Finlay 0

[bronze johnny]

Virgil Finlay has been referred to as one of the greatest science fiction, fantasy, and horror graphic artists of the 20th Century.  The level of Finlay's creative genius is seen in the corpus of his pulp work. His artistic technique required a great deal of time. Not my copy, but you get an idea (similar in a way to Elias' cover for Black Cat Mystery 48)

Sadly for the comic book genre, Finlay did very little work. His artwork can be found in the precode '50s DC comics. 

I was wondering if there are any boardies who collect Finlay's works?

Thanks for sharing!

john

[Arkadin]

Nothing to do with Finlay, but couldn't help but wonder at the name on that cover: Nictzin Dyalhis. Seriously?

Well, apparently it really was the guy's name: Wikipedia entry

Anyway, now on the deluge from Finlay fans!

[RedFury]

45 minutes ago, Arkadin said:

Nothing to do with Finlay, but couldn't help but wonder at the name on that cover: Nictzin Dyalhis. Seriously?

Well, apparently it really was the guy's name: Wikipedia entry

Anyway, now on the deluge from Finlay fans!

Nictzin Dyalhis is probably the most mysterious of the Weird Tales writers.  Very little is known about him.  I don't even think there's a known photograph of him.  But he was immensely popular with the Weird Tales readers, even though he only published 7 stories over a 16 year period.

OK, sorry to hi-jack.  I'll post some Finlay stuff now.

[RedFury]

The February 1937 issue was Virgil Finlay's first cover for Weird Tales.  This copy is signed by him to "Gerry", who I think is probably Gerry de la Ree who published Finlay collections in the 70s.

[RedFury]

Weird Tales, Apr 1937

[RedFury]

Weird Tales, Jul 1937

[RedFury]

Weird Tales, Feb 1938

[RedFury]

Weird Tales, Apr 1938

[RedFury]

Weird Tales, Jul 1938

[RedFury]

I've been posting covers, because that's what I have scanned, but it's really Finlay's interior pen-and-ink illustrations that are his best work.

[RedFury]

Fantastic Novels, Jul 1940

[Surfing Alien]

27 minutes ago, RedFury said:

Fantastic Novels, Jul 1940

Beautiful copies! This Fantastic Novels is more like his interiors than the Weird Tales (which are beautiful in their own right)

[Surfing Alien]

He also did book jackets. Some completely original, some amalgams of interior illos like the legendary Arkham House Outsider and Others by H.P. Lovecraft. Not my copy - kicking myself for years for not getting a copy when they were less than 1K.

[lpsunburst]

A lot of his black and white illustration work was done on scratch board which is a technique that starts out as a black over white board and the white is revealed by scratching away the covering. Very effective for outer space types of scenes as well as nocturnal images, really stunning work.

[Pat Calhoun]

[RedFury]

1 hour ago, Surfing Alien said:

He also did book jackets. Some completely original, some amalgams of interior illos like the legendary Arkham House Outsider and Others by H.P. Lovecraft. Not my copy - kicking myself for years for not getting a copy when they were less than 1K.

I need one of these for my Arkham House collection.  

[Pat Calhoun]

[RedFury]

Roads, Arkham House, 1948

Originally published in the January 1938 Weird Tales.  

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

4 hours ago, bronze johnny said:

I was wondering if there are any boardies who collect Finlay's works?

I don't but seeing this stuff, I wish I did, or had.

[RedFury]

Weird Tales, Jan 1939