Art by Wallace Blanchard
Art by Wallace Blanchard

Wells Imagined

In a previous post I discussed how H. G. Wells was imagined by Pulp artist, Frank R. Paul in Hugo Gernsback’s Amazing Stories. At that time I felt there was no way I could get all the original art for his monster tales because they are difficult to locate. That really isn’t true any longer, so here they are, the original, first imaginings of H. G. Wells’s greatest monster stories by the original artists.

Art by B. J. Minnes
Art by B. J. Minnes

“The Flowering of the Strange Orchid” (The Pall Mall Budget, August 2, 1894)

Art by C. Ondano
Art by C. Ondano

“In the Avu Observatory” (Pall Mall Budget, August 9, 1894)

Art by Wallace Blanchard
Art by Wallace Blanchard

“Aepyornis Island” (Pall Mall Budget, December 27, 1894)

Art by GRA
Art by GRA

The Island of Doctor Moreau (Saturday Review, January 1895)

“The Red Room” (The Idler, March 1896)

Art by Warwick Goble
Art by Warwick Goble

“In the Abyss” (Pearson’s Magazine, August 1896)

Artist Unknown
Artist Unknown

“The Sea Raiders” (The Weekly Sun Literary Supplement, December 6, 1896)

Art by Warwick Goble
Art by Warwick Goble

The War of the Worlds (Pearson’s Magazine, April-December 1897)

Art by Parkhurst
Art by Parkhurst

“The Stolen Body” (The Strand, November 1898)

Art by E. Hering
Art by E. Hering

The First Men in the Moon (The Strand, November 1900-August 1901)

Art by Walter Sydney
Art by Walter Sydney

“The Inexperienced Ghost” (The Strand, March 1902)

Art by Gareth Jones
Art by Gareth Jones

“The Valley of the Spiders” (Pearson’s Magazine, March 1903)

Art by Cerus Cuned
Art by Cerus Cuned

The Food of the Gods (Pearson’s Magazine, December 1903-June 1904)

Art by Claude Allin Shepperson
Art by Claude Allin Shepperson

“The Country of the Blind” (The Strand, April 1904)

Art by Charles Joseph Staniland
Art by Charles Joseph Staniland

“The Empire of the Ants” (The Strand, December 1905)

What strikes me most about all these images is how wonderful the Victorian magazine artists were. Not to slight Frank R. Paul, but wow! what a difference. I don’t understand why the book publishers who collected Wells afterward were willing to let these images be forgotten in the magazines they appeared in. Fortunately, they have not been lost to us for long.

 

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