beings —
and this is how they hand shot out and caught my throat' from
were invariably illustrated, as the examples E. Thurlow's 'The Spectre of the Severn
iasm was reflected in the pages of the
here show. Tunnel' (January 1898). and the shade of
'The Scarfed Woman', a true story by
W. B. Northrop (March 1898) (below
left). A slightly less menacing spirit

was depicted by Rollin Kirby for 'The Last

Ghost in Harmony' by Nelson Lloyd from
the American Scribner's Magazine
(February 1907).

40
(Above) The story of The Flying Dutch-
man' endlessly sailing the oceans of the
world was a well-used theme in ghost
stories during this period. This drawing by
Andr6 Castaigne was for a story about the
phantom ship which appeared in The
Cenrury magazine in July 1904.
(Left) Just one of many fictional stories
about spiritualism
— "Vera. The Medium', a
serial by Richard Harding David which ran
in Scribner's from January to June 1 908.
The excellent illustration of Vera attempting
to make contact with a departed soul is by
Frederick Dorr Steele who was perhaps
the finest of all the American illustrators of
the Sherlock Holmes stories.

41
 Not surprisingly, with its history of witch-
craft. tales ofdemonology during Colonial
days went down well in America. Una L.
Silberrad's The Witchcraft of Chuma' in
Harper's of February 1 904 was typical of
these. Albert Sterner drew the picture {top
left) of the fearful soldiers about to seize
the suspect
(Top right) Humans and devils taking
part in a witches' sabat in the woods in
William Hurd Lawrence's picture for 'The
Deathless Forest' by Stephen French
Whitman, also from Harper's September
1906.
(Left) Although W. W. Jacobs was
perhaps most widely known as a writer of
humour, he also created some of the most
chilling short stories.of the Victorian era.
The picture here of an old wizard casting
3 spell was drawn by Will Owen and con-
sidered by Jacobs to be the best of all the
illustrations of his work. Personally, think I

Maurice Griffenhagen's picture which

accompanied Jacob's story, The Monkey's
Paw' when it was published in Harper's
in August 1 902. is one of the most out-
standing of all horror illustrations from
the period. Whether the reader agrees or
not. there can be little dispute that 'The
Monkey's Paw' remains among the most
terrifying of all macabre short stories.

42
43
 The 'Pulps' were the principal entertainment vehicle for
millions of Americans. They were an unfUckering,
uncoloured TV screen upon which the reader could spread
the most glorious imagination he possessed.
HENRY STEEGER
The Pulps
As the twentieth century dawned, a former telegraph
operator from Maine named Frank A. Munsey looked at the
profusion of expensive magazines literally stacked on the
bookstalls of America and was suddenly struck by a thought.
The story', he said to a friend, brandishing a copy of one
of the magazines, 'is more important than the paper it is
printed on.' It was one of those so-obvious truths that no-
—
one before had put into words but Munsey not only did
that, he put it into effect, thereby giving birth to the 'pulp'
magazine revolution.
Munsey sensed that there were literally millions who cared
nothing for fine art paper in their magazines: they would be
just as happy to accept their entertainment on rough paper
as long as, of course, there were some illustrations too. And
by doing this, the publisher could keep his cover prices down
to a minimum and cater for the public demand that was
—
always there though restricted in its buying power by low
wages and depression. It was, in a way, only a variation on
the idea of those original Gothic chapbook publishers, but
(Previous page) 'There came a sound of following the appearance of Munsey's pioneer 'pulp'
breaking wood and one end of the coffin Argosy in 1 896 (still flourishing though in a different format
rose from the mound of earth.' An illus-
trationby Frank Paul for E. F. Benson's
today), the idea was to be given unprecedented acceptance
story. 'The Outcast' from Argosy. October to the tune of over three hundred titles in the next half-
7. 1922. (Below) Graves Gladney pro-
century and countless million sales.
duced this little motif for Leslie Burton
Blades' 'Fruit of the Forbidden Tree' from These magazines, printed on rough wood pulp paper,
Argosy. 1919
measuring seven inches by ten, and about half an inch thick,
(Opposite) Two of the most famous were to embrace literally every topic of interest. For ten
'Dime Novel' companies —
Beadle's with
the story of a steam man. and Morrison cents and upwards readers got either serials or short stories
who preferred the blood and violence of on their favourite subject, and, just as in previous genera-
the Wild West. Below them are the first
two Munsey magazines which took
'pulp'
tions, the writing was the work of the accomplished and the
over from the 'Dime Novel' The October
:
not-so-accomplished, not forgetting those who were to
1 91 2 AU-Siory is one of the most famous

issues of any 'pulp'; it introduced Tarzan

serve their apprenticeship in this medium and go on to
to the reading public. Pettee was the greater things: such as O. Henry, Erie Stanley Gardner,
Paul Stahrthe illustrator for Azgosy.
artist;
Raymond Chandler, Paul Gallico and many more. There were
also contributions from overseas writers, for although the
pay might seem small by American standards, for British and
European authors they offered a new market with additional
fees for no extra work.
In the context of this book there were several important
'pulp' magazines, including a number of those from Frank
Munsey's stable, such as Argosy and All-Story: Amazing
Stories, which carried macabre stories among the science
fiction: the long-running Fantastic Adventures: the highly
popular Famous Fantastic Mysteries and its companion.
Fantastic Novels: and those which featured purely horror
stories. Strange Tales. Terror Tales, Horror Stories and the
legendary Weird Tales, which is of such importance as to
merit a section of its own.
46
voi. XI.

THE HUGE HUNTER; or, THE STEAM MAN OF THE PRAIRIES.

47
 V

m. Him
(Opposite) John Buchan’s story of an
ancient race dwelling in caves in the
Scottish Highlands. ’No-Mans Land', was
one of the most popular stories by this
autfTor to be published by The Popular
Magazine, an eariy rival to the Munsey
magazines (September 1917). The
illustrator was N. C. Wyeth who also
produced many covers for the publication.

Frank Paul was one of the busiest and most

readily identified of the early pulp artists,
much of his work appearing in Hugo
Gernsback's ’Scientification’ magazines
such as Amazing Stories and Science
Wonder Stories. He could, though, be just
as effective with horror as the two
examples on this page show.
(Above) 'I was standing immediately
above my discarded mortal shell, and I

viewed it with a new-born loathing' an —

incident from Tod Robbins' 'Wild Wullie.
The Waster’ {AH Story. 14 February 1920).
Robbins, incidentally, was the author of
'Freaks’, a short story which was made
into perhaps the most genuinely frightening
of all horror films.

(Left) A small boy viciously shooting at

his uncle in George Allan England’s
famous serial. 'The Elixir of Hate’ which
appeared in the third of the Munsey
'fantastic pulps’. The Cavalier, in 1911

49
 Leo Morey was another artist who
specialised in science fiction but could
also turn most effectively to horror, as he
demonstrates in this tale of vampirism.

The Last Earl" by Franklin W Ryan from

Amazing Stories. January 1933.

50
(Above) Another Paul illustration for
A. Hyatt Verrill's story of a scientist who
can revive corpses, The Plague of the
Living Dead' {Amazing Stories. April
1927).

(Right) Three of the most important and

successful early 'pulps’, which carried
horror and fantasy fiction from time to
time: usually categorised by their editors
as 'Different Stories'.

(Top) HGWells and Edgar Rice

Burroughs vying for popularity in Amazing
Stories of April 1 927
(Middle) The May 1931 Adventure, a
periodical which frequently larded its tales
of exploration in the far corners of the
earth, with excursions into the gruesome;
as did (bottom) Short Stories, which
offered the talents of the great Talbot
Mundy, creator of 'King of the Khyber
Rifles’ (June 1 937).

51
(Opposite) Horror stories and science
fiction ran side by side in Fantastic
Adventures, a 'pulp' which changed its
size and format regularly and is one of the
very few to have survived to the present
day, Stockton Mulford painted this
dramatic cover for The Whispering
Gorilla' (May 1 940).

Mad scientists were a staple theme in all

the fantasy 'pulps', as these three examples
demonstrate. (Right) Experiments with
animals and insects featured quite often,
and in both "The Beetle Experiment' by

RussellHays from Amazing Stories. June

1929, and 'The Ant With A Human Soul'
by Bob Olson {Amazing Stories Quarterly.
1932). the mad dabblers have enlarged
their subjects with devastating effects.
Paul is the illustrator of the top picture,
and Leo Morey of the lower. For all these

experimenters the shadow of death

inevitably loomed close by as Hans
—
Wessolowski or 'Wesso' as he signed
himself —
shows in 'Invaders from the
Infinite' by John W. Campbell in Amazing
Stories Quarterly. 1932. Campbell, of
course, was the man who took over the
course of science fiction from Hugo
Gernsback and introduced many of the
modern innovations.

52
 “ . * ; \ \ '

LiiiCElOT DIUU j: nu\j I Cl\ HAY lUHl un NelsoVf Joiii

MAY
ADVENTM
20c

^Ite
WHISPERING
GORILLA
h DON WILCOI^

COMPLETE
STORIES BY

ED EARL REPP

PETER^HORN

MILTON
KALETSKY

i
 ^kers
%(rrow
Ik*

The IPMaiis

mings

54
 !

The ’pulp era' spanned Two world wars,

and this was reflected in the pages of the
magazines. There were, of course, a whole
range of publications devoted entirely to
war. but the horror in them was real rather
than fantasy, and their number is such that
they almost warrant a book of their own
Suffice it to record here that quite a
number of macabre stories with war
settings were published in the horror and
fantasy pulps, and these illustrations are
typical of many more. (Opposite)
Intervention from space during the Blitz
was the theme of Will McMorrow's story.
'The Sun Makers', illustrated by Paul.

(Top) Ghostly encouragement for a war-

weary soldier in A, Merritt's Three Lines of
Old French', first published in AH-Story
Magazine in 1 91 9.
(Left) Ghosts from the past were also
abroad at sea in Philip M. Fisher's tale of
the haunted destroyer. 'The Devil of the
Western Sea'. Uorr\ Argosy. 1922. illus-
trated by V. E. Pyles. (Above) An
advertisement for a patriotic Second World
War issue of Argosy for September 1 942.

55
56
Perhaps no more imaginative or chilling
illustration of the horror of Hitler's war
appeared than this picture (opposite) by
Stephen Lawrence for the Famous
Fantastic Mysteries issue of September
1945. It illustrated Joe Archibald's story of
what really happened to the Fuehrer at the
end of the war, 'Heaven Only Knows'
(Above) Another superb Lawrence illus-
Warwick Deeping's grim story,
tration for
'The Man Who Went Back' Famous
December 1 947
Fantastic Mysteries.

57
 !

Torture and cruelty were staple ingredients

of several of the pulps like Horror Stories
and Terror Tales, as the selections on the
next four pages show. Not surprisingly,
perhaps, the stories often failed to live up
to the ghastly expectations of the pictures

These fiendish stocks on the cover of

Horror Stories (September 1935) were the
work of John Newton Howett for Hugh B.
Cave's story of a woman trapped in an
asylum.

Religious fanaticism was combined with

by
flagellation in 'Satan's Lash', a story
Arthur J.Burks which Ralph Carlson
illustrated for Horror Stories (September
1935).

—
Chained women and an evil monk one of
the enduring images from the pulps that
specialised in sex and sadism, and an
indication that little had changed since the
days of M. G. Lewis's pioneer Gothic
novel. The Monk. Paul Oban drew this
heading for Horror Stories monthly
feature 'Chamber of Horrors'.

58 59
Just once in a while the girls were able to
turn the tableson the men here in
:

Sewell’s drawing the 'handmaidens of

Satan’ drag the hero to a terrible fate in
'Enslaved to Satan' by Hugh B. Cave.
Terror Tales. February 1 935.

Shades of Baron Frankenstein in D. L.

James' ’The Maker of Immortality', the
picture for which was captioned. 'The Mad scientists were always experimenting
walking corpse returned with a writhing on beautiful, helpless females in these
head in his bony fingers. Thrilling Mystery.
'
pulps — typified by this Wesso cover for

March 1 940. Thrilling Mystery (March 1 940).

60
A mad genius about to turn two more
victims into fantastic silver statues in
island of Silver Hell' by Wayne Rogers in
Dime Mystery. December 1 940,

61
 Zffie Devil of the ^
Western Sea
^ Philip M. Fisher t
ZIhe Beast Plants
‘ijhe Blind Spot
By HaII and Flint

A. Merritt - others

Few pulp magazines catered better for

lovers of fantasy and horror fiction than
Famous Fantastic Mysteries, which was
firstpublished in the autumn of 1 939 and
until the middle fifties reprinted the very
best in macabre fiction from both sides of
the Atlantic. The magazine rescued classic
tales from oblivion and occasionally
included new material: in effect creating a
library of horror for collectors. The maga-
ztne employed some of the best artists of
the day, too,

(Above) APaul cover for an early issue

featuring H. Thompson Rich’s story, 'The
Beast Plants'. (Top right) A Virgil Finlay
cover for December 1 946, and (right)
Norman Saunders’ cover for a special ’all-
werewolf issue in August 1952.

62
Considered by some critics to be the most
outstanding writer of science fantasy since
Mary Shelley. Francis Stevens is today
sadly neglected- But during the life of
Famous Fantastic Mysteries all her novels
from the opening two decades of the
century were reprinted and much praised
by readers. Miss Stevens' real name was
Gertrude Bennett and she was married to
an Englishman who was drowned on a
treasure-hunting expedition in 1910. She
turned to writing to keep herself and her
daughter, and despite her success suddenly
ceased writing in the 1920s. Nothing is
known of her thereafter These two Finlay
were for 'The Citadel of Fear',
illustrations
about a search for the lost city of an
ancient race and the creatures which
pursued the seekers (February 1942).

63
Famous Fantastic Mysteries also drew from (Right) 'A fearsome tryst in the night
Britain and Europe for its material, and a man who dared to face a nameless peril
apart from the classic fantasy writers like that was neither of the living nor the
Wells and Verne found numerous individual dead I' So read the blurb for 'The House of
stories of merit. (Above) Readers were the Secret' by the Frenchman. Claude
intrigued by the Englishman Andrew Farrfere. a skilful writer of exotic fiction.
Marvell's 'Minium Man. or Time to Be This superb illustration for the February
Gone' (August 1947) which was set in the 1946 issue was also by Lawrence.
1950s and predicted a grasping, mercenary
world suddenly put at risk by a race of
little men bent on world domination.

Lawrence drew this horrifying encounter

between an innocent policeman and a
razor-wielding manikin
 .

“My eyes insist on gazing down upon a coffin

my coffin . . . while I await my second death.

65
 The great Jack London's gripping novel of
a world's end 'The Scarlet Plague' was
reprinted in the February 1949 issue of
Famous Fantastic Mysteries and was
by A. Leydenfrost, another of
illustrated
the masters in the genre at this period.

66
 —

A doomed future was also the theme of

The Peacemaker' by C, S. Forester
although one master scientist held the key
to survival. This little known novel by the
creator of Captain Hornblower was
printed in the February 1948 issue of
Famous Fantastic Mysteries with artwork
by Lawrence.

67
The almost primitive style of Matt Fox was
always instantly recognisable in Famous
Faniasiic MysTeries. and such was the
grandeur of some of his concepts that he
occasionally earned double-page spreads
to show off his work to best advantage—
as here illustrating Algernon Blackwood's
story. 'The Wendigo' (June 1944). This
was the story which so impressed H. P.
Lovecraft, who wrote of it, 'An amazingly
potent tale . . . with horrible evidence of a
vast forest daemon about which North
Woods lumbermen whisper at evening.'
A clutch of Famous Fantastic Mysteries
illustrators. (Top left) Peter Poulton
drew the pictures for Francis James's story
of ancient sacrifice. 'A Priest of Quiche'
(May 1950). (Top right) a gruesome
discovery illustrated by Norman Saunders
for T. S. Stribling's 'The Green Splotches'
(August 1 952). (Bottom left) One of
Gene Fawcette's rare excursions from the
science fiction magazines for Peter
Cartur's story, 'Nor Moon By Night'
(October 1 950). (Above) The usually
gentle features of a Hannes Bok creation
contorted with agony for Stanton A.
Coblentz's 'After the Atom' (April 1950).
 —

(Above) Through its first year of publica- (Top left) Front cover of the first issue
tion, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, had no of Fantastic Novels. July1 940, which each

front cover illustration, merely a list of the month featured a complete classic fantasy
contents. This picture by Graves Gladney, novel- This companion magazine to Famous
however, appeared in the very first issue Fantastic Mysteries was eventually to
September— October 1939 — with Donald combine with it. (Top right) Fred
Wandrei's story The Witch-Makers', about Macisaac's novel The Hothouse World'
mind into the
the transference of a man's illustrated for the cover of the November
body Gladney was the man
of a panther! 1950 issue by Rafael De Soto.
who drew the enormously popular
also
super-sleuth. The Shadow.

71
 Weird
TT TaleoT

THE DEVIL'S DOUBLE

(i pou'C't tele the ^keii//y Slue ^eatk
By PAUl FRNST 21.

The four most famous horror story maga-

zines: the long-lived Weird Tales with
cover by Margaret Brundage (May 1936);
Strange Tales which survived for only
seven issues but is nonetheless highly
regarded (October 1 932). The cover was
by H, W Wesso. Sex. sadism and brutal
treatment of women in many and varied
forms were the trademarks of both Terror
Tales (March 1940) and Horror Stories
(June 1941) from the Popular Publica-
tions stable. John Howett drew both
covers.
Few more lurid stories appeared in the
pulps than these:

(Above) Rape, mutilation and death in

George Edson's The Cross of Blood'
illustratedby Amos Sewell and described
by the editor of Terror Tales (February
1935) as 'a Novelette of Endless Hate'
The victim of a weird suicide lust about to
stab herself to death in Ralph Carson's
picture for 'Death Calls from the Mad-
house' by Hugh B. Cave in Horror Stories
(September 1935).

73
 Although Strange Tales lasted only for
seven issues until publisher William
Clayton killed it off. those who have sub-
sequently had the opportunity to study the
series are convinced that with time it
would have been a serious rival, in terms
of its contributors and the quality of its

material, to Weird Tales. (Above) Amos

Sewell was the magazine's leading illus-
was for Sewell
trator'and this picture
Peaslee Wright's grim story, 'The Dead
Walk Softly' (October 1 932)
- (Left) H, W. Wesso's cover for the June
1932 issue featuring Hugh B. Cave's story
of theweird women who brought horror
to a ship's company in 'Stragella'.

74
 . .

(Left) 'Their black faces were expression-

less'.runs the caption to this illustration
by Rafael De Soto for 'The House in the
Magnolias', a tale of voodoo by August
Oerleth and Mark Schorer which appeared
in Strange Tales. June 1932.

(Below) A werewolf story with a

difference. Charles Willard Diffin's 'The
Dog that Laughed' illustrated by H. W.
Wesso for Strange Tales. September 1 931

(Above) Another De Soto illustration

for Clark Ashton Smith's now classic
short story, 'The Return of the Sorcerer'
from Strange Tales. September 1 931

(Right) An unknown artist produced this

picture for Marion Brandon's vampire
story, 'The Dark Castle', which appeared
in the September 1 931 issue of Strange
Tales.

75
 Popular Publications ran an English edition
ofHorror Stories, though some of the
more violent and sadistic illustrations
were excluded. John Newton Howett drew
the comparatively restrained cover for this
undated 1940s reprint.

76
A beast that could walk through walls, was
impervious to bullets and was irresistibly
drawn to pretty females featured in The
Living Flame' by Robert Sidney Bowen.
Horror Stories. September 1935. Robert
Carlson drew the picture.

A young bride about to become a sacrifice

to Cybele, the Goddess of Fertility, in
H. M. Appel's 'The Bath of Blood' which
Jayem Wilcox, another popular pulp artist,

illustrated for Horror Stories. September

1935.

77
 scourge
(Opposite page) Elements of the weird Three of the most famous and bizarre pulp
Tlte of tKe un^rs^oridw
also crept into the detective and mystery investigators, each of whom had his own
nemesu of crime, kUsting Kis «>ey through
pulps, although their terror was usually of long-running magazine.
the eVil machinations of master min<it to the more realistic kind provided by
(Top) 'The Phantom Detective' who was
justice' Mastery anJ action, packeci *7itk murderers and the mobs!
described as 'The World's Greatest Sleuth'
suspense and thrills, m cs^ery issue. A com- (Left) An unpleasant discovery just and drawn by Rudolph Belarski.
plete hook-length noVel; short detectxVe stor- before bedtime for H. J. Ward's redhead (Left) ‘The Shadow' who had his own
ies, codes, crime problems, aruj other featurea on the cover of the February 1 936 Spicy radio show and whose adventures have
pad( every issue of this powerful mystery
Mystery Stories, and a scientist encounter- recently been revived in paperback. He
ing the same effects as Dr Jekyll in a was portrayed by Graves Gladney.
magazine
1950s British edition of Mystery Stories
The illustrator is unknown. (Right) 'Secret Agent X'
—
'The Man of a
Thousand Faces' who. apparently, had

Jhad(w
tOc Twice A MONTH
(Right) John Newton Howett's cover
the December
and an unnamed
1 940

the British edition of the

Mask magazine. August
issue of
artist's grisly
Dime
for
Mystery.
picture for
famous Black
1 950.
almost as
disguises!
many different artists as he had

t28PAGES-BIGGESTANDB£ST

79
 Legendary
Weird lales
i
I
On the honour roll of great fiction magazines of all time (Previous page) Hannes Bok depicts
two vault-searchers in Clark Ashton
Weird Tales rates very high. Few periodicals, regardless Smith's 'Who Are the Living?' (September
of their popular success or critical standing, have 1942)

approached Weird Tales in sheer quantity of total stories (Opposite) Perhaps the most genuinely
blood-curdling artist to appear in the pages
reprinted, placed into hard covers, or dramatised for radio,
of Weird Tales was Lee Brown Coye. here
television and the moving pictures among devotees
. . . illustratingAugust Derleth's story. 'The
of the weird, fantastic, science fiction and off-trail the Occupant of the Crypt' in the September
1 947 issue.
magazine was considered a classic.
LEO MARGULIES
Weird Tales

Weird Tales, now a legendary title among all lovers of

macabre fiction, was founded in March 1923 and was the
firstall-fantasy publication in the world. Printed on pulp
paper, supported by a barely viable though fiercely loyal
coterie of readers, it nevertheless survived for thirty-two
years, and was responsible for first publishing many of the
most revered names in twentieth-century fantasy fiction.
Copies of the magazine are now some of the most sought
after among collectors and despite their rapidly declining
condition fetch ever increasing prices.
The life of this extraordinary magazine spans almost the
entire era of the American 'pulps' —
including the Depression
—
and the Second World War yet at the end of its first year
of publication, it was so far in debt that its future seemed
unlikely. But placed under the editorial guidance of
Farnsworth Wright, a man of shrewd judgement but poor
health. Weird Tales clung doggedly to life and began
building the readership which sustained it through the
coming years. The secret of this astonishing exercise in
longevity may have been in part due to the rapport which
was built up between the readers and authors indeed a —
Weird Tales club was founded in which the two parties
alternately praised and criticised each other, but always with
the best interests of the magazine at heart.
Perhaps best remembered of all the Weird Tales' roster of
authors was the strange recluse of Rhode Island, H. P.
Lovecraft, who actually turned down the opportunity to edit
the magazine, preferring to live in isolation and dream up
his bizarre stories of the Cthulhu Mythos. Lovecraft was
not, though, the magazine's most popular writer. This honour
fell to Seabury Quinn, appropriately the editor of the trade

journal for morticians. Casket Ft Sunnyside, and the creator

of the Sherlock Holmes-like detective Jules de Grandin.
Weird Tales also promoted the exceedingly strange stories
of Clark Ashton Smith Henry S. Whitehead's tales of secret
:

rites in the West Indies: Robert- Bloch, first the protege of

Lovecraft and now an original in his own right: August
Derleth who, after Lovecraft's death, did much to establish
his international fame: and Robert E. Howard, creator of the
Barbarian super-hero, Conan. There were many more, as the
captions to the illustrations by the magazine's galaxy of
splendid artists will reveal. As for the masters of the genre,
we shall be returning to them in the next section.
83
 A selection of cover art by some of the Weird Tales leading illustrators (1 ) Margaret Brundage, the first artist to rise to
—
prominence in the magazine, with her October 1 933 vampire girl (2) J. Allen St John also made his mark early this cover was
for October 1 936, (3) Virgil Finlay, the master of line drawings, with one of his best covers, for February 1 937. (4) The beautiful

84 and stylish Hannes Bok with one of his earliest covers for the magazine. March 1 940.
(5) An eye-catching werewolf cover by Harold S. De Lay for January 1944. (6) The simple effectiveness of Boris Dolgov for
March 1947, (7) Matt Fox, 'the primitive', with a striking cover for May 1948, (8) Charles A. Kennedy, one of the last regular
cover artists during the closing years of Weird Tales, here illustrates the January 1 951 issue.
85
 (Left) Frank Utpatel illustrated August
Derleth's They Shall Rise' in April 1936.
and later joined up with him again to
produce some of the finest book jackets
for Derleth's publishingcompany. Arkham
House.

The rising of the dead was one of the

earliestthemes to be widely used by
—
Weird Tales writers and indeed it proved
popular in the readers' polls. (Top) Henry
Kuttner, who established himself with his
very first story, the grisly 'The Graveyard

Rats', seemed almost to be anticipating his

eventual destination when he wrote 'I,
Vampire’ (February 1937) about a Holly-
wood horror movie star. For after his
marriage to fellow fantasy writer Catherine
Moore, the couple settled in the movie
capital to write film scripts. Jim Mooney
was the artist.

86
Revenge from beyond the grave was again
the theme in Loretta Burrough’s 'At The
Time Appointed’, illustrated by Harold S.
De Lay for the February 1 937 issue.
Editor Farnsworth Wright's blurb read. 'The
father hated his son with a vindictive
hatred, all because of a childhood accident
—and his hatred culminated in a ghastly
jest, there in the silent tomb.'

87
 The girls in Weird Tates were invariably
beauties —
and usually in peril. (Top) The
hero of Lloyd Arthur Eshbach's 'Isle of the
Undead' arrives just in time to save the
captive heroine from a fate worse than
death — and perhaps death too — in this
illustration by J Allen St John from the
October 1 936 issue

(Left) No Other artist drew women quite

so stunningly or erotically than Virgil
Finlay —
though he normally scattered stars
or bubbles over the forbidden regions. This
unadorned beauty, however, accompanied
a storyby one of Weird Tales' few women
writers. CatherineMoore: a Northwest
Smith yarn, 'The Tree of Life' (October
1936).

(Opposite) One of Margaret Brundage's

femme fatales for the cover of the January
1938 issue featuring 'The Witch's Mark'
by Dorothy Quick.

88
 By
DOROTHY QUICK
Seabury Quinn

Edmond Hamilton
Vennette Herron I
 For much of its lifetime, the most popular
writer in Weird Tales was Seabury Quinn,
a man whose name is now virtually for-
gotten, His popularity was built on a wide
variety of stories, although it was his
occult detective, Jules de Grandin, whose
exploits were most praised by readers. De
Grandin and his assistant Dr Trowbridge
were obviously based on Holmes and
Watson, and they spent episode after
episode rescuing young women from mad-
men. sadists, devil worshippers and the
like. Virgil Finlay drew the portraits of the
two men, which appeared with the nearly
one hundred cases they investigated, and
also the main illustration for 'Suicide
Chapel' (below) which was published in
the June 1 938 issue.

90
(Top left) Jules de Grandin proves him-
self a man the equal of Dr Van Helsing in
combating vampires in ‘Vampire Kith and
Kin' (May 1949), illustrated by Vincent
Napoli.

(Top right) A young actress in the

clutches of the devil requires the little

French detective’s aid in 'Clair de Lune'

(November 1 947). Boris Dolgov drew the
picture.

(Left) The monstrous forms of an Ancient

Egyptian cult nearly, but not quite, put
paid to the work of de Grandin in 'The
Ring of Bastet' (September 1951). illus-
trated by Fred Humiston.

(Above) A Margaret Brundage cover

which typified the fate of all Seabury
Quinn heroines until the indomitable and
fearless Jules de Grandin came onto the
scene (June 1 938).

91
92
(Left) Ju les de Grandin probably fought
no more bizarre monster than The Man
In Crescent Terrace’ who was illustrated
by A R Tilburne in the March 1 946 issue.
Editor Dorothy Mcliwraith captioned the
episode’Mummies are to be found in
museums; not running after people in the
street!’

(Above) The best story Seabury Quinn

ever wrote —and perhaps the most out-
standing ever published by Weird Tates —
Roads', which appeared in the January
1938 issue, illustrated by Finlay This
marvellous fantasy tale was set at the time
of the Crucifixion and dealt with a barbarian
from the north serving in the Roman
Army

93
The success of Seabury Quinn's Jules de
Grandin stories prompted other writers to
create occult investigators as these illus-
trations demonstrate. (Top) John Giunta
was charged with giving the best form he
could to Alison V. Harding's bizarre figure.
The Damp Man. who featured in several
stories including 'The Damp Man Returns'
{September 1947), which was intriguingly
introduced, 'For want of a better word, a
—
man but there the resemblance ends
!'

He also painted the cover for the feature

issue of May 1 949.

96
 ,

H. Bedford-Jones, a stalwart writer for

many pulp magazines, gave Weird Tates a
series entitled 'The Adventures of a
Professional Corpse', which concerned a
spiritualist investigator with the most
remarkable powers. Henry del Campo
illustrated the episode entitled 'The Affair
of the Shuteye Medium' which appeared
in March 1 941

Paul Ernst created 'the world's weirdest

criminal' in Doctor Satan who appeared in
several stories including 'The Devil's
Double' (May 1936). Vincent Napoli was
the illustrator.

97
 The two editors of Weird Tales tried many heralded the story. 'You're going to get the
variations on the fantasy theme to generate werewolf's slant on life —as you read how
new reader interest, but there were prob- these accursed man-beasts roam the
ably few more unlikely combinations than American West in a hellish quest for human
the 'Werewolf Western' which Manly food The ever-resourceful Boris Dolgov
!'

Banister, the magazine's leading writer on provided the double-page spread below,
man-into-beast themes, wrote for the while A. R. Tilburne was responsible for
September 1942 issue. Dorothy Mcliwraith the cover art.

98
100
(Opposite, top) The werewolf theme work in his tale of werewolves in a modern
was an enduring favourite with Weird city, ‘The Hound' (November 1942). John
Tales readers, as it had been with previous Giunta was the illustrator (Below)
generations of horror fiction lovers. This Another John Giunta illustration for what
Boris Dolgov illustration was for Manly is perhaps Manly Banister’s best werewolf

Banister’s ’Eena’ (September 1947). tale. ’Loup-Garou’ (May 1 947). The

caption read. ’Some have tried to get to
(Opposite, bottom) Fritz Leiber. now
one of today’s leading fantasists, was
the bottom of the werewolf legend some—
have succeeded but not as mortals!’
first published in Weird Tales, and showed

the ingenuity which has marked all his

101
An enormously popular tale with Weird
Tates readers was Found Cleopatra' by
‘I

Thomas P. Kelley, which ran through

1 938—9. All manner of bizarre encounters

with monsters and spirits from the past

were packed into the episodes which were
illustrated by an artist who only signed
himself 'J.P.D.' The cover for the opening
instalment {November 1938) was the work
of A, R. Tilburne.

102 103
 V
Witches wep.g selieved
_ To COMMUNICATS WITH EV/IU
SPIRITS, THE REBV BEWITCHING
i AND BURNING PROPERTV, CAUSING
•'

FARMERS' COWS To DRV, AND INDUCING

WERE THOUGMffO REMDER
CON\yCILS(ONS IN'CHILOREM.ThEV
THE/ASeLVeS INVISIBLE IN COMMITTING OEADLV TORfURES,
AND THEIR DEALINGS WITH SATAN SUPPoSEDTo
TOO liGUrro S/HK 4V WAfeR Q

Sailors in nortu eNGLAHD purchased

FAV/ORABLE winds BV 3UVING A SPECIAL
ROPE WITH THREE KNOTS IN iT. To LOOSEN
ONE KNOT WAS THOUGIATTo LOOSEN A LIGHT
WIND. TVIO were LOOSENED FOR A 0REE2E.
and Three fop. half a gale o '

To HAVE KNOTS ABOUT THE PERSON

WAS CONSIDERED VERY UNLUCKY, PARTICULARLY
DURING A MARRIAGE CEREMONY AS /r
8 £Ll £\/£0 TO AFPECT fTuWRE
FERTfUTT ^
(Opposite) Witchcraft was another well-
in Weird Tates and occurred
used topic
several times in the full-page features,
'Superstitions and Taboos' (November
1 945) which Weill produced for the

magazine for several years.

(Above) Two completely opposite inter-
pretations of the witch —
Margaret
Brundage's scantily-clad beauty of
November 1936. and Matt Fox's more
traditional idea of the old crone for the
May 1947 issue.

(Top right) Many Wade Wellman was

an expert on the folk lore of America and
demonstrated this to some effect in his
Civil War story. 'Fearful Rock' (February
1939) about Persil Mandifer. master of
demonology Harold De Lay drew this
scene of the discovery by two soldiers of
Mandifer's model of Satan. (Right) The
negro witchcraft. Voodoo, was the subject
of William Tenn's 'Mistress Sary'. which
Fred Humiston illustrated for the May
1 947 issue.

105
 WITCKES WERE LONG-AGO
AS AN ESTABLISHED
ACCEPTED
FACT. THE CDNSENTANEITV OF
THEIR TESTIMONY WAS CONSI-
DERED, BY THEIR INQUISITORS, AS
IRREFUTABLE PROOF OF THEIR RE-
ALITY. THE CONCENSUS BEING,
THAT TO BECOIVIE A WITCH ONE
MUST FIRST FEED A CONSECRATED
WAFER TO A TOAD,WHICH ISTHEN
BURNED, &THE ASHES ARE MIXED
WITH THE BLOOD OF AN UNBAPTI-
SED INFANT, THE POWDERED BO-
NE OF A HANGED MAN 6 CERTAIN
HERBS, THE NATURE OF WHICH WE
DO NOT FEEL IT CONSISTENT WITH
THE PUBLIC WELFARE TO DIVULGE.
WITH THIS NOXIOUS BREW THE
WITCH 'ANOINTS THE PALMS OF
HER HANDS iS. A STICK, WHICH
WHEN PLACED BETWEEN HER LEGS
IMMEDIATLV TRAN-
SPORTS HER TO
THE CONVOCATION!
OF WITCHES.

Lee Brown Coye devoted several of his popular 'Weirdism' features to explanation

106
 IfOR NEARLY FIVE HUNOREt) YEARS ALMOST ANY VA&ARV OP
MAN OR NATURE WAS ATTRIBUTED TO WITCHCRAFT. FIRE, FLOOD,
STORM OR PESTILENCE WOULD BRINO FORTH AN IMMEDIATE FL-
URRY OF WITCH TORTURES AND BURNINGS IN WHICH THEY WERE
ACCUSED AND CONVICTED OF EATING BABIES, DRYING UP COWS,
DESTROYING CROPS, CAUSING DYSPEPSIA OR A FRESH OUTBREAK
OF THE PLAGUE .

of witchcraft, as these two examples from January and July 1948 illustrate.

107
by ^|fUiC_ASfMOV &:Jik|MES M^cCRESIC*
(Opposite) Isaac Asimov, who con-
tributed to several of the pulp magazines,
made only one appearance in Weird Tales
with a ghost story written in conjunction
with James MacCreagh
— ‘Legal Rites'.
However, it was outstanding enough to be
featured on the cover with Bill Wayne's
powerful artwork (September 1950).

(Left) Boris Dolgov's striking illustration

for the story 'Mr George' which appeared
in the March 1 947 issue of Weird Tales,
the cover of which is reproduced on page
84 On the cover the story is stated to be
by August Derleth, while inside the credit
is given to Stephen Grendon with a note
of apology from the editor that this
'mistake' happened through a 'regrettable
error' and that 'Mr Derleth acted as agent
for Mr Grendon's story, and someone in
our office confused the agent's name for
the author's. The error was discovered too
late to stop printing of the cover.' In fact,
this note notwithstanding. Derleth and
Grendon were one and the same person!

109
 Emi! Petaja's The Insistent Ghost' was one
of the best ghost stories to appear in
Weird Tates {September 1950), and was
well served by Vincent Napoli's out-
standing illustration.

(Right) 'Either you believe, or you don't:

it matters not one whit to the Ghost', ran
the caption to this Lee Brown Coye picture
for Stephen Grendon's 'The Ghost Walk'
(November 1947).

110
(Top) One of the most puzzling ghost
stories to be run in Weird Tates. Joseph
Sheri(dan Le Fanu is stillwiidely acknow-
le(dge(das the great master of the ghost
story,but the tale 'The Churchyard Yew'
which appeared over his name in the July
1 947 issue was certainly not from his pen I

John Giunta drew the picture of the

baffled-looking man —
he was probably
baffled with good reason!

(Below) Two illustrations from a special

Weird Tates — May 1950
'ghostly' issue of
— with (left) Matt Fox's sketch of a
poltergeist for Malcolm M. Ferguson's
Mr Hyde-and Seek', and (right) the
haunted hulks drawn by Jon Arfstrom for
'The Last Three Ships' by Margaret St
Clair.

Ill
112
An old man with an obsession for locks
who thought he had found the key
to release himself from death — Vincent
Napoli caught the atmosphere of Mildred
Johnson's story 'The Mirror' with this
picture in Weird Tales. September 1950.

Changing places with a corpse was the

theme of Roger S. Vreeland's 'The
Robe of Forgetfulness' which Fred
Humiston illustrated with eerie effect in
Weird Tales. July 1 947.

113
114
 (Loft) E(jmond Hamilton, who had been
a contributor to Weird Tales in its infancy,
was still writing at the death. His story of
an archaeological discovery and the terror
it produced. 'Serpent Princess' {Weird

Tales. January 1948). was illustrated by

Lee Brown Coye. the last really outstanding
artist to be discovered by the magazine.

116
(Top) Like a mad organist playing its own
dead march. Weird Tates contained some
of the bizarrest illustrations in its history
during its closing months —
like this
picture by Joseph Krucher for a poem.
‘The Bride of Death', in March 1952.

(Left) Joseph Eberle was the artist for

the cover of this same issue.

(Above) Before It finally expired. Weird

Tates was reduced to the same size as the
Reader's Digest, but even with a British
edition the end came inevitably in Septem-
ber 1 954. A magazine had died, but a
legend was born . . .

117
7. The Masters
of Horror
 —

The pulp contained contributions from a profusion of

authors and in time they were the repositories of a
. . .

galaxy of literary stars.

RICHARD WILKINSON
(Previous page) Srephen Lawrence’s Whatever Happened to the Pulps?
Margaret Irwin's ’The
eerie masterpiece for
Book’ {Famous Fantastic Mysteries.
The first half of this century —
roughly the period spanned
December 1951 ). by the 'pulp' magazines —
saw the rise to fame of some of
(Below) Two of Neil Austin’s series of
the most important names in modern fantasy fiction. Quite
portraits of the Masters of Fantasy for a number of these men and women actually began their
Famous Fantastic Mysteries. (Top) A.
Merritt and (below) H. P. Lovecraft.
careers in the pages of the cheap publications, subsequently
moving into the more rarified atmosphere of literary journals,
books, televisions and films. Almost all are now household
names, and in this section have selected illustrations from
I

the stories of a number of them —

from both America and
Britain.
A. (for Abraham) Merritt (1884—1943) was one of the
first great super-stars of the pulps, consistently winning
popularity poles in magazines such as Argosy and actually
topping the list in a contest for the best story ever published
in that magazine. Merritt never became a full-time writer,
preferring to keep his job as associate editor on the success-
ful American Weekly, and this is doubtless why there was
not more superb fantasies like 'The Moon Pool' and 'Burn,
Witch, Burnl' The strange H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937),
whom mentioned in the last section, might also have left
I

more work for posterity if he had not devoted so much of

his time to correspondence and the revision of other people's
stories. Despite the fame of his Cthulhu Mythos stories
which have formed the basis of a whole series of sequels
by other writers —
Lovecraft was a diverse and fascinating
fantasist as the illustrations of his work here show.
Robert E. Howard (1906—1936) has now reclaimed on a
world-wide basis the fame and admiration he once enjoyed
with the readers of Weird Tales and a few other pulps. His
outstanding creation, Conan the Barbarian, virtually launched
the fantasy sub-genre of 'Swords and Sorcery' and is now a
cult figure whose adventures are endlessly reprinted in
books, anthologies and strip cartoons. Although Howard
was a prolific writer during his short life, he, like several
other writers of macabre fiction —
as if all are somehow
—
doomed through their work in this field committed suicide
when only thirty years old. Robert Bloch (1917— )
and
Ray Bradbury (1920- ) need little introduction as the
two supreme living exponents of fantasy and horror: both
with awards, films and countless books in almost every
language to their credit.
During the period when these American stars were rising
to prominence, fantasy was
also enjoying a great renaissance
across the Atlantic, and not a few of the British authors were
published in the pulps with spectacular success. H. G. Wells
(Opposite) One of Hannes Bok’s finest (1866—1946) and H. Rider Haggard (1856—1925) were
illustrations —
drawn for ’Rickman's Model'
particularly prominent and each new story from their pens
by H. P. Lovecraft {Famous Fantastic
Mysteries. December 1951). was eagerly sought by rival American publishers.

120
 A. Merritt

Few pulp writers enjoyed greater popularity

than Abraham Merritt, and the entire
Fantastic Novels issue of January 1 949
was given over to his occult novel, 'Seven
Footprints to Satan' with Stephen
Lawrence providing this cover.
(Below) Merritt had a deep knowledge of
Black Magic and showed this to great effect
in'Burn. Witch. Burn I' which appeared in
theJune 1 942 Famous Fantastic Mysteries
with illustrations by Virgil Finlay.

122
(Left) The Snake Mother' was another of
Merritt's outstanding supernatural stories
and was illustrated by Finlay for Fantastic
Novels. November 1940.
(Below, left) A man who tumbled
through an Alaskan mirage into a lost
world was the subject of Merritt's 'The
Dwellers in the Mirage' {Fantastic Novels.
April 1941). drawn by Finlay.

(Below, right) One of the most effective

of all covers for Famous
Virgil Finlay's
Fantastic Mysteries heralding Merritt's
'The Face in the Abyss' (October 1940),

123
 H. R Lovecraft
H P. Lovecraft is certainly the best
remembered of all macabre 'pulp' writers
and his following still grows year by year
Here is Jack Binder's simple but effective
picture for one of Lovecraft's lesser known
pieces, The Nameless City', WeirdTales.
November 1938 (Left) Virgil Fmlay cap-
tures the feeling of grim foreboding which
Lovecraft described in his story 'The
Shunned House', first published pos-
thumously in Weird Tates. October 1 937

(Opposite) A Virgil Finlay cover for

Merritt's 'The Snake Mother' in Faniasiic
Novels. November 1940. Howard V.
Brown tackling the difficult task of por-
traying H. P. Lovecraft's 'nameless entities'
in'The Shadow Out of Time' for Astounding
Stories.June 1936. Stephen Lawrence was
superbly effective for 'Skull Face' by
Robert E. Howard in Famous Fantastic
Mysteries. December 1952 Peter Kuhihof
providing the artwork for ‘The Skull of the
Marquis de Sade', Robert Bloch's Weird
Tales story which subsequently became a
successful film (September 1945).

124
 THE SKULL OE THE
A tAMTASr
MARQUIS DE SADE
CLASSIC I

Robert Bloch
126
 .

(Left) Jon Arfstrom's picture for The (Above) Virgil Finlay illustrating 'The
Hfirror at Red Hook' by H. P. Lovecraft in Colour Out of Space' by H. P. Lovecraft.
Weird Tales. March 1952. Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1 941

127
 (Left) One of the series of stories
featuring ‘Herbert West: Reanimator’ by
H. P. Lovecraft. illustrated by Correll.
Weird Tales. September 1 942.

(Below) A haunting, gentle Finlay illus-

tration for Lovecraft's ‘The Quest of
Iranon' from the March 1 939 issue of
Weird Tales.

(Opposite) Lovecraft's tale 'The Haunter

of the Dark' was dedicated to his admirer-
pupil. Robert Bloch, who. in the fullness of
time, was to inherit Lovecraft's mantle as
the master of supernatural fiction, Virgil
Finlay drew this accompanying picture for
the December 1 936 Weird Tales.

128
Robert E. Howard
Right from the start of his career, the ill-

fated Robert E. Howard was lucky enough

to have most of his stories illustrated by
the best pulp artists of the day. The
popular Weird Tales artist John Allen St
John produced the cover (right) for the
December 1936 issue which featured
Howard's 'The Fire of Asshurbanipal'.

Virgil was also at the top of his consider-

able form when he drew this double-page
spread for Howard's 'Worms of the Earth'
which got star-rating in Famous Fantastic
Mysteries. June 1953.

131
Conan was undoubtedly the
the Barbarian
finest creation ofRobert E. Howard and —
the character who
has kept his name and
reputation flourishing to this day. On the
opposite page are three artists' impressions
of the mighty swordsman (far left) as :

seen by Amos Sewell in 'People of the

Dark' {Strange Tales. June 1932); (left)
Hugh Rankin's concept in 'People of the
Black Circle' {Weird Tales. September
1 934) and Harold De Lay's picture for
;

Red Nails' in Weird Tales. October 1 936

(below).

Howard was nothing if not diverse in his

ability as these two further illustrations
show (Top) Finlay drew this off-beat
sketch for Howard's story of bizarre funeral
rites in 'Dig Me No Grave' {Weird Tales.
February 1937). and also illustrated his
tale of the three bodies that hung in a
dreadful room of horrors in 'Pigeons from
Heir. Weird Tales. May 1938.

133
Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch, who started his career as a
disciple of H. P. Lovecraft.is today

probably the most imaginative and

genuinely frightening writer in the horror
genre. An early tale of gruesome terror
was The House of the Hatchet' which
Hannes Bok illustrated for the January
1941 issue of Weird Tales (right).

Bloch has also developed a special line in

'blackhumour’ stories which mix the
bizarre with the sardonic in what one
critichas described as 'gallows humour'.
Such a story was 'Never Trust A Demon'
about a strange magician who raised a
devil with very surprising results. Robert
Fuqua was the artist for Amazing Stories.
April 1943.
 (Opposite) Robert Bloch was much
impressed by Lovecraffs stories of the
Cthulhu Mythos and wrote a number of
stories himself about weird creatures from
the mists of time awaiting a new summons.
Matt Fox drew this hideous monstrosity
for Bloch's 'Notebook Found in a Deserted
House', Weird Tales. May 1951.

(Right) Virgil Finlay's interpretation of

that remarkable dancer of the seven veils.
Salome, who featured in Bloch's 'Wax-
works'. Weird Tales. January 1938.

(Below) Boris Dolgov gave form to some

of the creatures from fantasy who appeared
in 'Nursemaid to Nightmares' which Bloch

contributed to the November 1942 issue

of Weird Tales.

136
137
 A nightmare actually provided the inspiration for one of Robert Bloch's most

138
 HEAD MAX
By ROBERT BLOCH
Some men and oh jects of art. Others
collect paintings
collect stamps,match books, buttons. But these things
were not for a connoisseur like Otto Krantz. He col-
lected human heads!

horrifying stories. 'Head Man' which appeared in Dime Mystery Stories. May 1950.

139
Ray Bradbury
Despite the fact that he is now widely
regarded as the greatest living writer of
fantasy.Ray Bradbury spent several
frustrating years trying to break into pulp
magazines, until Weird Ta/es finally sensed
hisdeveloping genius in the 1940s.
(Below, loft) The very first story by
Bradbury to be published in Weird Tales.
The Candle' (November 1942). was a
grim tale of revenge with a clever twist in
the end- Richard Bennett was the
illustrator.

(Below, right) Another Bradbury

early
story, 'Skeleton' with heading by Boris
Dolgov, in Weird Tales. September 1945.

(Opposite) Bradbury's big break-

through tale. 'The Homecoming', which
won an 0. Henry Award as one of 1946's
best stories. Virgil Finlay illustrated this
reprint in Famous Fantastic Mysteries.
December 1952.

140
 (Left) ntervention by a mermaid to
I

help the allies defeat German submarine

might was the theme of Bradbury's
'Undersea Guardians', with picture by Ned
Hadley for Amazing Stories. December
1944 .

(Below) Another of Bradbury's contri-

butions to Amazing Stories. 'Chrysalis'
about the man who was a corpse or —
should have been. An illustration by
Clifford McClish from the issue of July
1946 .

142
One of the very best illustrations Lee
Brown Coye produced for Weird Tates
was made to accompany what may well
have been Ray Bradbury's finest story for
the magazine. 'The Black Ferris' in the
May 1 948 issue.

143
 U

15 /^

,
The Vampire - -

,
curious lore
and evil legend

i
Bradbury is as much at home with horror
as fantasy or SF. (Opposite) The Lee
Brown Coye cover for the Weird Tales
vampire issue of July 1 947, which high-
lighted Bradbury's superb short-short tale
of the undead, 'Interim' It was illustrated
inside by N M. Beale (below).

(Above, left) Boris Dolgov's sketch for

Bradbury's fantasy tale, 'The Traveller'.
Weird Tales. March 1 946.

145
 DAILY wcwa, OWUAI.

Fake 'War On
Radio Spreads
Panic Over U.S. By GEORGE DIXON.
A radio dramalization of H. G. Weils' “War of the Worlds” which thoi* —
sands of people misunderstood as a news broadcast of a current cataatrophe in
New Jersey—created almost unbelievable acenea of terror in New Yerk, New
Jeraey, the South and aa far west as San Francisco between 8 tad 9 e’decli
last nifht.

The panic started when aa acrau thair faaat ta sratett iSeBi-

announcer suddenly inter- a*fr«* fcaia Uta "eat' wkich th*
rupted the program o/ a
lavsSar «m
tuppoaad to ba apa*-
i«c fartK.
—
dance orchestra which was BiBultoaaaatlr. thousand* mora
part of the dramatization to — to sUto* that atratahad vast la
Csllfamia and aoylh to tha Uulf of
an iniarinary bulletin
'‘fiash”
Hoitoo rushad to lhair talaahonaa
that a mysterious “meteor” to toguira of navspapari, tna po- Soofor Mops BUI tp
had struck New Jersey, light- Hea, awiirhbaard oparaiora, and
ing the heavens for miles
alaatric aanpames what thay Censor Air Wpvpt
ihastd do to pratort lhaaaalvaa.
around. Aa *ipaca cartndga*' waa aup-
A few aeconds latcs, the MMd to haaa aCrwck at Crevar's
announcer “Hashed" the tid- iBa, an aatwal town aaor Prinea-
la. Namaa af wali-known bigh-
ings that weird monsters vayw vara saad to daaarlbtng tha
were swaiming out of the aSaanra af tha nanatota Tba
mass of metal which was— “Gaaamor af Naw Jaavar** da-
Ctorad martial law and tha 'Saa-
Bot a meteor but a tube-like
car from Mars —
and were
rwtorp of tha Intonar* triad to
*sJ« tha paapi*.
destroying huadredsof people
with death-rsy guns.

TViainii FT—
I
j

WitfcMrt vaiting far fwUitr d«-

UiU. thousand* af htUnars rashad
fr««i Ihrirhomas in Naw Yark and
Nav Jaraar. nasr *<ta tavrls

The British School

The American pulp magazines were never
slow to feed on the excellent horror and
fantasy stories being produced across the
Atlantic, and the major British writers
found new outlets for their work in this
field. (Opposite) Stephen Lawrence's

outstanding portrait of a victim of 'The

Purple Cloud'. M
P. Shiel's story of a
devastated world, reprinted in Famous
Fantastic Mysteries. June 1949.
The most famous British 'import' was
certainly H. G. Wells' 'The War of the
Worlds', which created an unprecedented
sensation when it was broadcast as a
'documentary play' by Orson Wells on the
evening of 30 October 1938 Famous
Fantastic Mysteries was just one of many
magazines to run the story here illus- —
trated by Stephen Lawrence (July 1951 ).

147
 Two of H Rider Haggard's stories which helped make him one of the most popular overseas authors with American readers—

148
both illustrated by Stephen Lawrence (Left) 'Morning Star'. Famous Fantastic Mysteries. February 1 950. and (right)
'The Wanderer's Necklace'. Famous Fantastic Mysteries. April 1 943.

149
 (Top) Arthur Machen's stories of ancient
gods were said to have been a source of
inspiration to H P Lovecraft. Stephen
Lawrence drew this heading for Machen's
'The Novel of the Black Seal'. Famous
Fantastic Mysteries. June 1946

(Above) A striking cover by Lawrence for

Gilbert Collins' 'The Starkenden Quest'.
October 1949. (Left) An ancient evil
strikes in Sax Rohmer's 'The Bat Flies
Low', illustrated by Virgil Finlay, in Famous
(Opposite page) Another superb
Fantastic Mysteries. October 1 952.
Lawrence picture for Bram Stoker's 'The
Secret of the Growing Gold'. Famous
Fantastic Mysteries. August 1 946.
 EricFrank Russell’s ’explanation’ of the
legend of the Pied Piper in his story The
Rhythm of the Rats' was very popular
with Weird Tales readers in July 1 950.
Matt Fox was the illustrator. Russell's
English contemporary, H. Russell
Wakefield, was also highly regarded by
Weird Tales readers and was given this
cover by Bill Wayne for his March 1951
story. 'A Black Solitude’.

(Below, left) E, F. Benson's marvellous

story of crawling horror. 'Caterpillars',
received the full Lawrence treatment when
it was reprinted in Famous Fantastic
Mysteries. June 1947.
(Opposite page) Ronald Clyne’s stylish
picture for Lord Dunsany's 'The Postman
of Otford" in Famous Fantastic Mysteries.
September 1944,

152
8. A Dying
Tradition?
Fantasy fiction magazines from around the
world (Above) The Horror Club, s
publication from Scots Digest Ltd of
Glasgow, and Fantasy Fiction produced
by the American Magabook Inc. in 1 950.
(Top. right) The Canadian Uncanny
Tales published in the 1950s and (right)
the Australian Thrills Incorporated (1 952)
which despite its SF cover carried
numerous horror stories. All the artists
are unknown.

156
With the end of paper quotas in 1950, the new s/ick male
magazines and paperbacks boomed. But many pulp titles
was still available in 1953, when a major distributor dealt
the final blow by imposing editorial requirements on the
publishers and finally refused to distribute anything but the
more profitable slicks and a few digest- size fiction
magazines. And so, having started off in the form of
'chapbooks' over a century ago, pulp fiction ironically was
to end up confined to much the same format.
TONY GOODSTONE
The Pulps
Tony Goodstone, compiler of the excellent tribute to The
Pulps (1970) with its selection of stories and illustrations,
has summarised the decline of the magazine very aptly in
the quote have reprinted above. Changing social conditions
I

and attitudes, plus the restrictions imposed on the publishers

by the distributors, saw the end of an era and a whole style
of publishing.
Since the end of the Second World War there had been a
radical change in American society, and the growing
sophistication of most sections of the population, plus its
mounting affluence, worked swiftly and disastrously against
the pulps. The arrival of the paperback reprinting hard-
cover novels at the same price, if not cheaper than the pulps,
also helped sound the death knell. Those publications which
did continue almost without exception reduced their pages
to digest-size, and the emphasis was placed on short stories
rather than novels.
But even though they were dead, some of the pulp pub-
lishers would not down. The more ingenious switched
lie

their interests into paperback publishing, while others tried

western or fantasy magazines
to keep their lines of detective,
alive in revamped formats. On these closing pages of our
history, examples from some of the successful and un-
successful attempts are illustrated.
As far as fantasy and horror fiction specifically were
concerned, the number of publications dwindled rapidly and
with the closure of such markets the numbers of top-class
writers fell too. The better known authors had either died
or moved on to other fields, and with a general falling off of
interest in the genre in the fifties and sixties there was not
much encouragement for the newcomer.
Now, in the seventies, all that has changed. Nostalgia
for the golden age of fantasy has revived all the old enthus-
iasms and a new generation of readers —
not forgetting
those dyed-in-the-wool old timers who knew the wheel
—
would turn, given time are now embracing fantasy with all
(Page 154) Another truly outstanding
the delight and fervour of the twenties and thirties. So, and original talent to emerge from the
although the pulps are dead and gone, thanks to the later days of the 'pulp' explosion was
Edd Cartier, whose work appeared pre-
memorials now being erected to their passing there is a dominately the science fiction maga-
in

growing new interest in the tale and illustration of terror, zines, but also graced the highly regarded
but short-lived fantasy publication.
which perhaps might lead to the whole chapbook-to-pulp Unknown. This picture illustrated John
cycle beginning all over again in quite a new style . . . MacCormac's The Enchanted Weekend'

157
158
The Avon Periodica! Company of New York,
now a major paperback publisher, worked
hard to promote fantasy and horror fiction
in the forties and fifties despite a tempor-
arilydeclining market. (Opposite page)
The first issue of Ten Story Fantasy
(Spring 1951) which despite an impres-
sive roster of contributors had a short life.
However, Avon enjoyed more success
with their Fantasy Reader, the first issue of
which (top left) appeared in February
1947. Long after the magazine had folded.
Avon were to reprint some of the best
stories in a series of —
paperbacks a tribute
to the judgement of its editor. Donald

Wollheim.

(Far left) The short-lived Fantasy Book

from Los Angeles, which nonetheless
attracted some top writers including Robert
Bloch and A E. van Vogt. The cover of this
first issue of 1947 was by Milo.

(Left) A first issue, also, of the British

Strange Adventures with cover by H W. .

Peal

(Below) The only three issues of the

Gerald G. Swan
magazine. Weird and Occult
which gave no credit to its cover artist.

159
Paniasy Fiction undoubtedly owed much
of its success to editor Lester del Ray's
decision to run stories ranging across the
—
whole galaxy of fantasy like L. Sprague
de Camp's sword and sorcery epic, 'The
Stronger Spell' which was illustrated by
Roy Krenkel (November 1953), Del Ray
also scooped the fantasy field by getting
hold of one of Robert E. Howard's
unpublished manuscripts featuring Conan,
and having Sprague de Camp edit it for
publication, 'The Black Stranger' (above,
right) illustrated by Paul Orban was the
lead story in the February 1953 number,

(Right) One couldn't get much further

away from swords and sorcery than
Richard Deming's war story. 'Too Gloomy
for Private Pushkin' (March 1953), which
was illustrated by Frank Kelly Freas. now
a much revered name in SF circles.

162
(Above) Two pieces of grim artwork by
the bizarre J. Tyler for Fantasy Fiction.
both from the August 1953 issue: (left)
Much Ado About Plenty' by Charles E.
Fritch. and (right) David Alexander's
story of Jack the Ripper and Jesse James
alive again and teamed up in an evil
partnership in The Other Ones'.

(Right) Another Fantasy Fiction regular.

H. R. Smith, illustrating Peter Coccagna’s
'Samsi' about a beast that found more than
its match in a little crippled boy.

163
 Perhaps the best of the post-pulp era
magazines has been Fantastic published
by Ziff-Davis and edited latterly by the
renowned Cele Goldsmith. All the illustra-
tions on these two pages are from the first
issue of the publication, dated Summer
1952, and feature one of its leading
illustrators. Leo Summers. The cover was
a combined effort with Barye Phillips,
while the two line drawings are Summers'
own work for Kris Neville's outr6 tale of
horror. 'The Opal Necklace'

164 165
166
Fantastic offered its readers some of the
most voluptuous and exotic women since
the heyday of the pulps, as these examples
show (Opposite page, top left) A
Rupert Conrad cover for August 1953.

(Top, right) The highly talented Edmund

Emshwiller. better known as Ed Emsh.
jotned with the equally skilled Fritz Leiber
to illustrate the latter's chilling tale.
'Looking for Jeff in Fall 1952.

(Bottom, left) Another Emsh picture for

Theodore Sturgeon's 'The Dark Room'.
August 1953 (Bottom right) Lee
Brown Coye still as outstanding as ever

for 'ANight With Hecate' by Edward W

Ludwig, October 1963. (Above) G. L
Schelling with a caged bird for Keith
Laumer's 'A Hoax In Time'. June 1963.

(Top right) Tom Knoth conveyed much

of the horror of William P, McGivern's
'Operation Mind-Pick' with this picture in
the August 1 953 issue (Right) An
unhappy fate for a member of the fair sex
in Henry Kuttner's 'Satan Sends Flowers'
illustrated by Tom Beacham. February
1953.

167
168
Although it only lasted thirty-nine issues.
Unknown is revered among many fantasy

fans, and indeed, between 1939 and 1943

It published stories by some of the most

distinguished names in the genre. Aside

from this. Unknown is famous for the fact
that it was edited by the great John W.

Campbell, the mastermind of modern SF,

and brought to prominence the artistic
skills of Edd Cartier. On the opposite page
is Cartier's cover for the June 1 940 issue,

and a decorative border from the special

anthology of material from the magazine.
From Unknown Worlds, published in 1948.
On this page Cartier illustrates Robert
Bloch's 'The Cloak' (top), E. A. Grosser's
'The Psychomorph' (above), and (right)
Don Evan's electric shocker, 'The
Summons'.
 .

On these last pages are a selection of

illustrations and covers from some of the
remaining notable horror magazines to
have been published in the last quarter of
a century.

(Right) J. G. Faraco's portrait for The

Tchen- Lam's Vengeance' by Robert Bloch
from Other Worlds. December 1 951
(Below) First issue of A Book of Weird
Tales, which had Forrest Ackerman as
Associate Editor but a rather uninspired
cover artist.

(Bottom) Joseph Eberle created this

ghoulish double-page spread for Randall
Garrett's 'League of the Living Dead' in
Mystic Magazine. November 1 953,

(Opposite)
(Top) A superb cover by William Stout
for Coven 13 (March 1970), and along-
side it an interior illustration by the same
artist for Alan Caillou's demonical story.
'Leona!' January 1970,

(Bottom) Jack Davis, now one of the

great cult artists in the comics field, has
also illustrated horror magazines, providing
this haunting face for 'Feast Day' by
Matthew Lynge and the cover of the first
number of Shock in which it appeared.
May 1960.

170
 The Magazine of
Terrifying Tales

BLOOD-CURDLING STORffes
i

j
By: RAY BKADBURY • THCODORE STUKeEON
JOHN COLLIER REBINALD ROSE ANTffeNY BOOCHEfi
•

171
 (Left) Murder, mystery and horror were
the ingredients of Bizarre', appropriately
MURDER • BLACK MAGIC • SUSPENSE • HORROR OCT/SOc
edited by a man named John Poe. The
artist for the cover of this, the first issue.
October 1965, is however uncredited

BIZARRE!
MYSTERY MAGAZINE
(Opposite page) Still catering to the
demands of fantasy and horror fans. Avon
Publications released Science Fiction and
Fantasy Reader
recruited
in January 1 953 They
some of the best artists in the
field,including John Giunta of Weird Tates
fame, who provided this minor master-
ONE DROP OF BLOOD
piece for Arthur C Clarke's 'The Forgotten
A spim-chiltinf ofvtkttt b|
Enemy',
CORNELL ^
WOOLRICH \ i
THE LIVING STATUE f
^ '

ROMAINGARY
HORROR AT RED HOOK
H.P.LOVECRAFT
n.r.LUVEunHri • V*)\
„.s.,onesty V
ARTHUR FORGES
AVRAM DAVIDSON
•m w Editor Robert A. Lowndes has kept up a
? dm consistent high standard of material in
DONALD HONIG
Magazine of Horror, rescuing from oblivion
ARTHUR KAPLAN many undeservedly forgotten tales of terror.
Gray Morrow illustrated this cover. Winter
1 965 Many overlooked stones have also
been given a new lease of life in Strange
Fantasy, although the cover hardly did the
contents inside full justice. Summer 1 969

A GREAT NEW COLLECTION

OF SPINE-CHILLING TALES

STRANGE FANTASY No 9 SUVVEB

• 1969 • 5Cc

ROBERT BLOCH ROGER ZELAZNY

•

THE FACELESS FRITZ LEIBER HARLAN ELLISON

•

GOD JAMES E GUNN • SIDNEY VAN SCYOC

i

itofe«rt ll«eh HENRY SLESAR • ARTHUR PENDRAGAN

ERIC FRANK RUSSELL
THE AFFAIR
7 RUE <k

John Stohvboch

MASTER
NICHOL
w
Soobwry Quinn

THE BLACK
BEAST
h •
Honry S. WhtMbood,
, >

THE AIYSS

172
(Right) Half a century after it was
founded by Hugo Q,Q^nsback. Amazing
Stories is still being published, though

smaller in size and more diverse in con-

tents. Veteran writer Edmond Hamilton is
in evidence, with tales like The
still

Horror from the Magellanic", although it is

now new artists such as Dan Adkins who

provide the illustrations. Issue of May
1969
(Bottom, left) The top French fantasy
magazine Fiction, with cover by Jean-
Claude Forest. February 1964
(Bottom, right) Undoubtedly the best
magazine for today's fan of the macabre.
Fantasy and Science Fiction, with the Ed
Emsh cover of July 1 969 depicting the
master of fantasy, Fritz Leiber.

(Opposite) A most appropriate picture

with which to close — Scott Templar's
'threat of things to come' from the cover
of Beyond Fantasy Fiction. March 1974.

174
 Acknowledgments
Much of the material in thiswork is from the author's own
collection, but he would also like to record his thanks to the
following for their help, David Philips, Ken Chapman,
Forrest J. Ackerman, Les Flood and Faye Loeffert. Similarly
the following artists without whom none of it would have
been possible, Virgil Finlay, Flannes Bok, Frank Paul,
Stephen Lawrence, Lee Brown Coye, Frank Utpatel, Vincent
Napoli, Boris Dolgov, Margaret Brundage, Ed Emsh, Edd
Cartier, William Stout, Jack Davies and Frank Kelly Freas.
And not forgetting the publishers. Popular Publications,
Popular Library (The Thrilling Group), Better Publications
Inc., Clayton Magazines Inc., Street & Smith, Ziff Davis
Publishing Co., Argosy, Frank A. Munsey Company,
Gernsback Publications Inc., Avon Publishing Co Inc.,
Fantasy Fiction Inc., and Conde Naste Publications Inc.
While every effort has been made to trace the appointed
holders of material still covered by copyright, for any
accidental infringement please contact the author in care
of the publishers.

176
 A

PICTORIAL

HISTORY

OF

JRRORSTORIES

Here is a nightmare come true for every fan of horror stories - two
hundred years of terror in pictures.

Peter Haining has assembled from his own marvellous

collection over 320 examples of the very best horror illustrations,

from fhe lurid Victorian ‘penny dreadfuls’ to the justly celebrated

American pulps. All the great magazines are represented: Harper’s,
The Strand, Amazing Stories, Strange Tales, Argosy and the
legendary Weird Tales.

ISBN 1 85051 059 8

REC. U.K. RET. PRICE C6.50