Remembrance of the City of God

I love it when one of these posts provokes some of you folks to take action, like commenting, but in this case — sharing a relevant scan.

This page shows the quote of Emerson's that inspired the story:

"If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!"

John Campbell, the editor at the time, of Astounding Science-Fiction responded to Asimov, "I should think they would go mad."

Thanks OtherEric!

Kolliker — Astounding Science-Fiction— interior pulp illustration

Nightfall

What magnificent feats of engineering humans are capable of for the quest of understanding our universe . . .

Mt Palomar — 1949

Whereas in Isaac Asimov's Nightfall, on the planet Lagash, residing in a solar system of 6 suns that cause perpetual daylight, such engineering ushered in a period of madness among society when an eclipse every 2 thousand some years allowed night's darkness to expose the universe beyond their atmosphere.

Hubert Rogers — Astounding Science-Fiction — September 1941

The story is oft reprinted as well as adapted to a novel with Robert Silverberg, and is worth seeking out if you haven't read it

Fantastic

One of the more fantastic of the old Fantastic covers . . .

Phillips & Summers — Fantastic — Summer 1952

Mothers, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Artists

Yes, this is just one of the hazards of the biz . . .

Chapel of Mystic Horror

Of the early Weird Tales magazines, I feel that Hugh Rankin was the most interesting illustrator. I'd love to know more about the man.

Hugh Rankin — Weird Tales — December 1928

Monkey Biz

So, this is what New Yorkers do on cold wintery nights. 

I feel warmer already.

Quintana — New York Nights — February, 1937

With Trembling Pseudopods

Among many talented cartoonists over the years, Will Elder was one of the top, even though he specialized in satire, and much of it with his compatriot Harvey Kurtzman.

Originally published in Trump magazine in 1957, this illustration satirizes good girl pulp illustration from a decade before. Elder brings his usual 'chicken fat' (extra little sight gags) to the drawing and shows that he could have given Virgil Finlay a run for his money if he had seriously worked for the pulps.

Will Elder — Trump magazine — 1957

Darkly Delicious

Lawrence Stevens is much appreciated for his pulp illustrations of the '40s, his style a bit more refined than his compatriot Virgil Finlay. At times his rendering and layout style could stray well into the realm of fantasy, as this image gracefully demonstrates. 

The bottom frieze panel is darkly delicious.

Lawrence Sterne Stevens — The Devil's Spoon _ 1948

from Famous Fantastic Mysteries

Neat-o Promo Wood Pulp Illo

A neat-o promo poster from an old Wood pulp illustration.

© Wally Wood Estate

The Galaxy Raiders

In all the dimensions of sci-fi, there's maybe nothing as much fun as the good old fashioned pulpy space opera of the '40s and '50s. The lurid colors of the ragged covers drawing you in to a universe where babes hit the space ways in their swimsuits and beach towel clasped around their neck (Douglas Adams had it right about not hitchhiking around the cosmos without your towel in hand). The smell of the pulp and the purple of the prose is enough to transport your molecules into the far reaches of the imagination.

Oh, the future was never as good as it was back then.

Robert Gibson Jones — Amazing Adventures — February 1950

A towel, [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy says],

is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough."

—Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Ariel's Song

This Shakespeare guy has inspired one or two artists over the centuries, even reaching into the world of pulp magazines.

Virgil Finlay — September 1942

Oddly Sweet

An oddly sweet little rendering used as a filler in Weird Tales by Hugh Rankin, one of the more interesting early cover artists for that pulp.

Hugh Rankin — Weird Tales — 1935

Dread Summons

From an old pulp story called Dread Summons, this pictorial study of suspense is cinematic — the sort of story that should be read under the covers with a flashlight.

"The door moved a little against his hand,

moved slightly, eerily . . ."

Virgil Finlay — Weird Tales — November, 1937

Fantasy ala Finlay

Virgil Finlay — from The Ship of Ishtar — 1949

Flight Into Yesterday

Earle Bergey had a way with painting women who were all woman, and painting men that were . . . well . . . um . . . that is . . . well, anyway.

Earle Bergey — Startling Stories — May 1951

Earle Bergey — Startling Stories — May 1949

Daughter of the Snake God

Pulp fiction. Yow.

Fantastic Adventures — May 1942

A Novel of the Future

I constantly marvel at how the pulp artists were able to create compact compositions with so many elements in one small rectangle.

Rudolph Belarski — Startling Stories — May, 1941

House Where Evil Lived

The so-called 'shudder pulps' are quite a contrast to the genteel New Yorker covers, and the one shown here is one of the milder of those. This cover is so outrageous that the menace doesn't seem real, but look how effective the composition is — with the needle perfectly placed in front of the hyper-manic face, and the two doll women positioned perfectly in their nightmare distress.

Uncanny Tales — May, 1940

Red Coral

"Science stories", oh, indeed.

Hannes Bok — Other Worlds — May, 1951

One Egyptian Night

Romance — May, 1929

Update: Another choice bit of info from Mr. Door Tree: the artist for the above cover is Edgar Franklin Wittmack.

Thanks Mr. Door Tree!