I used to own this issue of WEIRD TALES and read it many years ago, but I'm afraid I don't remember much about it except the H. Bedford-Jones story. But elsewhere in the issue are stories by Frank Gruber, Robert Bloch, Seabury Quinn, Manly Wade Wellman (writing as Gans T. Field), and Frank Owen, so I'm sure there's plenty of good reading there.
For many years the WEIRD TALES in the forties had the reputation as being inferior, etc. But I've found the issues to be of great interest and the artwork to be of high quality. I like the forties and if you collect WEIRD TALES then you have to collect them also.
ReplyDeleteAs far as actual issues of WEIRD TALES go, I've owned and read more of them from the Forties than any other decade, because they were more affordable. I always enjoyed them, too.
ReplyDeleteI like the '40s issues, too. A different cast of writers from the '30's, some really good. Howard and Lovecraft gave way to Wellman, Bradbury and Leiber.
ReplyDeleteI've never been afraid to suggest the McIlwraith WEIRD TALES is better than the Wright WT. Not least because the writers tended to be better, or to have found their own voices (Bloch, most obviously).
ReplyDeleteOnly McIlwrith's second issue, so probably largely Wright selections:
ReplyDelete2 • Weird Tales (masthead) • [Weird Tales Decorations] • (1940) • interior artwork by Dwight Boyce (variant of Weird Tales, June 1936 1936)
4 • The Artificial Honeymoon • [An Adventure of a Professional Corpse • 1] • shortstory by H. Bedford-Jones
5 • The Artificial Honeymoon • interior artwork by Henry del Campo
15 • Golden Chalice • shortstory by Frank Gruber
15 • Golden Chalice • interior artwork by Henry del Campo
23 • The Fiddler's Fee • shortstory by Robert Bloch
23 • The Fiddler's Fee • interior artwork by Henry del Campo
36 • The Dreadful Rabbits • [Judge Keith Hilary Pursuivant] • shortstory by Manly Wade Wellman [as by Gans T. Field ]
36 • The Dreadful Rabbits • interior artwork by Hannes Bok
44 • A Million Years in the Future (Part 4 of 4) • serial by Thomas P. Kelley
44 • A Million Years in the Future (Part 4 of 4) • interior artwork by Hannes Bok
70 • On Pell Street • shortstory by Frank Owen
70 • On Pell Street • interior artwork by Hannes Bok
75 • Ears of the Dead • poem by James Arthur
76 • The Gentle Werewolf • novelette by Seabury Quinn
76 • The Gentle Werewolf • interior artwork by Henry del Campo
96 • The Crystal Horde • novelette by Harry Walton
96 • The Crystal Horde • interior artwork by Harry Ferman
111 • Inheritance • poem by Sudie Stuart Hager
112 • Beyond the Frame • shortstory by Maria Moravsky
112 • Beyond the Frame • interior artwork by Hannes Bok
119 • Weird Tales, July 1940 • [Weird Tales Decorations] • interior artwork by uncredited
120 • Three Flowers • [It Happened to Me] • essay by F. T. Compton
121 • The Cast-away Slave • [It Happened to Me] • essay by Thomas Trafton
122 • Rabbit's Intuition • [It Happened to Me] • essay by Jim Price
123 • The Eyrie (Weird Tales, July 1940) • [The Eyrie] • essay by The Editor
123 • The Eyrie • (1924) • interior artwork by Andrew Brosnatch
126 • Weird Tales Club (Weird Tales, July 1940) • essay by uncredited
128 • Looking at the Next Issue of Weird Tales • essay by uncredited