Jack Vance – Literary Art and Illustration

Astounding Science Fiction – May, 1950 (Featuring “The Helping Hand”, by Poul Anderson) [Brush] [Updated post…]

Dating back to November of 2017 (gadzooks!), this is one of my earliest posts. Generally typical of my earliest posts, it simply features images unaccompanied by commentary. I’ve now updated it – seven years later – to include a link to the website of illustrator Stephen E. Fabian, Sr. (StephenFabian.com), which features many examples of Mr. Fabian’s work.

Among these is his adaptation of one of Edd Cartier’s illustrations for Jack Vance’s story “The Potters of Firsk”; specifically, the woman holding the “Firsk-ian” vase. As described by Mr. Fabian:

“THE POTTERS OF FIRSK – A black ink and color pencil drawing on a 9 x 12 size vellum paper, circa 1966.

While I was learning how to draw and paint I would occasionally copy a drawing of one of my favorite science fiction and fantasy artists. In this case I copied Edd Cartier’s story illustration, “The Potters of Firsk,” by Jack Vance. It appeared in the May 1950 issue of Astounding SF, in black and white. I added color to my copy.

Many years later, around 1990 I think, I had the great pleasure of meeting Edd Cartier, who was one of the outstanding Golden Age magazine illustrators. We became good friends, he came to my home, I went to his. The basement in his home had been made to look like an old-fashioned cabaret, there were several round tables covered with appropriate red-checkered tablecloths, and lots of antique lanterns hung from the ceiling, giving the room a unique atmosphere. It was a fun place to meet, eat and chat.

Sadly, Edd passed away in 2008. He was a man of “The Greatest Generation,” a decorated soldier-hero of WW2. He was also a devoted husband and father, an outstanding illustrator, a truly decent and honorable man, it was a joy and an honor to know him.”

Since Mr. Fabian’s work is copyrighted I won’t present his art “here”, in this post. Instead, you can view his interpretation of Cartier’s art here.

With that, on to Astounding…

Illustration by Ward, for Miles M. Acheson’s story “The Apprentice”

Page 31

The next two illustrations are by Edd Cartier, for Jack Vance’s story “The Potters of Firsk” (See Stephen Fabian’s interpretation here.)

Page 8

Page 97

The following illustrations are by Hubert Rogers, for Part II of A.E. van Vogt’s story “The Wizard of Linn”

Page 106

Page 113

Page 120

Page 127

Page 143

Nov. 2, 2017, 479

Startling Stories – Spring, 1954 (Featuring “The Houses of Iszm”, by Jack Vance) [Alex Schomburg]

Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories were particularly suitable venues for Virgil Finlay’s art, the page size of both publications allowing Finlay’s painstaking emphasis on detail and shading, rendering illustrations of a near photographic nature, to be displayed to maximum advantage. For instance, the lead illustration for Jack Vance’s tale “Abercrombie Station”, on pages 10-11 in the March, 1952, issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories...

Another Jack Vance tale illustrated by Finlay was “The Houses of Iszm”, in the Spring, 1954 issue of Startling Stories. Not actually having yet read the tale (well, I possess the Ace Double edition shown below; it’s in my queue of books-I-hope-to-read-someday, the “end” of which lies far beyond the visible horizon…), the figure of the young woman is probably allegorical and symbolic – there may be no actual female protagonist, as such – since the story revolves around the efforts of one Ailie Farr to steal a tree that is specifically female.

The illustrations below were downloaded from Archive.org, and edited using Photoshop to render the best possible images.

______________________________

Illustration by Virgil Finlay, pages 10-11.

______________________________

Illustration by Virgil Finlay, page 19

______________________________

“The people of Izsm lived in homes that were alive. Their dwelling places were elaborate, lush hollow trees, wherein the very walls, floors, ceilings, and even the furniture and plumbing, were all part of the living, thriving plant.

The Iszic, alone of all the people of the universe, possessed the secret of cultivating such a dwelling. The result was that they were holders of a gigantic, lucrative monopoly, exporting millions of such home to all the other worlds.

For decades, aliens from other worlds, including Earth, had been desperately trying to steal a female house-seed in order to break the monopoly. The Iszic security force had squashed every attempt successfully.

This is the story of yet another plot – the most ingenious of all – to carry off a prize worth billions, just one seed from The Houses of Iszm.”

(Ace Double 77525, published 1964, cover by Dean Ellis)

References