Category: Artist: Edd Cartier (Edward D. Cartier)

Unknown – October, 1939 (Featuring “Sinister Barrier”, by Eric Frank Russell) [Harold Winfield Scott]

First posted on February 12, 2018, I’ve updated this post with a new image of the cover of the October, 1939 (first) issue of Unknown, which shows Harold Winfield Scott’s art to great effect.  (Original cover image as at bottom of post.)

All illustrations by Edd Cartier…

Page 9

Page 39

Page 61

Page 71

Page 86

Page 90

Page 93

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(Original lead image in post: Cover from “Black Gate – Adventures in Fantasy Literature” – Post by Matthew Wuertz of July 5, 2015.)

February 12, 2018 323

Sinister Barrier, by Eric Frank Russell – 1948 (1939) [Edd Cartier]

In February of 2018, I created a post showing Edd Cartier’s interior art associated with Eric Frank Russell’s Sinister Barrier, which appeared in the first (October, 1939) issue of Unknown, featuring great allegorical cover art by Harold Winfield Scott.  Not having a physical copy of the magazine, I did this via a CBR copy accessed via the Pulp Magazine Archive. 

A few months ago, I symbolically “revisited” Russell’s story through a visit to the New York Public Library (the one with the two lions – Patience and Fortitude – out front), and was able to examine a near-mint physical – not merely pixel! – copy of Fantasy Press’s 1948 edition of the book.  As I did with Jack Williamson’s Darker Than You Think, I copied this edition’s interior art – again by Edd Cartier – by means of a (relatively) antique but entirely effective digital SLR.  The resulting images – edited somewhat with Photoshop Elements – are show below.  Enjoy.  (And, watch out for those gnasty Vitons!  Y’never know where they’ll turn up next!) 

The Fantasy Press edition features an illustration by A.J. (Andrew Julian) Donnell, which appears in simplified form for every chapter heading.  

Oh, as for the novel itself, as a literary work?  Long curious about the story, particularly in light of Unknown’s cover art, I read it just a few years ago, in the form of the 1966 Paperback Library edition.  (See the “bottom” of this post.)  It’ll suffice to say that though the book’s plot is interesting – enough – as the basis for a literary work, it was not the most impactful read, and I do not at all plan to revisit it, unlike the works of authors such as Cordwainer Smith, C.L. Moore, and Philip K. Dick, which never grow repetitive regardless of reading.  Certainly the action moved swiftly and the flow of events accelerated through the story.  Certainly Russell was a competent enough wordsmith to craft a well-structured story.  Certainly he was able to generate a dark and forbidding “feel”; a near-paranoid atmosphere (curiously akin to the open chapters of The Three-Body Problem, where occurs an ominous and perplexing  flurry of unexplained suicides of prominent scientists); an initially hopeless “mood” in his book, which suited the challenge of first identifying, then evading, and then fighting, and finally conquering, the Viton menace.  But, the absence of any real complexity to his characters, coupled with really weird (truly weird, man!) literary habits (such as substituting the word “optics” for “eyes” – what?  why?!) left the story with a feeling a flatness. 

Entertaining and diverting – yes; weighty and enthralling enough for another read – no.

Nonetheless, the art’s great!

“An iridescent blue closed upon him and formed a satanic nimbus behind his head.”

(Frontispiece)

“An awful pillar that reached to the very floors of heaven…”

(Page 63)

“Others crept or-slunk through the alleys and the shadows…”

(Page 139)

“A thousand hands seemed to be reaching for him at once.”

(Page 232)

Every chapter commences with an image akin to the front cover, showing Vitons hovering over a helpless, crouching figure.  Here’s the header image for Chapter 11.

Published in 1950 by World Editions, Inc., Sinister Barrier was the first of Galaxy’s forty-six Science Fiction Novels.  Cover by David Stone.

The first Paperback Library imprint having been May, 1964, here’s the company’s December, 1966 edition of Sinister Barrier.  Though the book’s cover artist remains unnamed in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (the cover’s absent of signature or initials), if one plays the “…it looks like…” game, the painting resembles the work of Ed Valigursky.  (Just an idea.)

Rear cover.  Straightforward prose.

TIME – 21ST CENTURY
PLACE – AMERICA
CRISIS – A WORLD GONE MAD
PRESIDENT’S WARNING –

DESTROY THE VITON MENACE
OR EARTH HAS
ONLY 80 HOURS TO LIVE!

Bill Graham was among the scientists and
government leaders left who heard the
President’s message.  He shuddered at the
thought of the last Viton rampage of
kidnapping, ghastly murder and madness.

Hidden somewhere in the vastness of the
Galaxy, the hideous blobs of Viton, that fed
on men’s fears and emotions, planned a
last-ditch attack to destroy the universe.

Only Bill Graham had a one-in-a-million
chance to stop them.  But the Vitons were
so deadly that even to think about them
risked instant annihilation.

Darker Than You Think, by Jack Williamson – (1948) [A.J. Donnell]

“Faster, Will!”
April’s smooth legs clung to his racing body.
She leaned forward, her breasts against his striped coat.
He stretched out his stride, rejoicing in his boundless power.
He exulted in the clean chill of the air, the warm burden of the girl.
This was life.
April Bell had awakened him out of a cold, walking death.
Remembering his body, that frail and ugly husk he had left sleeping in his room,
he shuddered as he ran.
“Faster!” urged the girl.  “We must catch them on Sardis Hill.”

I’ve not yet read Darker Than You Think, but in time I well may, for it seems that my literary tastes are gently but steadily changing.  To my own surprise, it seems that I’ve acquired an appreciation for fantasy by having read Poul Anderson’s wonderfully told two-part tale, “Three Hearts and Three Lions”, from the September and October ’53 issues of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and, the collection of Robert Chambers’ tales, The King in Yellow…

Darker Than You Think?  The novel has received high praise in terms of plot and pacing.  It’s a fantasy, but not purely fantasy.  It has elements of science fiction, but it’s not entirely science fiction.  Instead, it spans the tenuous and uncertain borderland between both genres, combining elements of both, with a foundation in myth and the supernatural: legends of lycanthropy.  Of course, for me, the very fact that novel was penned by Jack Williamson casts it within a glowing – well, a potentially glowing! – light beforehand.    

So, I suppose that in time, I shall see.

Thus for the novel’s literary “image”.  What about illustrations within the novel, or, to be accurate, “on” and in its first book-form incarnation by Fantasy Press in 1948?

There are only two:  The front cover, by A.J. (Andrew Julian) Donnell, and the frontispiece, by Edd Cartier.  Each artist depicts, in his own fashion, characters central to the novel (at least I think so, not actually having yet read the story!): April Bell “au natural”, and, Will Barbee, transformed. 

Due to the novel’s significance in terms of Jack Williamson’s oeuvre, and, the history of Fantasy Press’, even the most cursory Internet search will yield umpteen images of these two illustrations, at all imaginable levels of quality.  You know…  Resolution, focus, color reproduction, and just-plain-old-keeping-the-image-framed-properly. 

Here’s the cover…

I thought it was time that I take a look and copy the frontispiece for myself.  To that end, I recently accessed a copy of the novel – unsurprisingly, in absolutely superb condition – at the New York Public Library (you know, the one on 42nd Street and 5th Avenue with the two lions – Patience and Fortitude – out front), and copied Edd Cartier’s illustration.  However, unlike the overwhelming majority of images at this blog, my copy wasn’t made with a flatbed scanner, but by means of a digital SLR.  (Yes, I have one.)  The resulting image lent itself to digital editing – a mild degree, using Photoshop Elements – just as readily as any “conventional” scanned illustration. 

Here it is; that’s some big tiger…  

“You must be strong, Will, to take such a shape!” (page 162)

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And, for your consideration, here’s the blurb from the dust-jacket…

DARKER THAN YOU THINK
By JACK WILLIAMSON

WHEN the Mondrick expedition returns from the Gobi Desert with an iron-bound chest and a haunting burden of dread, it brings with it proof of a warfare that has continued for unnumbered centuries –  warfare hitherto buried deep in the subconscious of the human race.

Mankind, according to Dr. Mondrick, is a hybrid breed.  The blood of Homo sapiens is diluted with a darker stream.  In your veins, and in ours, so the Mondrick theory claims, ebbs and flows an evil tide.  Perhaps you, the individual reader, are only one part in a thousand inhuman, or one in ten thousand.  But you aren’t all human…  Few men are aware of their own alien strain.  We know more about the distant stars than we do of our own tragic plight.  But every man now living has inherited some of the black taint of Homo lycanthropus.  And there are throwbacks!  Or so, at least, Dr. Mondrick suggests.

Will Barbee, reporter, covering the return of the Mondrick expedition for his newspaper, meets gorgeous April Bell who claims to be a report for a rival sheet.  He gets a story stranger by far than he expects – and becomes involved in a desperate drams of dark human conflict and darker victory.

In “Darker Than You Think”, Jack Williamson has written a story which is peculiarly disturbing, for despite its fantasy it is convincing; and it accounts for a great many things that otherwise are difficult to explain – and for some things that otherwise can scarcely be explained at all.  The primitive belief in witchcraft is absolutely universal.  It exists in communities, from Europe to Tasmania, which have no cultural connection whatever.  “Darker Than You Think” offers the most convincing explanation of witchcraft ever set forth.

In this strange study of our own troubled times and our own secret lives, Williamson has skillfully blended such seemingly unrelated subjects as lycanthropy and witchcraft with parapsychology and psychokinesis.  He has written a story which may well be unique, embracing a theory new to anthropology, and an interpretation of human behavior never anticipated by psychologists.  But above all, he has produced an enthralling story.

And, who knows?  The time, indeed, may already be later than you think, and man’s future darker! xxxxx

Having its first appearance in the December, 1940 issue of Unknown, Williamson’s novel was accompanied by nine illustrations in the pulp’s American edition, but in the British edition, only one, the latter being the same ominous-looking-cloaked-skeleton which opens the tale in the American version.  By Edd Cartier, these illustrations are all to the same high standard of imagination and technical quality typical of his work 

But, only two really stand out in terms of symbolism and mythic power:  April and tiger Will, and, April riding a bat-bird-like-something-or-other.  Downloaded from the Pulp Magazine Archive and then edited slightly, here they are, below:     

Unknown (page 43)

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______________________________
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Unknown (page 84)

“The Tyger”, by William Blake

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies,
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare sieze [sic] the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Here’s Collier Books’ 1989 imprint of Darker Than You Think, which features cover art by Jill Bauman.  Through a coincidence most curious – if not magical – I discovered this near-pristine copy in a used bookstore (yes, those still exist).  I read it in about three days (off and on, not continuously!), and it sparked the creation of this post.  

Bauman’s cover art is very effective in casting the creatures central to the story in silhouette, with April Bell implied at right, rather than depicting them in full detail.  A lack of definition lets one’s imagination run a little, um, er, uh, wilder?! – shall we say?

Of the darkness?…

“Darker Than You Think”, Unknown, December, 1940, via…

… Pulp Magazine Archive

American Edition (contains all illustrations)

British Edition (lead illustration only) 

… Wikipedia

… GoodReads

… Fantasy Literature

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… WorldCat

Shapeshifters, at…

… The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

“The Tyger”, by William Blake, at…

… Wikipedia

William Blake (himself!), at…

… Wikipedia

A.J. (Andrew Julian) Donnell, at…

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

The Old Man, by William Faulkner – November, 1948 (1939) [Robert Jonas]

When I first discovered this 1948 Signet Books edition of William Faulkner’s The Old Man, I assumed that the very phrase – “the old man” – referred to the novel’s protagonist.  Well, it does, but only in a symbolic sense, for the title actually refers to the Mississippi River, a “character” inanimate yet very much alive.  The only work of Faulkner’s that I’ve read is The Reivers, which was an assigned reading for freshman English in Easton College, as a novel reflecting an ideological orientation focusing (and this was decades ago) on the concept of the “anti-hero”.  I was highly unimpressed by the story then (really, I was, even accounting for age) and remain so, now.   

As you can see from the very title of this post (!), this Signet Books cover art is by “Jonas” – that’s Robert Jonas – who created the cover art for many a monograph in the Mentor Books series.  Unlike Jonas’ covers for those books, which are typified by bright, bold, contrasting colors, and geometrically-situated patterns, symbols, and objects, there’s something about this painting that’s vastly different:  It’s very reminiscent of WPA (Works Progress Administration) murals from the late 1930s through early 1940s in post offices. 

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The novel, starring Jeanne Tripplehorn and Arliss Howard, was adapted for film in 1997.  Here’s the trailer, from Video Detective’s YouTube channel.

And, here’s the full movie, and Charles D’s YouTube channel…

Take a listen: At thepostarchive, William Faulkner reads from his novels “A Fable” and “The Old Man”…

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This 1948 edition of The Old Man features a biographical blurb about the author on the rear cover, accompanied by his photograph.  In this case, Faulkner is seen in front of his home (I guess it’s his home?) in Oxford, Mississippi, in a photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson. 

Here’s the image as it appears on the rear-cover, published in halftone format… 

…while this version, obviously scanned from a photographic print, was found at Pinterest.

Evidently, the above image was one of a sequence of photos (how many – two? – three? – more? – I’ve no idea) of Faulkner at Oxford.  This is revealed by the photo below, also taken by Cartier-Bresson, showing Faulkner in a vertical format.  For this image, the author seems to have stepped back a foot or two – or has Cartier-Bresson stepped forward a little bit? – from where he was standing in the previous photo.  The picture, from artsy.net, is described as “Gelatin silver print, printed later – 17 3/5 × 11 7/10 in | 44.8 × 29.8 cm”.

Clever, how Cartier-Bresson got Faulkner’s dogs (I guess they’re his dogs?) in the picture.  

Some Other Things to Read…

The Old Man (Novel)…

…at Good Reads

…at Book Marks

…at All Things Crime (“Honor Among Thieves in William Faulkner’s “The Old Man”)

…at Jaysanalysis (“Esoteric Symbolism and Allegory in Faulkner’s Old Man”)

…at Wikipedia (an interwoven story in “If I Forget Thee, Oh Jerusalem”)

The Old Man (1997 Movie)…

…at All Movie

…at Variety

Henri Cartier-Bresson…

…at Brittanica.com

…at MoMA

…at Magnum Photos

Futuria Fantasia – January, 1940 (Spring) [Hannes Bok (Wayne F. Woodward)]

When it comes to identifying the creator of a pulp magazine’s interior and cover art, an artist’s hand and eye can be immediately recognizable, whether through style, subject matter, or symbolism.  In this, illustrators who immediately come to mind for magazines published from 1940s through the 1960s are Hubert Rogers, Virgil Finlay, Edd Cartier, Edmund Emshwiller, Herbert R. Van Dongen, Jack Gaughan, and, Richard M. Powers. 

And also, Hannes Bok, the nom artistique of Wayne F. Woodward.

The latter’s work is extraordinarily distinctive, to the point that it’s impossible to mistake a Bok illustration for that of any other artist.  Bok’s illustrations have an almost “three-dimensional” appearance, a sometimes simplified (but still aesthetic) exaggeration – sometimes extreme; often elaborate – and smoothing of the human form, and on occasion, the presence of creatures seemingly drawn from or inspired by mythology. 

Here’s an example of Bok’s early work:  It’s the cover illustration of the fourth and final issue of Futuria Fantasia, a fanzine created by Ray Bradbury and published between 1939 and 1940.  This the most elaborate and professional of Bok’s illustrations for the fanzine, Bok actually having created created cover and interior illustrations for the all issues.  The painting is unrelated to the fanzine’s content, and like the cover illustrations of Richard Powers, simply and powerfully inspires a mood or mindset.

For even more distraction (gadzooks!) …

Futuria Fantasia, at…

… Wikipedia

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… The FANAC Fan History Project (Issues 1, 2, 3, and 4)

Hannes Bok, at…

… Wikipedia

… Zinewiki

… Internet Speculative Fiction Database

… American Art Archives

… American Fantasy Press (Includes a portrait from the last years of his life)

Comic Art Fans (Superb examples of his work! – at least, as of August, 2022) 

… Grapefruit Moon Gallery

… The Fanac Fan History Project (“The Hannes Bok Illustration Index”)

… Heritage Auctions (Again, wonderful examples of his work, including paper mache! – as of August, 2022)

… Hollywood Metal

… The Korshak Collection

… Pulp Artists

… ShrineODreams

… Zenith City Press

Astounding Science Fiction, October, 1950 (Featuring “The Hand of Zei”, by L. Sprague de Camp) [Edd Cartier]

Though he created many wonderful interior illustrations for Astounding Science Fiction, let alone a tremendous body of work in general, I believe that the magazine’s issue of October, 1950 – above – marked Edd Cartier’s only cover for that publication.  Fittingly, he created the over twenty illustrations that accompanied “The Hand of Zei”, which was serialized in Astounding from October, 1950, through January, 1951.

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Illustration by Paul Orban, for Norman Menasco’s story “Trigger Tide” (p. 65)

Illustration by Miller, for Raymond F. Jones’ story “Discontinuity” (p. 85)

Illustration by Miller, for Raymond F. Jones’ story “Discontinuity” (p. 103)

 

Astounding Science Fiction – November, 1950 [“Choice”, by David Pattee]

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Illustration by Ward, for James H. Schmitz’s story “The Truth About Cushgar” (pp. 30-31)

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Illustration by Edd Cartier, for H.B. Fyfe’s story “In Value Deceived” (p. 39)

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Illustration by Miller, for Raymond F. Jones’ story “Tools of The Trade” (p. 48)

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Illustration by Miller, for Raymond F. Jones’ story “Tools of The Trade” (p. 55)

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Illustration by Miller, for Raymond F. Jones’ story “Tools of The Trade” (p. 63)

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Illustration by Edd Cartier, for Poul Anderson’s story “Quixote and The Windmill” (p. 95)

 

Astounding Science Fiction – September 1950 (Featuring “The Lion and The Lamb”, by Fritz Leiber) [Hubert Rogers]

Illustration by Edd Cartier, for William Morrison’s story “The Sack” (p. 47)

Illustration by Brush, for William T. Powers’ story “Meteor” (p. 109)

Illustration by Brush, for William T. Powers’ story “Meteor” (p. 115)

 

Astounding Science Fiction – August, 1950 (Featuring “Last Enemy”, by H. Beam Piper) [Ron Miller]

Illustration by Walt Miller, for H. Beam Piper’s story “Last Enemy” (p. 13)

Illustration by Walt Miller, for H. Beam Piper’s story “Last Enemy” (p. 22)

Illustration by Walt Miller, for H. Beam Piper’s story “Last Enemy” (pp. 34-35)

Illustration by Walt Miller, for H. Beam Piper’s story “Last Enemy” (p. 45)

Illustration by Walt Miller, for H. Beam Piper’s story “Last Enemy” (p. 54)

Illustration by Edd Cartier, for Bernard L. Kahn’s story “A Pinch of Culture” (p. 79)

Illustration by Edd Cartier, for Bernard L. Kahn’s story “A Pinch of Culture” (p. 87)

Illustration by Edd Cartier, for Bernard L. Kahn’s story “A Pinch of Culture” (p. 94)

Illustration by Edd Cartier, for Bernard L. Kahn’s story “A Pinch of Culture” (p. 101)

Illustration by Brush, for Alfred Bester’s story “The Devil’s Invention” (p. 141)

Astounding Science Fiction – July, 1950 [Featuring an essay on the filming of “Destination Moon”, by Robert A. Heinlein]

Illustration by Edd Cartier, for Frank McCormack’s story “Skin Deep” (p. 79)

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Illustration by Edd Cartier, for Frank McCormack’s story “Skin Deep” (p. 87)

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Illustration by Edd Cartier, for Eric Frank Russell’s story “Exposure” (p. 107)

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Illustration by Edd Cartier, for Eric Frank Russell’s story “Exposure” (p. 120)

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Illustration by Edd Cartier, for Cyril M. Kornbluth’s story “The Little Black Bag” (p. 132)

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Illustration by Edd Cartier, for Cyril M. Kornbluth’s story “The Little Black Bag” (p. 147)

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